The Political-Military Rivalry For Operational Control In U.S. Military Actions: A Soldier's Perspective (1998) By Lloyd J. Matthews
 
In our technologically correct military, it has been common practice over the past 20-30 years to celebrate at every turn the marvels of modern military communications. By the time the Vietnam War finally ground to a halt in early 1975, the use of communications satellites and airborne platforms to relay secure voice communications over global distances had become routine, and military publicists were ecstatic in proclaiming to the world this exciting new technological capability. Incompletely appreciated at the time, however, was the fact that the circuits used to connect the Pentagon with far-flung operational commands could also be used to connect the White House with those commands. This revolutionary development, making it feasible for the President sitting in the Oval Office to give orders to an operational commander on the other side of the globe in real time, carries with it both perils and opportunities. The following monograph by retired Colonel Lloyd J. Matthews, U.S. Army, presents a soldier's perspective of the operational implications of instant access to the battlefield by civilian leaders in Washington. It also suggests steps that might be taken to assure constructive collaboration between military and civil authorities, leaving each group to make its own essential contribution to success in the nation's military undertakings around the world.
 
Soft Cover
43 pages
In Good condition