A Look at U. S. Defense
DINERSTEIN, HERBERT S.
A Look at U.S. Defense The Great Arms Race. By Hanson W. Baldwin. Praeger. 116 pp. $2.95 Reviewed by Herbert S. Dinerstein Visiting professor, Institut Universitaire des Hautes Etudes...
...Until that time, many people had assumed that the U.S...
...would have to assume that our ability to retaliate would be destroyed in that attack, the mobile, invisible submarine is a first-class deterrent...
...The realization that the Soviet Union might possibly overtake us came as a shock...
...Baldwin sees the greatest opportunities for improvement in the civilian- military relationship...
...The basic law of sound organization—the coupling of authority with responsibility—has been broken in the Pentagon...
...2.95 Reviewed by Herbert S. Dinerstein Visiting professor, Institut Universitaire des Hautes Etudes Internationaux, Geneva WHEN THE SOVIETS launched their first earth satellite in 1957, the world suddenly became aware that the Soviet Union and the United States were engaged in a great arms race...
...Reform of this system rather than elimination of "service rivalry" is Baldwin's obvious preference...
...Thus, an independent, authoritative assessment of the state of the arms race was badly needed...
...Baldwin does not think in terms of an automatic and eternal nuclear stalemate...
...Hanson Baldwin, chief military correspondent of the New York Times, has now furnished such an analysis...
...But improvements are needed in the defense establishment...
...Baldwin feels that the professional military officers are not permitted to employ theii...
...And American superiority in nuclear weapons, he says, is rapidly disappearing...
...In his short book, Baldwin has brilliantly executed an urgent task: He has told us in sober terms where we stand in the arms race with the Soviet Union and has put forth provocative recommendations for improving our defense establishment...
...Yet Baldwin does not claim all the virtues for this weapon...
...Baldwin contends, and his arguments are persuasive, that civilians must take most of the blame for our past failures...
...For example, the decision to give the satellite program a low priority and limited funds was taken by civilians...
...Some service rivalries are deleterious and some officers have been intemperate in criticizing their superiors' actions...
...In his succinct but brilliant argument for the qualities of the missile-launching submarine, Baldwin permits no doubts about his true opinion...
...We are told that the long-range ballistic missile is a Soviet first, but that probably not very many are operationally ready now...
...There are a total of thirty civilian secretaries, assistant secretaries, or their equivalents in the Pentagon who can give directives to the military chiefs of the services, even though most of these civilians have no legal responsibility...
...The submarine, he says, is almost the ideal retaliation-deterrence weapon...
...But one of the main problems in the Pentagon is the tremendous civilian layer of bureaucracy that has been built up at the Department of Defense level and at the individual service level...
...training and experience to the best advantage...
...The Soviet production of long-range bombers is much less than was expected two years ago...
...Although the book is written with restraint, it constitutes a strong indictment of the civilian leadership, Republican and Democratic, of the Department of Defense...
...It had to distinguish between spectacular but ephemeral innovations and truly revolutionary military developments...
...War would become possible, he believes, if the Soviets became convinced that they were strong enough to attack the U.S...
...They are denied the guidance of clear-cut national policy decisions and suffer from meddling in their own sphere of competence...
...The co-ordination required among all these persons creates great delays in acting on requests even for small sums required for urgent research projects...
...ability to deliver nuclear weapons is superior, the situation is different in regard to ground forces...
...Furthermore, the book is obviously based on intimate and frequent contact on many levels with the U.S...
...The book furnishes the reader with many interesting facts and judgments...
...He is careful to point out that in a conventional war the missile-firing submarine would be of little use...
...The testimony of the service chiefs before Congressional committees—a source too often neglected — has been thoroughly combed...
...Baldwin's account is so simple and readable that many readers will fail to realize how voluminous is the information upon which it draws...
...Not only are Soviet ground forces still far larger than ours, they are also qualitatively superior...
...Baldwin's sobriety and detachment are not to be confused with the hedging which too often is the hallmark of the expert who tries to establish a good record as a prophet by exclaiming: "This weapon may revolutionize warfare but on the other hand it may not...
...without risk of effective retaliation...
...armed services...
...Since a sensible Soviet decision for a surprise attack on the U.S...
...Civilians should make more of the really basic decisions, which have profound political and economic consequences, and not avoid the issue by trying to fome the services to compromise...
...would automatically maintain its arms lead...
...The book argues that the Russian lead in missiles is balanced by American preponderance in other weapons, especially aircraft...
...Although Baldwin believes that at present U.S...
...But unless the U. S. "runs scared," Baldwin is reasonably confident that we can win the arms race...
...What makes it worse is that virtually all of the senior civilians are political appointees, who know little about the military and stay at their posts for only a brief time...
Vol. 42 • January 1959 • No. 1
