Beyond Military Reform: American Defense Dilemmas by Jeffrey RecordReview by: Gregory F. TrevertonForeign Affairs, Vol. 67, No. 1 (Fall, 1988), p. 182Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20043692 .

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182 FOREIGN AFFAIRS

the considerable common ground in the various chapters is less than

encouraging about prospects, especially when Soviet leader Gorbachev has

already captured the high ground. For the consensus is clearer about what NATO must refuse than about what it can accept: it should refuse anything less than large and very asymmetrical reductions in tanks and other heavy

equipment, and nuclear weapons must be kept out of the negotiations. And, at least until now, the French approach to the issue has been "just say non."

BEYOND MILITARY REFORM: AMERICAN DEFENSE DILEMMAS.

By Jeffrey Record. Washington: Pergamon-Brassey's, 1988, 186 pp. Cast as a criticism of Congress' military reform movement?for being

overly occupied with operational details instead of broader strategy?this book is a vivid, terse statement of arguments Record has made before: that the United States has too many commitments and too few capabilities; that, in particular, it has too many troops in Europe; and that its military, in any case trained to fight the wrong war, is often sent into battle under political considerations that determine its defeat.

THE DEFENSE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE: WEAPONS ACQUI SITION. By J. Ronald Fox. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1988, 368 pp. $24.95.

Even before the latest scandals, most observers were tempted to avoid the subject of military procurement as too complicated, despite the fact that it has become a $130 billion-plus business. One who had not is J.

Ronald Fox, author a decade and a half ago of Arming America. This book is a readable analysis of the process. Its conclusions are thoughtful but focus

mostly on the Pentagon, reflecting the premise that, as one Hill staffer put it, "Congress will stop micromanaging when the Defense Department stops

mismanaging." Yet, dramatic improvements in Pentagon management will be slow at best; until then the U.S. seems trapped in a vicious circle?

Congress will respond to the most recent scandal with new layers of

paperwork that ensure that today's $600 toilet seat covers will cost twice that tomorrow.

INNOVATION AND THE ARMS RACE: HOW THE UNITED STATES AND THE SOVIET UNION DEVELOP NEW MILITARY

TECHNOLOGIES. By Matthew Evangelista. Ithaca (N.Y.): Cornell Uni

versity Press, 1988, 300 pp. $32.95.

"Technology fuels the arms race" is one of the unexamined maxims of

foreign affairs. This interesting book is an effort at remedy. Drawing on a

major case study of tactical nuclear weapons, it seeks to understand the

pressures for innovation that derive both from within and outside the two

superpowers. It concludes that in the United States "the impetus for

innovation in weapons technology comes from the bottom," while in the Soviet Union, given secrecy and rigidity, it is more likely to come from the

top; thus, the U.S. introduces, the Soviet Union reproduces, in quantity. The resulting policy prescription?U.S. technological restraint traded for

Soviet quantitative limits?is not new, but the analysis makes it more

interesting.

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