America's Army: A Model for Interagency Effectiveness(Praeger Security International)

The United States faces extraordinary challenges on both the strategic and operational levels. At the strategic level, the national security environment is in flux and many of the structures, concepts, and methods of the past no longer apply to the conditions we now face. Containment, the alliance system, our military doctrine, and many other elements of national security policy were not designed for prolonged struggle with militant Islam, an ascendant China, a Russia which is no longer a containable super power enemy but a rival for influence at America's expense, a decline in American influence, and a sharply divided American polity. Generals Zeb Bradford and Frederic Brown, co-authors of the highly influential book on the U.S. military in Vietnam, U.S. Army in Transition, have teamed up again to discuss the need for a new era of transition within the Armed Forces. Bradford and Brown point to the current war in Iraq, a lack of interagency competence across the national government, and the botched disaster relief efforts of Katrina as glaring examples of the failure of America's Army to adapt to present-day challenges. Given the rapid and dramatic changes throughout the world, the authors stress how selective adaptation of specific programs and procedures can contribute to improving policy execution within and across all facets of government, including the armed forces. Yet this adaptation to change must be institutionalized, requiring the Army to become a constantly evolving learning organization. Only within this context can the army manage to act on the myriad demands of the day including taking the leadership in international cooperation, fighting the amorphous enemy of The Long War against terrorism, responding effectively to disaster scenarios, and engaging in stabilization and reconstruction efforts around the world.

Table of Contents:
Foreword: Competence and Capability in National Security Chapter I: National Security in a World Transformed Chapter II: The Long War War Chapter III: Americas Army Today Chapter IV: Sustaining Excellence - The Volunteer Force Chapter V: Improved Responsiveness as a Learning Organization Chapter VI: Imperatives for Tomorrow Organizational Adaptation to Continuing Change Chapter VII: Teams of Leaders An Implementation Force Multiplier Chapter VIII: Homeland Defense First Responding Chapter IX: Hedges Planning for the Contingent Chapter X: Conclusions

About the Author :
ZEB B. BRADFORD, JR. (Brig. Gen., U.S. Army, Retired) is a business consultant and national security analyst. A graduate of West Point, he taught politics and economics at the Military Academy. He is also a graduate of Harvard University's Graduate School of Government and of its Senior Executive Seminar on National and Intl Security. He was Senior Military Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Resident Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Intl Center for Scholars. A highly-decorated combat arms officer, he served in numerous command and staff positions in the United States, Vietnam, Korea, and Europe, including service as head of strategic planning at NATO headquarters in Belgium. He is a widely published author on national security affairs, co-authoring with Frederic Brown the influential United States Army in Transition on the rebuilding of the Army after Vietnam. FREDERIC J. BROWN (Lt. Gen., U.S. Army, Retired) is currently Senior Mentor for establishing Knowledge Management in the U.S. European Command. He received his doctorate, as a West Point Olmsted Scholar, from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. As a military officer he commanded army units at virtually every level in the United States, Germany, and Vietnam, including as Chief of Armor and Cavalry where he was deeply involved in rebuilding the American armored forces prior to Desert Storm. He has also served in the Office of the Army Chief of Staff, the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the National Security Council Staff and the West Wing White House staff. He is co-author, with Zeb Bradford, of United States Army in Transition and author of the subsequent The United States Army in Transition II: Landpower in the Information Age.

Review :
Twenty-five years after their 1973 collabortion, The U.S. Army in Transition, authors Zeb B. Bradford Jr. and Frederic J. Brown have teamed up again to present America's Army, an in-depth argument for the Army's cascade of excellence to be exploited and emulated within the cultures and practices of other. . . agencies of federal, state and local governance. [A] timely and relevant book. . . . Those involved in defense, management, and leadership will gain immensely from the book's holistic perspective and insightful examples. The book is well written and provides a ready reference to the evolution of the American Army in this new world. The detailed presentation of ongoing Army initiatives to achieve its strategic imperatives will inform military professionals and civilian readers alike. Both groups will no doubt benefit from reflection on the policy-strategy-execution recommendations provided by two well-thought leaders. America's Army is relevant to the Air Force community insofar as it details, in great depth, the perspective of land-power advocates in the national-security arena. It is important that airpower advocates understand such a perspective in the competition for resources and ideas.