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Frederick W. Kagan

Finding the Target: The Transformation of American Military Policy Paperback – September 1, 2007

by Frederick Kagan (Author)

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In Finding the Target, Frederick Kagan describes the three basic transformations within the U.S. military since Vietnam. First was the move to an all-volunteer force and a new generation of weapons systems in the 1970s. Second was the emergence of stealth technology and precision-guided munitions in the 1980s. Third was the information technology that followed the fall of the Soviet Union and the first Golf War. This last could have insured the U.S. continuing military preeminence, but this goal was compromised by Clinton's drawing down of our armed forces in the 1990s and Bush's response to 9/11 and the global war on terror.

Print length

432 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Encounter Books
Publication date

September 1, 2007
ISBN-10

1594032041
ISBN-13

978-1594032042
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Encounter Books; 1st edition (September 1, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594032041
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594032042
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds

Best Sellers Rank: #1,311,071 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #14,569 in American Military History
- #63,567 in United States History (Books)

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8 ratings

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William R. Hayes

Candor and Insight

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2007

Verified Purchase

For readers who are tired of over-intellectualizers, Fred Kagan's "Finding the Target: The Transformation of American Military Policy", will be an absolute breath of fresh air. Instructive without being academic, detailed without being tedious, Kagan sweeps the reader into the concepts, personalities, equipment, processes, and applications of "military transformation" and keeps the reader's brain focused on the topic until the very last page. His detailed review of the so-called "Revolution in Military Affairs" provides a much needed body of information to help those interested in the subject master it.

Sincerely,

Bill Hayes
Major, USMC (Ret.)
Retired Samurai

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Donald N. Anderson

Military planning must include the desired political results

Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2006

Verified Purchase

Frederick Kagan has written a very important book that may help guide our thinking about military transformation back onto the very successful path we pursued in the 70's and 80's. Our focus at that time on defeating the Soviet military threat with limited manpower and taking advantage of our all volunteer force gave us a military that is second to none in its ability to win against a stand-up enemy.

He points out (correctly I believe) that we have changed our focus from a specific future threat to the task of destroying abstract future improvements in such a stand-up enemy's army. The goal has become how we can improve our forces destructive capabilities rather than emphasizing the political goal to be achieved by a war. He believes we have gone adrift in our attempts to leapfrog generations of military hardware not because the equipment is not impressive or useful but because it does not efficiently address the process of imposing our will on an enemies political options.

Now that terrorist type enemies have emerged as the principal foe, we have been caught with a military still in some ways focused on how warfare might have evolved over the Fulda Gap.

He suggests we return to positing each potential enemy and planning what political outcome is needed if a war is necessary with that foe. We need to plan wars and their aftermath starting with the desired new political arrangement and work back toward the forces needed. The current hardware orientation is understandable given the budget competition among the services (and the various congressional delegations), but it is now obvious after the Afghanistan and Iraq experiences that refocusing on the political goals to be achieved is very necessary.

He includes some suggestions for augmentation of the regional combat commands with planning staffs focused on the desired post-war political arrangements.

Since Kagan's book is about the thinking necessary to generate military transformation, he makes very few suggestions about specific current problems. Among those items he offers is that because of the up close and personal nature of regime-change wars, our army and marines are undersized by about 200,000 men. Also the M-1 tank has received much criticism because its extreme weight seriously slows its deployability. Kagan defends it and shows that it's ability to work close to a potential foe without personnel loss is essential in the type of war we are now actually engaged in. While weight is a serious problem it's capabilities cannot be addressed by vehicles that must operate in a stand-off mode.

Frederick Kagan has written a valuable and clearly argued attempt to bring our military planning focus back to the actual potential enemies. I only hope everyone serious about the future of our country reads this book.

10 people found this helpful

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A focused lesson on the spotty history of transforming the military and how it needs to be tied tightly to reality, not theory

Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2007

Frederick Kagan is an influential thinker on the American Military. This book is his history of how our military has come to realize its need to change. He recounts how it has failed, at times, in those adaptations and how it has succeeded in others. It is when the theory of what the military should become gets divorced from the reality of what the actual threat in the world currently is that the greatest failures occur. The problem with these failures is that we can't afford them strategically or financially.

Kagan has pointed out that we have been under funding our military for more than a decade. Now that we are in a hot war in Iraq that shortage of personnel, the aging equipment that has not been replaced is causing a larger net depletion and leaves us less well defended.

While Kagan is disliked in some quarters and hated in others, he is influential because there are those in power who hear his words and appreciate what he is saying. Whether or not you agree with him, his influence requires you to read this book and make your own judgment. I found the history valuable and the arguments involving. Still, I wonder how billions of dollars in new jet fighters are going to help us against IEDs and suicide bombers. I do like his insistence that the military make its transformations intelligently and in light of both history and what we are actually facing around the world. I like his point that no one can prepare for a future war with future weapons because we are always trapped in the present and the future is never what anyone expects it to be.

Interesting book.

One person found this helpful

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