Like my headline implies, this book made me question a lot of programs DoD has been pursuing for years and then failing to accelerate or resource in areas where we need to be going. Some of the chapters have repetitive parts but the author reinforces his core tenets. Thought provoking and the book is currently being circulated around the office.

Thought provoking and great insights but with a few material omissions. As others have noted this is an extremely thought provoking book. Perhaps the most disturbing is the discussion of war gaming a war with China and in most every Chinese initiated war China wins. A close runner-up was the lack of widespread commitment of other senate members to be as fully informed as possible on the military side of military affairs including budgets for specific projects. It's hard to document the claim that two issues were serious omissions but I think there were. There are seemingly minor details that are important Robert McNamara worked for Ford not GM. This is important for decisions at Ford by McNamara's accolates took Ford down to one of its smallest market share of the postwar years. McNamara gave Ford the Falcon , his successors brought out the Mustang. His arrogance cost billions and thousands of lives. McCain recognized the political folly of the initial "leased" Boeing Replacement Tanker Program but that is not discussed. Neither is the continuing debacle of the program, felony convictions/pleas of top Boeing execs and the Pentagon's civilian chief of procurement all associated with the ill-fated tanker program. Declared a near emergency need at the turn of the century, twenty later the tankers can not perform the mission and tens of billions over budget. To put the Tanker Program debacle in perspective, In July 1962 the US achieved its first orbital space flight and its first Moon landing 7 years later. In contrast the replacement tanker program has been in process Boeing was awarded the contract in 2002 , 19 years later and the tankers are not fully operational. Along the way both Boeing and a top civilian dod official did some hard time on felony corruption convictions/pleas. The author notes that in the event of an outbreak of war between the US and China the US ships must get far offshore to have even a chance of survival, well beyond the range of existing carrier based aircraft to attack Chinese forces. The lack of tankers, short range attack aircraft and light loads prevents the Navy from going deep inland. Part of the problem is that the Navy was induced to scrap the long range, extremely deadly F-14B and F-14X and replace them with the slower, shorter range , less carrying capacity F-18s (also made by Boeing) . The Navy had available at the time the F-14X upgrade program which would have converted the F-14 to an even more deadly fighter / bomber and equipped them with a follow-on to the Phoenix missiles, so badly needed to defend the fleet against airborne launched cruise missiles. In addition there were further upgrades in the works to give the Phoenix missiles extremely valuable capabilities. A further indication of the suspicious pattern is that DOD required that all F-14 tooling and parts be destroyed. The claim was made that the F-14s were maintenance hogs. Partly true but largely fixed with the F-14X digital conversion and new engines. While the maintenance hours per flight hour were problematical, when looked at in the big picture they were a rounding error in the 6,000 or so sailors in the Battle Group working 10-15 hour days and the thousands onshore supporting the effort. Does this matter, well yesterday the Chinese ran a practice attack on a US carrier as about 15 aircraft approached within 250 nautical miles of the carrier. Most certainly within range to launch enough hypersonic cruise missiles to virtually assure the carrier would be taken out of action or sent to the bottom of the ocean. As the author notes today's strategy requires that the carriers flee the area and standoff about 1,000 miles. Faster, much longer range F-14x aircraft with the next generation Phoenix would significantly reduce this threat. They would also do the same against large Russian aircraft carrying many cruise missiles. The F-35s will help overcome this deficiency but until they are fully operational and our Naval tanker capabilities redeveloped US capabilities are seriously compromised. The author makes many great observations regarding deficiencies in procurement management, in the Pentagon , Congress and White House. Examples discussed include the Army's failed attempt to acquire a new pistol. The 500 page request for proposals and flawed competition would be a joke were in not for the fact that the taxpayers precious dollars were wasted in the failed effort. An illustration of how perverted the situation has become was illustrated today with a note the the US Air Force had issued an RFP for a "modesty curtain" to be installed on our ancient B-52's because there were now female personnel flying missions. This is a need that should be solvable by a few individuals over a bottle of wine who would probably come up with better ideas, reviewed by an engineer on Monday and perhaps fabricated in one of the base shops. As others have noted it was USAF Col John Boyd who revolutionized the air to air combat, was shunned by top Brass while at the Pentagon and left to his own devices prepared his famous day long lecture on Winning and Loosing Wars that in turn helped rewrite the USMC land battle doctrine. Most all of this work done out of sight of his "leaders" . The author might have also given credit to leaders like Admiral Tom Connolly who sacrificed his career to save Naval aviation from the terminally flawed F-111B as an example of the character and courage needed in the Pentagon, Congress and the White House today and into the future. The author's descriptions of the challenges posed by an aggressive and expansive China should be taken to heart by every American. Unless we stop treating military procurement as a Chicago like spoils system and manage both what we buy and what we pay for it we are inviting Chinese military challenges and placing an even greater financial millstone around the necks of American taxpayers and their future generations. Overall , not perfect but a very important must read

This book will grab your attention, keep you spell bound and scare the heck out of you. The author was the Chief of Staff under Senator McCain for the Senate Armed Services Committee. This book is about new technology in the defense field and our inability to deal with it. The new technology comes in many forms. There now are missiles that fly 2 or 3 times faster than what is available now. The missiles can reach out many many thousands of miles more, enough to hit America from the other side of the world. Now computers are recently coming out on the market which are smaller and 2 or 3 times faster than previous computers. All of that combines to radically speed up the decision time for war operations. The author calls it the kill chain. The change doesn't stop there. The tactics used by our competitors has radically changed warfare. The examples the author uses comes from Russia. He reviews their invasion of "Little Green Men" in the Ukraine turned warfare upside down. They infiltrated troops into the land. Then they merged with dissent forces already in the country. Then the war stars, but on a small scale. Before you know it Russia grabbed Crimea and neutralized a huge slice of the Ukraine. That was the first time since WWII where borders changed. The last part of the book is the most scary. He relies on his experience in Congress. He cites several examples to show where the bureaucracy is incapable of change. The pressures of on going operations, turf wars, political desires to protect home based companies all have immobilized the bureaucracy. He also cites the case of the Army trying to get a new side arm. It took 17 million to test an off the shelf pistol. The case showed how fear of risk has layered on level after level of control and check. Those levels of course adds costs. That was just one weapons program. Can you imagine what the cost is as you expand that out to really big ticket things like carriers. It leads to the Pentagon to continue buying weapons it doesn't need and use tactics which really come out of WWII. As the Pentagon games go on the world's armies change. I think his point about the bureaucracy caught in a never ending loop also might explain other troubles across the globe. That leads to the scary part. Is the country ready for the future? Will it defend the nation for the future? If it isn't 9/11 might be a match strike in comparison.

This was a well-researched and well written book that was very informative.