Making Defense Reform Work; American Defense Annual, 1990-1991

In 1986 Congress passed the Goldwater-Nichols bill, aiming to strengthen "joint" military voices over those of individual services in defense policymaking, and the president established the Packard Commission to overhaul defense management. How have results been so far? "Mixed" is the answer of the distinguished authors of the Blackwell-Blechman volume, an answer less heartening still, since it was mostly written before the revolutions of 1989. Defense reform is one of a number of topics covered in the Kruzel volume, the sixth in a series of valuable yearly, nonpartisan reviews of American security policy, which also contains useful source material.