Book Reviews : Arming America: How the U.S. Buys Weapons. By J. RONALD Fox. (Boston: Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, 1974. Pp. viii, 484. $15.00.)

• Author: Carroll R. McKibbin
• DOI: 10.1177/106591297502800126
• Published date: 01 March 1975
• Date: 01 March 1975
• Subject Matter: Articles

221

tion

is

held,

Dr.

Milton

Eisenhower

should

certainly

serve

on

it

as

did

Madison

and

other

great

statesmen

nearly

two

centuries

ago.

California

State

University,

Northridge

ROY

V.

PEEL

Arming

America:

How

the

U.S.

Buys

Weapons.

By

J.

RONALD

Fox.

(Boston:

Graduate

School

of

Business

Administration,

Harvard

University,

1974.

Pp.

viii,

484.

$15.00.)

This

book

is

a

follow-on

to

two

earlier

books

by

the

same

publisher

which

examined

other

aspects

of

the

weapons

acquisition

process.

The

first

of

these

books,

The

Weapons

Acquisition

Process:

An

Economic

Analysis

( 1962)

by

Mor-

ton

J.

Peck

and

Frederic

M.

Scherer,

described

the

basic

weapons

acquisition

process

and

provided

an

economic

analysis.

The

second

volume,

The

Weapons

Acquisition

Process:

Economic

Incentives

( 1964)

by

Frederic

M.

Scherer,

added

to

the

first

but

was

basically

a

study

of

economic

incentives.

Fox’s

volume

is

a

critical

study

of

management

of

the

weapons

acquisition

process.

His

purpose

is

the

identification

and

analysis

of

recurring

problems

in

that

process.

Fox

has

unique

qualifications

for

conducting

this

study

in

that

he

combines

an

extensive

academic

background

with

considerable

experience

as

an

executive

in

the

Department

of

Defense,

including

three

years

as

Assistant

Secretary

of

the

Army

responsible

for

procurement,

contracting,

logistics,

and

installations

activities.

The

richness

of

the

author’s

background

in

the

subject

area

is

obvious

as

he

pre-

sents

an

intricate

mosaic

of

descriptions

of

regulations

and

practices,

tables

and

diagrams,

case

studies,

interviews,

and

analyses

and

recommendations.

Arming

America

is

not

intended

for

the

casual

reader.

Indeed,

Fox

very

kindly

provides

the

reader

with

options,

depending

upon

the

purpose

in

reading

the

book,

for

progressing

chapter-by-chapter.

Specifically,

the

book

is

intended

for

&dquo;policy

makers,

management

personnel

within

Government

and

industry,

and

students

of

business

administration

and

public

policy.&dquo;

Because

of

the

encyclopedic

nature

of

the

book,

readers

with

a

specific

and

intense

interest

in

weapons

acquisition

will

derive

the

greatest

benefit.

Those

who

have

philosophic

interests

in national

security

matters

will

no

doubt

be

disappointed

as this

book

is

restricted

to

a

comprehensive

review

and

analysis

of

the

weapons

acquisition

process.

The

enormity

of

the

problems

reviewed

in

Fox’s

study

is

exemplified

by

a

couple

of

facts,

among

many,

which

he

presents:

&dquo;In

1970

the

Department

of

Defense

wrote

more

than

ten

million

contracts

(5,000

per

working

hour).&dquo;

&dquo;About

90

percent

of

the

major

weapon

systems

that

the

Defense

Department

procures

end

up

costing

at

least

twice

as

much

as

was

originally

intended.&dquo;

With

the

need

for

such

a

study

clearly,

and

rather

easily

established,

Fox

identifies

the

sources

of

the

many

deficiencies

in

the

weapons

acquisition

process,

and

with

few

surprises.

Congress

is

portrayed

as

ill-informed,

irrational,

parochial,

and

largely

disinterested

in

the

acquisition

process.

The

military

is

dealt

with

a

little

less

harshly,

but

Fox

does

provide

a

detailed

review

of

such

problems

as

assign-