The Straw Giant
A former Pentagon correspondent and consultant to the Joint Chiefs, Hadley here provocatively explores the gulf between the armed services and the rest of society, the weakening effect of interservice rivalry, the flawed structure of the defense hierarchy, and a phenomenon he calls KAFCA (Keeping the Able from Contributing to the Action). Cautioning that our strategic forces are "expensively unready," he broods at length over the prevalent defense-establishment belief "that weapons can be designed that will turn mediocre soldiers into winners." Arguing for reform in the structure of the Joint Chief and its staff, he urges the direct funding of major defense missions rather than through the three services, as at present. The book includes a devastating analysis of the Desert One affairthe attempt to rescue the hostages in Iranwhich seems to expose nearly everything that was wrong, and still is, with our military establishment. Hadley's freewheeling criticism of the Defense Department makes a perfect complement to Edward Luttwak's grim The Pentagon and the Art of War. Author tour. (June 17Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.