Book Review: Resourcing the National Security Enterprise

Considering the national security enterprise from the standpoint of strategic resourcing is neither simple nor straightforward.  Anyone aspiring to have a career in national security must understand the system and the processes involved in order to be effective. Resourcing the National Security Enterprise: Connecting the Ends and Means of US National Security, edited by retired army colonel Dr. Susan Bryant and former dean of the Eisenhower School at the National Defense University Dr. Mark Troutman, who are both now lead Strategic Education International, guides us through the complex inner workings of resourcing the national security enterprise.

The following is an excerpt from the book review by the journal Parameters, published by the Strategic Studies Institute at the US Army War College Press.

“This practical guide…identifies key problems in the field and provides recommendations on how to fix them…[it addresses] the US government’s methods of providing resources to agencies involved in national security—especially the Department of Defense and the Department of State, the US Agency for International Development, and the Department of Homeland Security—as well as support for UN peacekeeping…[with a] focus on the defense budget process, strategic choices associated with the defense force structure, military readiness, the roles of Congress and the National Security Council, and the link between defense planning and programming….The book explains how the Department of Defense balances the ‘four pillars’ of force structure, force posture, readiness, and modernization in developing strategy; examines the concept of readiness in detail; addresses the sequencing and timing of the budget process; and notes misalignment between the strategy formulation and programming phases…The book concludes with four excellent recommendations…Military officers unfamiliar with Washington’s ways will find Resourcing the National Security Enterprise—endorsed by retired Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster—a well-organized and lucid practical introduction to working within the confines of a bureaucracy.”

Resourcing the National Security Enterprise is part of the Cambria Rapid Communications in Conflict and Security (RCCS) Series (General Editor: Dr. Thomas G. Mahnken; founding editor: Dr. Geoffrey R. H. Burn).

See also Net Assessment and Military Strategy.

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