The U.S. Military: Ready for the New World Order?

Will current strategic planning give the United States the sort of military capabilities that are needed to counter threats likely to occur in the future? Using first-hand experience at the Pentagon and an army background, Lieutenant Colonel Peters outlines serious problems, offers fresh insights into the defence planning process, and makes suggestions for developing an optimal force structure for the year 2000. This analysis utilises case studies of the Gulf War, departing from recent studies about military reform. Peters assesses the global security environment in this post-Cold War era and defines the risks and consequences likely to confront us. Employing the lens of organisational theory, he points to disjunctures between military and political policies and dysfunctional practices in the Defence Department. He describes the basic components in a force structure that would make the nation more secure militarily by the turn of the century.