Stand Up and Fight! The Creation of U.S. Security Organizations, 1942-2005
Abstract
Starting a new security organization is a difficult business. Hundreds of questions come in staccato bursts; each requires a decision and each decision takes on the permanence of tradition. Tradition becomes culture and a new organization becomes the sum of those early decisions. In this collection of essays, historians, most of them military officers, try to grapple with the challenges of creating new security organizations. Our aim is to help those few men and women who start new governmental bodies charged with protecting the American people to make sound and historically informed decisions by highlighting several common themes for consideration. We began this project in early-2011 when Colonel Greg Conti of West Point s Information Technology Operations Center asked us to assist the fledgling Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) as it sprang into existence under the command of General Keith Alexander. A series of cyber attacks around the world had galvanized Congress and the Department of Defense to act. Colonel Conti, working for General Alexander, wondered if historians might offer useful perspectives as USCYBERCOM made quick decisions about its future. In response to Colonel Conti s request, 14 historians at West Point, NY, volunteered to look at a variety of security organizations created since World War II. We looked at functional commands and regional commands, commands that thrived and commands that died, commands created in response to technological changes and those created during bursts of reform. We chose a wide variety of different commands to allow for the broadest view possible. Our analysis produced no easy answers on how to create an effective, efficient, stable and politically viable security organization. There proved to be no readymade, shake and bake formula. Smart people made the best decisions they could with limited information and time. Often, those decisions helped create great organizations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2015
- Accession Number
- ADA617855
Entities
People
- Jacqueline E. Whitt
- Ty Seidule
Organizations
- United States Army War College