The Pentagon Labyrinth
aims to help both newcomers and seasoned observers
learn how to grapple with the problems of national defense. Intended for readers who
are frustrated with the supercial nature of the debate on national security, this
handbook takes advantage of the insights of ten unique professionals, each with
decades of experience in the armed services, the Pentagon bureaucracy, Congress, the
intelligence community, military history, journalism and other disciplines. The short but
provocative essays will help you to:
• identify the decay— moral, mental and physical—in America’s defenses,
• understand the various “tribes” that run bureaucratic life in the Pentagon,
• appreciate what too many defense journalists are not doing, but should,
• conduct rst rate national security oversight instead of second rate theater,
• separate careerists from ethical professionals in senior military and civilian ranks,
• learn to critique strategies, distinguishing the useful from the agenda-driven,
• recognize the pervasive inuence of money in defense decision-making,
• unravel the budget games the Pentagon and Congress love to play,
• understand how to sort good weapons from bad—and avoid high cost failures, and
• reform the failed defense procurement system without changing a single law.
The handbook ends with lists of contacts, readings and Web sites carefully selected to
facilitate further understanding of the above, and more.
