Charting the Nation’s Course
Research Report
Charting the Nation’s Course: Strategic Planning Processes in the 1952–53 “New Look” and the 1996–97 Quadrennial Defense Review
Patrick M. Condray
Copyright Date: Aug. 1, 1999
Published by: Air University Press
Pages: 64
OPEN ACCESS
https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep13803
Table of Contents
Export Selected Citations Export to NoodleTools Export to RefWorks Export to EasyBib Export a RIS file (For EndNote, ProCite, Reference Manager, Zotero, Mendeley...) Export a Text file (For BibTex)
Select / Unselect all
  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-i)
  2. Disclaimer
    Disclaimer (pp. ii-ii)
  3. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. iii-iv)
  4. Abstract
    Abstract (pp. v-vi)
  5. About the Author
    About the Author (pp. vii-viii)
  6. Acknowledgments
    Acknowledgments (pp. ix-ix)
  7. Chapter 1 Introduction
    Chapter 1 Introduction (pp. 1-6)

    Civilian and military leaders have conducted strategic planning since at least as far back as the Romans, when a system of diplomacy, carefully selected military deployments, and road and sea links was established to secure the far-flung territories of the empire.¹ The results of these plans have long been debated: Just what role was the German High Seas Fleet of the early twentieth century meant to play in its national strategy? Was the massive retaliation strategy of the 1950s a reasonable use of new technology to provide national security at sustainable cost or a dangerous gamble risking world annihilation over...

  8. Chapter 2 National Security Planning Processes
    Chapter 2 National Security Planning Processes (pp. 7-13)

    The basic strategic planning process is fairly simple. One reviews the interests of the organization being planned for, examines them in light of the context or environment they will operate in, and generates a strategy to achieve the interests within that context.¹ More recent articles have kept this same basic structure while expanding it to six steps: defining the mission, goals, and key values of an organization; situation analysis (external and internal); establish assumptions; set objectives and priorities; develop strategies and/or action plans; and design a system to ensure follow-up.²

    However, this apparently simple basic structure conceals a myriad of...

  9. Chapter 3 The New Look of 1952–53
    Chapter 3 The New Look of 1952–53 (pp. 15-32)

    As President Eisenhower took his oath of office on 20 January 1953, the world situation was not encouraging.¹ The Korean War dragged on, and another conflict in French Indochina threatened to pull in the United States. Europe was still recovering from World War II and seemed unable to agree on how to defend itself. Joseph Stalin remained in control of an atomic-capable Soviet Union that had swallowed eastern Europe, triggered the crisis which led to the Berlin airlift, and maintained far larger land forces than the United States. The apparent threat of monolithic communism loomed as an aggressive force that...

  10. Chapter 4 The Quadrennial Defense Review of 1996–97
    Chapter 4 The Quadrennial Defense Review of 1996–97 (pp. 33-52)

    The QDR was the most recent in a series of post-cold-war defense reviews. By now it seems cliché to run through the rapid changes in the modern world—the collapse of the Soviet Union, the possibility of computer-based information warfare, the proliferation of WMD, and the rise of peacekeeping/humanitarian operations in Somalia, Bosnia, and other places around the world. Without a single dominant enemy, the US national security context shifted to a more complex picture of regional threats (Iraq, North Korea, etc.), nontraditional actors such as terrorists, drug cartels, or even religious groups capable of carrying out unconventional attacks with...

  11. Chapter 5 Conclusions and Recommendations
    Chapter 5 Conclusions and Recommendations (pp. 53-56)

    Any planning process aimed at creating an integrated national security strategy will be unique in some fashion. The diverse and complex array of personalities, organizations, adversaries (real and imagined), technological issues, and other factors that can influence the objectives, conduct, and outcome of strategic planning make this a virtual certainty. Fully understanding how just one process unfolded involves a staggering amount of research—often into the realm of murky issues such as personal thoughts of leaders or organizational culture for key groups. The specific details produced by such research will be partly or almost completely irrelevant as soon as one...