Assignment: Pentagon: How to Excel in a Bureaucracy

Selected for the 2019 Commandant’s Professional Reading List, Assignment: Pentagon takes the reader on an insider’s tour of the Pentagon, describing how the headquarters for the world’s largest multinational “corporation” functions. The reader gains insights into how this bureaucracy functions as well as the stresses and strains inherent to such a complex organization. Now in its fifth edition, Assignment: Pentagon remains the best practical guide for anyone who works for the Pentagon or any other large bureaucracy.

Eminently readable, Assignment: Pentagon is the essential guide for the newly assigned military person, fresh civilian, or interested outsider to the Pentagon’s informal set of arrangements, networks, and functions that operate in the service and joint service world. With updated information about jobs and Pentagon vernacular, this fifth edition delivers a wealth of practical advice and helpful hints about surviving the challenges of working in “the Building.” If you’ve been assigned to the Pentagon or are starting work for any large company, you need to read Assignment: Pentagon.
 

Maj. Gen. Perry M. Smith, USAF (Ret.), is a teacher, speaker, TV and radio commentator, and best-selling author. During the 1991 Persian Gulf War he appeared as a military analyst for CNN, PBS, and NBC News. He is the coauthor of Rules and Tools for Leaders: From Developing Your Own Skills to Running Organizations of Any Size, Practical Advice for Leaders at All Levels. 

Col. Daniel M. Gerstein, USA (Ret.), is a national security professional and technology expert who has served the United States not only in senior government positions but also in uniform, industry, academia, and think tanks. He is a frequent news contributor and has published numerous books, articles, and commentaries, including most recently The Story of Technology: How We Got Here and What the Future Holds.