The Pentagon and the Presidency: Civil-Military Relations from FDR To
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Naval War College Review Volume 59 Article 16 Number 2 Spring 2006 The eP ntagon and the Presidency: Civil-Military Relations from FDR to George W. Bush Gregory D. Foster Dale R. Herspring Follow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review Recommended Citation Foster, Gregory D. and Herspring, Dale R. (2006) "The eP ntagon and the Presidency: Civil-Military Relations from FDR to George W. Bush," Naval War College Review: Vol. 59 : No. 2 , Article 16. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol59/iss2/16 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Color profile: Disabled Composite Default screen 172 NAVAL WAR COLLEGE REVIEW Foster and Herspring: The Pentagon and the Presidency: Civil-Military Relations from FD doing so, the authors have bypassed any Civil-military relations are the subject discussion of older events that might of considerable scrutiny and debate have provided opportunities for some throughout the Clinton presidency. long-term perspective. Unfortunately, the academicians, jour- They report the recommendations of nalists, and occasional uniformed pro- Admiral David Jeremiah’s investigation fessionals who joined in that debate of the intelligence community’s failure have been inexplicably mute since the to provide advance warning of India’s Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld regime came to 1998 tests. Yet those recommenda- power. So this inquiry by Kansas State tions—including altering collection pri- University political science professor orities, better human intelligence, and Dale Herspring offers a welcome shot of improved coordination—are eerily sim- intellectual adrenalin to an enduringly ilar to those of the community’s post- important, if temporarily moribund, mortem of its failure to warn of India’s topic. Herspring confronts two issues 1974 test. The similarities raise a num- that are central to the canonical dis- ber of questions—possibly, that the in- course of civil-military relations: civil- telligence community has simply ian control of the military by elected proven it is unable or unwilling to cor- and appointed political officials, and rect its shortcomings. the political neutrality or nonneutrality of those in uniform. Herspring is well Another problem for the reader (al- qualified to address the subject, having though not the authors’ fault) is that spent twenty years as a foreign service the book only briefly refers to Opera- officer in relatively senior State Depart- tion IRAQI FREEDOM. There is only a ment and Defense Department assign- brief mention of Colin Powell’s presen- ments, as well as some thirty-two years tation of intelligence to the UN, and of combined active and reserve duty in none at all of the postwar findings on the Navy. U.S. intelligence performance. Had the book been completed a year or two Focusing his attention primarily on the later, these would have been prime top- senior ranks of the military—the con- ics. However, Combating Proliferation is trolled—rather than on the civilian not a book overtaken by events but controllers, Herspring considers the in- rather a valuable guide to the issues tersection of presidential leadership and concerning intelligence and military culture an arena of inevitable proliferation. conflict. Where the two are compatible, he argues, conflict is minimized; where JEFFREY T. RICHELSON they are not compatible, the frequency National Security Archive and intensity of conflict are magnified. He holds that since the Truman admin- istration the military has become pro- gressively more political, displaying common interest-group behavior by Herspring, Dale R. The Pentagon and the Presi- using Congress and the media to serve dency: Civil-Military Relations from FDR to George W. Bush. Lawrence: Univ. Press of Kansas, its own institutional self-interest at the 2005. 512pp. $45 expense of dutiful obedience to execu- tive civilian authority. Published by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2006 1 T:\Academic\NWC Review\NWC Review Spring 2006\Ventura\NWC Review Spring 2006.vp Tuesday, April 11, 2006 8:23:05 AM Color profile: Disabled Composite Default screen BOOK REVIEWS 173 Naval War College Review, Vol. 59 [2006], No. 2, Art. 16 Herspring devotes a chapter to each of (arguably for political patronage) and, the twelve presidencies from Franklin like Wesley Clark and Barry McCaffrey, D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush. Each to provide regular news commentary chapter, identical in structure, begins on controversial public policy issues; with a brief examination of the leader- the firings and resignations of selected ship style of the president concerned, senior officers (John Singlaub, Michael along with two or three case studies de- Dugan, Frederick Woerner, Ron picting the military’s reaction to it on Fogleman, even Eric Shinseki), and the particular critical issues, and concludes associated failure of senior officers to with a discussion of two questions: To accept responsibility for gross military what degree did the president’s leader- lapses like Abu Ghraib and the bomb- ship style mirror or violate military cul- ing of the Beirut Marine barracks, ture, and how did that style affect Khobar Towers, or the USS Cole; and, civil-military relations? Did military most notably, Iran-Contra and its after- culture change or employ new methods math, particularly the roles played by to oppose change? Robert McFarlane, John Poindexter, Conflict between senior civilian officials Oliver North, and Colin Powell. More and the senior military, though inevita- discussion on these issues would have ble, Herspring believes, can be miti- strengthened the author’s thesis and the gated by presidential behavior. Over reader’s understanding of military time, such conflict has been most pro- politicization and professionalism. nounced in administrations where pres- Although such omissions do not idential leadership style and military weaken the book noticeably, the au- culture have been most at odds. thor’s avoidance of normative judg- Herspring adjudges the level of conflict ment is a shortcoming worth noting. Is as high in the Johnson, Nixon, and conflict between civilian officials and Clinton administrations; moderate un- the military healthy or unhealthy? Is der Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, there a proper distinction to be drawn Carter, and George W. Bush; but mini- between responsible military dissent mal under Roosevelt, Ford, Reagan, and and disobedience? Which of the mili- George H. W. Bush. tary’s obligations takes precedence, du- This is a book that should command at- tiful obedience to civilian authority or tention from students of civil-military checking and balancing civilian impetu- relations. Although it is an interesting osity, ineptitude, or misconduct? read—thoroughly but not exhaustively Such questions remind us that civil- researched, tightly and coherently military relations are an endless contest structured—its ultimate value is as de- of principle and personality in democra- scriptive historical synthesis. It offers cies fledgling and mature. One suspects no conceptual breakthroughs and does that this contribution from Dale not examine in any detail such impor- Herspring will have the salutary effect of tant issues as the highly political behav- reminding us of that fact and rekindling ior of senior officers like Colin Powell much-needed debate on the subject. and Alexander Haig or the growing prac- GREGORY D. FOSTER tice of retired senior officers, like William Industrial College of the Armed Forces Crowe, to endorse presidential candidates National Defense University https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol59/iss2/16 2 T:\Academic\NWC Review\NWC Review Spring 2006\Ventura\NWC Review Spring 2006.vp Tuesday, April 11, 2006 8:23:05 AM.