Buying Military Transformation: Technological Innovation and the Defense Industry by Peter

Dombrowski; Eugene Gholz

Review by: Lawrence D. Freedman
Foreign Affairs, Vol. 86, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 2007), p. 169
Published by: Council on Foreign Relations
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20032307 .
Accessed: 16/06/2014 11:04

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Council on Foreign Relations is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Foreign
Affairs.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.77 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 11:04:52 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Recent Books
were a limited number of options for
dealing with him. The reliance on in
terviewsencouragesAlfonsi to develop The United States
his themesby reconstructing
encounters
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD
between presidents and their senior
officials. This works well for the admin
istration of Bush senior, because of the TheAmerican Way ofStrategy:US. Foreign
detail with which the events were cov Policy andtheAmerican Way ofLHfe. BY
ered.ButAlfonsi'smethod breaksdown M ICH A E L L IN D. Oxford University
when it comes to Bill Clinton and Bush Press, 2006, 304 pp. $24.00.
junior, as the coverage becomes much The growingbody of literaturethat
more sketchy. groundsdiscussionofU.S. foreignpolicy
in a deep knowledge of U.S. history receives
Buying
Military Transformation: a distinguishedandprovocativeaddition
TechnologicalInnovation and theDefense with Lind'snewbook.Lind'sencyclopedic
Industry. BY PETER DOMBROWSKI knowledgeofU.S. historyandextraordi
AND EUGENE GHOLZ. Columbia narygraspof the intellectualhistoryof
UniversityPress,2oo6,244pp. $45.oo. U.S. politics qualifyhim towritewith
This is an intriguingaddition to the great authorityand insightabout the
literatureonmilitary innovation.Dom developmentofAmericangrandstrategy
browskiandGholz test thehypothesis fromtheWashington administrationto
that the transformationof U.S. military thepresentday,and thisgenerallylevel
capabilitieswill requirea transformation headedandbalancedbookwill significantly
of the defense industrialbase, as stolid enhanceLind'sreputationin foreignpolicy
old corporationsaredisplacedbymore circles.The book'svaluegoes farbeyond
agileandentrepreneurial firmssteepedin the relevanceof itspolicyprescriptions,
the cultureof the informationeconomy. or even of Lind's own views on what "the
They describe in detail the collectionof Americanway of strategy"actuallyis.For
political and industrialprocessesatwork the risinggenerationof foreignpolicy
in four recentareasof innovation:small analysts,thisbook is an importantguide
ships,unmannedaerialvehicles,commu to the intellectual preparation that can
nications,and systemsintegration.As equip them for the careers they hope to
they do so, the extent of the advantages pursue.Lind'sformulation of thepurpose
of the traditionaldefense contractors ofAmericangrandstrategy-"to defend
becomes apparent-their close links theAmerican way of life by means that
with military customers,connections to do not endanger theAmerican way of
Congress,andgraspof the extraordinary life"-may not lead as quickly or as clearly
bureaucracyand regulatoryframework as he hopes to a greater national consensus
of the Pentagon. The authors claim to over what, at a given moment, the U.S.
have provided a new theory of military governmentshouldactuallydo.Never
innovation,althoughthecontext isvery theless,his insistencethatU.S. history
American. It all makes sense but is is an indispensableguide forAmerican
vaguelydepressing. strategy is a point well worth making as

FOREIGN AFFAIRS March/April 2007 [169]

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.77 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 11:04:52 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions