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The Army after Next The First Postindustrial Army
Thomas K. Adams
Book Code: C8107
ISBN: 0-275-98107-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-98107-5
336 pages, 2 figures
Praeger Security International General Interest-Cloth
Publication: 10/30/2006
List Price: $49.95 (UK Sterling Price: £27.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects: Reviews:
  • Security consultant Adams attempts to analyze the revolution in military affairs (RMA) that began in the 1990s and how it impacted US forces in combat in the "global war on terror." The author contends that the Department of Defense believed that RMAs, consisting primarily of technological innovations, could transform the US armed forces and thereby "reduce conventional forces." He asserts that the former "combined with new doctrine and organization could be employed to shock and stun an adversary with precision air power in such a way that its will and capability were shattered without the need for largescale ground combat." But as these superbly written 11 chapters illustrate, despite new and improved push-button warfare hardware, tactics, and doctrine, the global war on terror has proven that in the end "infantry and heavy armor are the only existing ways to seize and hold ground against determined opposition." Highly recommended. All academic levels/libraries.
    —Choice     September 2007
  • [T]he Army after Next is "spot on" and Tom Adams is something of a prophet....[a] well-documented, well-reasoned, and well-written piece of work by a highly experienced practitioner. This book should be mandatory reading for citizens as well as decision-policy-and opinion makers. At base, The Army after Next deals with the issue of security--our security. Too few of us have paid much attention. Pay attention now.
    —Parameters     Summer 2007
  • In recent years, many military theorists became convinced that new information technologies were generating a "revolution in military affairs" (RMA). In response, the Department of Defense undertook to transform the U.S. Armed Forces by adopting RMA concepts. In this study, national security consultant Adams critically examines the U.S. Army's attempts to make this hypothetical revolution a reality. Particular attention is paid to the effects of RMA concepts on American operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
    —Reference & Research Book News     February 2007
Description: Sure to be found controversial by some, compelling by all, this is the only available book-length examination of the way the U.S. Army and Department of Defense have tried to create the capabilities promised by the high-tech Revolution in Military Affairs. Of more immediate concern, it is also the only in-depth account of the effect RMA and transformation concepts had on the American operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many of the problems in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Adams argues, arose from the DoD's implacable desire to implement RMA-driven transformation concepts-whether they were appropriate or not. What we need to do, he maintains, is to fight the war we have, not the war we want. Over the last several decades, military theorists and others began to believe that new technologies were generating a "revolution in military affairs" (RMA), capabilities so revolutionary that they would redefine warfare. Spurred by these beliefs, and led by President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the Department of Defense (DoD) set out to transform the U.S. armed forces by adopting RMA concepts-and spending billions to make the hypothetical capabilities real. The entire structure of the armed forces changed as a result. This vision, however, was totally dependent on a set of unproven suppositions and often nonexistent capabilities, especially a network of information technologies. Moreover, the services, the media, Congress, and industry each had its own agenda, all of which continue to come into play in the development of RMA strategies. The interplay of politics, technology and military reality offers a fascinating narrative.
LC Card Number: 2006021062
LCC Class: UA25
Dewey Class: 355
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