The Political-Military Rivalry for Operational Control in U.S. Military Actions: A Soldier's Perspective

iv, 43, [1] pages. Endnotes. Slight wear to the cover edges. The Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) is part of the U.S. Army War College and is the strategic level study agent for issues related to national security and military strategy with emphasis on geostrategic analysis. Studies produced by civilian and military analysts concern topics having strategic implications for the Army, the Department of Defense, and the larger national security community. Paraphrased from the Foreword by Larry M. Wortzel, SSI's Director: In our technologically correct military, it has been common practice over the past 20-30 years to celebrate the marvels of modern military communications. By the time the Vietnam War finally ground to a halt in early 1975, the use of communications satellites and airborne platforms to relay secure voice communications over global distances had become routine, and military publicists were ecstatic in proclaiming to the world this exciting new technological capability. Incompletely appreciated at the time, however, was the fact that the circuits used to connect the Pentagon with far-flung operational commands could also be used to connect the White House with those commands. This revolutionary development, making it feasible for the President sitting in the Oval Office to give orders to an operational commander on the other side of the globe in real time, carries with it both perils and opportunities. Retired Colonel Lloyd J. Matthews, U.S. Army, presents a soldier's perspective of the operational implications of instant access to the battlefield by civilian leaders in Washington. It also suggests steps that might be taken to assure constructive collaboration between military and civil authorities, leaving each group to make its own essential contribution to success in the nation's military undertakings around the world. The author is a retired U.S. Army colonel. His military assignments included command at platoon, company, and battalion level; advisory duty in Vietnam; editorship of Parameters, the Army War College quarterly; and the associate deanship of the U.S. Military Academy. …