Publication

The author reviews the internal politics of the defense agencies in the US and the United Kingdom. He finds that both share the problem of interservice rivalry over resource allocation to competing service missions and weapons systems. The intramural rivalry obstructs coherent defense planning. Subsequently, the author proposes a hypothetical, "ideal" organization, which includes a powerful central staff, a planning, programming and budgeting system with functional categories for specific service tasks, a long-term budget system for future planning, and most importantly a permanent cadre of civilian staff at the highest level.