Black Berets and the Berry Amendment: Politics, Parochialism, and the Press

Abstract

This paper explores the Berry Amendment and how this important and sometime parochial legislation has affected Department of Defense strategic procurements in recent years. It focuses on a single incident the procurement of the Army's Black Berets a strategic decision on the part of the Army Chief of Staff and the Army's symbol of transformation. But more importantly it shows how this one seminal event caused doubt about the Defense Logistic Agency's ability to deliver goods in time of war. It also demonstrates how politics and parochialism can affect an otherwise benign and insignificant procurement of one piece of military headgear and move it to the center of public and political opinion illustrating the complexity of logistics at the strategic level.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 15, 2006
Accession Number
ADA449140

Entities

People

  • William E. Zeller

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Army Personnel
  • Commerce
  • Congress
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • Department Of Defense
  • Governments
  • Law
  • Logistics
  • Military Procurement
  • Personnel Management
  • Procurement
  • Small Business
  • Supply Chain
  • Textiles
  • United States
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Government Contracting/Procurement.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.