America the Vulnerable
Our Military Problems and How To Fix Them

Edited by John Lehman and Harvey Sicherman

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Preface: John H. Ball
America the Vulnerable: John F. Lehman and Harvey Sicherman
Roles and Missions: Donald Kagan
Superpowers Don’t Do Windows: John Hillen
The U.S. Presumption of Quick, Costless Wars: Andrew P. N. Erdman
Operations, Procurement, and Industrial Base: Harry G. Summers Jr.
Civil-Military Relations: Eliot A. Cohen

The U.S. Military Must Find Its Voice: Sam C. Sarkesian
An Uninformed Debate on Military Culture: Don M. Snider
Does Military Culture Matter?: Williamson Murray
Must U.S. Military Culture Reform?: John Hillen
The Case for National Missile Defense: Keith B. Payne
Rethinking Biochemical Dangers: Henry Sokolski

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Some four years ago, FPRI’s leadership became convinced that our national security was slowly but surely eroding under the impact of several trends, not least of which was complacency. In our view, emerging American vulnerabilities could and should be reduced without suffering another “Pearl Harbor” to awaken us to our responsibilities.

Tragically, on September 11, 2001 the United States was attacked in a latter-day version of Pearl Harbor. Suicidal terrorists exacted a horrific toll of civilians, both Americans and those of many other nations. Their weapon of choice: civilian airliners employed as cruise missiles against the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and other targets. We know now that despite the threat of massive American retaliation there are some who would attack us using any means available.

This disaster has set off in its wake a fresh review of our national security and our military forces. Such a review should be broadly cast, going beyond the immediate issues of air transportation and even terrorism. There are other vital deficiencies that should be remedied. Our study specifies five:

the “demilitarization of the military,”
the procurement dilemma,
the military-civilian cultural gap,
weapons of mass destruction, and
cyberwar.

America now lives in a more dangerous time and we must improve our defenses across the board. America the Vulnerable contains suggestions to do just that.

The volume — the culmination of four years of work and three conferences conducted by FPRI’s Defense Task Force (now the Program on National Security)— contains essays by the most respected strategic thinkers in the United States, including Donald Kagan, John Hillen, Eliot Cohen, Williamsom Murray, Don Snider, Sam Sarkesian, Keith Payne, Andrew Bacevich, Henry Sokolski, Winn Schwartau, Richard H. Harknett, Andrew P.N. Erdmann, and the late Harry G. Summers, Jr.

About the Editors

John Lehman, co-chairman of FPRI’s Defense Task Force, was Secretary of the Navy. He is Chairman of J.F. Lehman and Company, a private equity investment firm, and trustee of FPRI.

Harvey Sicherman, Ph.D., co-chairman of FPRI’s Defense Task Force, is President of FPRI and a former aide to three U.S. Secretaries of State.

Michael P. Noonan, coordinator of the Defense Task Force, is a Research Fellow in Military Affairs at FPRI. He has held a commission in the U.S. Army Reserve since 1993.

FPRI Wishes to Thank its 2011 Partners
Who help make all our programs possible.

On November 15th at the FPRI annual dinner Fouad Ajami was presented with the Seventh Annual Benjamin Franklin Public Service Award. The event was attended by over 360 people.
Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr. was dinner chairman.