Providing for the Common Defense? The Army Profession and Recent Arms Trade Reforms

Three administrative reforms within the Department of Defense--the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense (The Packard Commission of 1985), the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act (1986) and the Foreign Military Sales, Reinvention Initiatives (1996 to present)-have had a detrimental effect on the U.S. Army as a profession. Reforms that focused on streamlining bureaucratic processes for DOD weapons acquisition and arms exports have inadvertently compromised affective-based attributes that define the Army as a profession. This study employs concepts from sociological analysis to define "profession" and the functions unique to a profession in modern society. In light of these definitional and functional attributes, the study concludes that reforms in arms acquisition and exporting are actually contributing to a trend toward de-professionalization in the US Army.

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