National Security: Organizing the Armed Forces

In: Armed forces & society: official journal of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society : an interdisciplinary journal, Band 14, Heft 1, S. 85-112

Abstract

The primary impact of the US constitutional system on the issues associated with organizing the armed services seems to be the inability of the US to create a security apparatus with a truly national perspective. The result of this fragmented national security system has been an organizational & decision-making process that reflects the incomplete centralization of authority over the military. Incomplete centralization, in turn, allows the perspectives of the individual services to dominate the institutional environment & to control -- to a considerable degree -- the functions & structure of the armed forces. Most important, incomplete centralization & service dominance detract from the nation's ability to carry out the critical functions of strategic planning & advice, resource allocation, force structuring, & joint operations. Modified HA