Technology, Strategy and National Security ed. by Franklin D. Margiotta, Ralph Sanders

Abstract

330 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Technology, Strategy and National Security. Edited by Franklin D. Margiottaand Ralph Sanders. Washington, D.C.: National Defense Uni­ versity Press (Fort Lesley J. McNair 20319), 1985. Pp. ix+197; figures, tables, notes, index. $3.75 (paper). Available from Supt. of Documents, U.S. Gov’t. Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402; stock no. 008-020-01027-8. The effectiveness of a nation’s defense system depends not only on technology but also on how that technology is integrated into military strategy and organization. This is the intriguing subject of the six essays in this volume, each of which was originally presented during the 1982—83 Dinner Seminar Series of the National Defense Uni­ versity. Although the essays vary greatly in their consideration of specific issues and in their quality of argument, each one raises a number of interesting and important issues. I. B. Holley’s “Technology and Strategy: A Historical Review” is likely to be the most interesting to readers of Technology and Culture. He argues that innovative technology makes possible strategies that will surprise an enemy who is likely to have prepared for strategies incorporating known technologies. Therefore, new technologies may provide two advantages: one derived directly from the enhanced ca­ pability provided by the technology itself and another gained when the enemy is surprised by an unanticipated strategy. Because the ele­ ment of surprise can be an important advantage, innovations need not be “high technology” in order to have profound effects on outcomes. Holley illustrates the effect of “low technology” with a set of ex­ amples that include drop tanks for airplanes, packaged troop rations, thejerrycan for gasoline distribution, duffel bag design, and the DUKW amphibious truck. All of these low and, in the case of the truck, medium technological innovations played important roles in various conflicts largely because they were unanticipated by the opponent. For example, the Allied Forces’ compact combat rations were a major contribution to the success of Patton’s Third Army against the Ger­ mans in World War II since the German retreat strategy was based, in part, on the expectation that the Allies would have supply problems. An implicit message in Holley’s essay is that military policymakers should not overemphasize high technology and exclude low technol­ ogy combined with strategy. This message is consistent with the po­ sition of the so-called reformers, a group of defense analysts, consultants, and staffers who emphasize “people, strategy and tactics, and hardware, in that priority” (p. 45). Arguments for and against the reformer position are addressed by Walter Kross, and Franklin Margiotta and Michael Maccoby explore some of the organizational and cultural effects of high technology on the armed forces. Jacques Gansler reviews the relationship between technological choice and the procurement process, and Barry Smernoff considers military space technology and culture Book Reviews 331 technology as both a source of military superiority and as a bargaining chip in arms control negotiations. Finally, Ralph Sanders examines the integration of technology with strategy and with operational concepts. Using a review of major tech­ nologies and strategies since World War II as a background, Sanders argues that neither technology, nor strategy, nor operational concepts dominate as the initiating force for changes. According to Sanders, “acute changes” in technology and military thought are like Kuhn’s paradigmatic changes. He does not consider that innovations in low technology may be the sources of paradigmatic shifts, although Hol­ ley’s essay suggests that perhaps they should be. In addition, Sanders forgets (as do most of the other authors in this book) that some shifts in policy are the result of actual changes in external threat or at least changes in our perceptions of our enemies. Dennis Yao Dr. Yao, assistant professor of public policy and management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, has written on the economics of defense procurement and regulatory technology-forcing in the automobile industry. Under the Cloud: The Decades of Nuclear Testing. By Richard L. Miller. New York: Free Press, 1986. Pp. xii + 547; illustrations, notes, ap­ pendixes, index. $24.95. Bombs in the Backyard: Atomic Testing and American Politics. By A. Costandina Titus. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1986...