This War Really Matters

by Wilson, George C.

• ISBN13: 9781568024608
• ISBN10: 1568024606
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-11-01
• Publisher: Cq Pr

Summary

Drawing on nearly 40 years of news writing focused on military issues, George C. Wilson takes the reader through a fascinating, but little understood, process: how the Pentagon and Congress spend $500,000 a minute on guns and soldiers. Interweaving personal stories and insights from the major players throughout a fast-paced narrative, Wilson provides an inside look at how the 105th Congress and the Pentagon battled for a 250 billion dollar defense budget.Wilson demystifies the &BAD:"realpolitik&BAD:" among the individual armed forces and highly partisan members of Congress, as well as civilian and military leaders, thus giving a sense of the trade-offs involved on all sides. Exclusive interviews with major players&BAD:-including Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, Rep. David R. Obey, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Hugh H. Shelton&BAD:-relate their distinctive perspectives on how Congress allocates and the Pentagon spends defense dollars.Wilson takes a look ahead&BAD:-with a critical eye&BAD:-to the wars of the next century and asks tough questions: Are we ready for future wars or are we still preparing for the last war, the Cold War? Does the Pentagon need more money? Or can it really do its job with less?

Author Biography

George C. Wilson is the former chief defense correspondent for the Washington Post and is a columnist for Army Times, Navy Times, and Air Force Times.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
Lawrence J. Korb
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	1	(204)
Chapter Summaries	4	(7)
Firing the Opening Shot	11	(14)
Waiting for the Defense Review	16	(1)
Beginning the Sell	17	(3)
Cohen's Objectives	20	(5)
The Cautious Blueprint	25	(13)
Two-War Capability	27	(2)
Congressional Reaction	29	(3)
Cohen's Rebuttal	32	(2)
QDR Detractors	34	(2)
The Awkward Middle Ground	36	(2)
Looking Through the Military's End of the Telescope	38	(37)
Shalikashvili: ``No Billy Mitchells''	39	(4)
Civilian-Military Conflict	43	(2)
Combat: The Shaping Experience	45	(27)
Postscript	72	(3)
Guns Versus Butter	75	(9)
``Highway King'' Not Impressed	77	(1)
The Afterglow	78	(2)
Would It Last?	80	(4)
Spurning the Holy Grail	84	(7)
An Emerging Strategy	87	(2)
Obey's Explanation	89	(1)
Spotlighting the Joint Chiefs	89	(2)
Heating Up the Iron	91	(7)
In Defense of Clinton	92	(4)
Joint Chiefs' ``Wish List'': $17.5 Billion More	96	(2)
Realpolitik Behind the Scenes	98	(15)
The Retention Problem	99	(3)
Complicating Factors	102	(4)
The White House Offer	106	(2)
Livingston Blames, and Explains, the Process	108	(3)
The Upshot	111	(2)
Is There a Better Way?	113	(16)
Congress ``No Help?''	115	(1)
Knowledge Is Power	116	(1)
Livingston's Amiable Dissent	117	(2)
``Impediments to Discipline''	119	(7)
Doubts about Missile Defense	126	(2)
Unresolvable Problems	128	(1)
The Turnaround	129	(16)
Pay and Retirement Problems	132	(2)
Letters to Clinton	134	(2)
White House Meeting	136	(1)
Cohen Slam-dunks one	137	(2)
$288.8 Billion Approved	139	(2)
New ``Iron Triangle''	141	(1)
Obey's Warning	141	(4)
Shooting the Messenger: A Case History	145	(24)
High Stakes	147	(2)
Furor Over Privatization	149	(2)
The Case for Closing Bases	151	(2)
Preserving the Process	153	(4)
The Peters Memo	157	(3)
The Leak and Repercussions	160	(6)
Epilogue	166	(3)
Peering Into the Future	169	(24)
Secretary of Defense Cohen	169	(9)
Joint Chiefs chairman Shelton	178	(4)
Franklin Spinney, Pentagon Heretic	182	(11)
Summing Up	193	(12)
What I Think	194	(4)
Greider: a Kindred Soul	198	(4)
It Takes a President	202	(3)
Appendix	205	(28)
Glossary	205	(3)
The Federal Government Dollar---Where It comes From	208	(1)
Revenue by Source---Summary	209	(1)
The Federal Government Dollar---Where It Goes	210	(3)
Total Spending by Function	213	(1)
Discretionary Spending by Agency	214	(2)
Department of Defense Outlays by Service, 1945--2005	216	(6)
Department of Defense Manpower, 1940--2001	222	(5)
Military Force Trends	227	(1)
Department of Defense Budget Authority by Service, 1996--2005	228	(1)
Department of Defense Budget Authority by Title, 1996--2005	228	(1)
Where Military Dollars Are Spent	229	(2)
Procurement Dollars	231	(1)
The Pentagon	232	(1)
Index	233