This work is a valuable research tool, for the author skillfully summarizes a variety of efforts to reform and transform the US (and other) militaries. Worley is most useful at sketching the history of those efforts and their relative degrees of success over time, and on focusing attention on the variety of meanings of the term transformation. In a series of chapters on the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Special Forces operations, Worley gives insights into the nature of change, the internal culture of the various services, and their strengths and weaknesses in dealing with systemic change. Calling reform and transformation a journey, not a destination, he enables the careful reader to discern some internal impediments to both. Rightly assuming that great power conflict is not over, Worley is forced to conclude that in terms of meeting the new challenges, there has been precious little accomplished in the post-Cold War era and that our troops deserve better. The present situation in Iraq seems to cogently underscore this observation….Recommended. Researchers, faculty, and practitioners.

Choice

Writing for students studying defense policy in the context of a graduate program in US government, Worley provides an account of the historical development of force development policy, which refers to the size and shape of military forces necessary to undergird declaratory and employment policy (drawing a distinction between what the government says about military force and what it does). He presents individual descriptions for each of the uniformed services and offers analysis on what is required to achieve unified command and action for future wars.

Reference & Research Book News

Dr. Robert Worley is a Fellow with John Hopkins and has held many prestigious academic positions, also serving as a defense policy analyst at the National Security and Army research Divisions and Rand and others; so his analysis of U.S. military force strengths and weaknesses provides a past, present and future assessment competing books miss. For over forty years there was consensus about the size and approach of U.S. military forces; since 1985 many changes have been made in the name of reforms. Worley argues the uniformed services as a whole is not a different force ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall: historical events explain belief systems, underlying influences, and more. A 'must' for any who would comprehend military makeup, history, and influences on change.

KNLS Bookwatch/California Bookwatch