64
would be quickly accepted and fully codified by the US Government’s industrial
procurement complex and normalize it for broader use later on.
The US Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest and oldest government organization in the country. Evolving out of the early observed practical need for effective armed forces to defend the United States even before they were formally
constituted, the DoD is now one of the world’s largest single landholders, with
approximately 28 million acres under its control in the United States, its territories,
and in nearly 40 countries (Brady 2014). In the first decades of the twenty-first century, it oversees well over half a trillion dollars annually and is responsible for purchasing everything needed to provision all branches of the US military and managing
the physical resources to support national defense.
In 1798, the US Congress created the War Department and Navy Department,
which would operate as independent agencies until they were merged due to national
budgetary realignments the mid-twentieth century that created the current US military industrial complex. Just after World War II, President Harry Truman, in a
December 19, 1945, speech to Congress, formally identified the need to reduce
duplicative and wasteful military spending of the nation’s limited financial, physical, and human resources caused by interdepartmental conflicts. In his Special
Message to the Congress Recommending the Establishment of the Department of
National Defense, Truman set a national priority to “realize the economies that can
be achieved through unified control of supply and service functions” (Truman 1945).
Adding support to this presidential announcement regarding budget consolidation, then Army Chief of Staff, General Dwight Eisenhower, proposed establishing
formal ties between military and civilian agencies. Academic and industrial partners
would be supported to spur creativity and innovation in broad areas of scientific and
technological inquiry to “directly benefit the Army” and “contribute to the nation’s
security by cultivating ‘friendships invaluable for future cooperation’.” In order to
start outsourcing advanced technological development, Eisenhower’s April 27,
1946, memo to the Directors and Chiefs of the War Department and others said:
The Army must have civilian assistance in military planning as well as for the production
of weapons Effective long-range military planning can be done only in the light of predicted
developments in science and technology. As further scientific achievements accelerate the
tempo and expand the area of our operations, this interrelationship will become of even
greater importance. In the past we have often deprived ourselves of vital help by limiting
our use of scientific and technological resources to contracts for equipment. More often
than not we can find much of the talent we need for comprehensive planning in industry or
universities. Proper employment of this talent requires that the civilian agency shall have
the benefit of our estimates of future military problems and shall work closely with Plans
and the Research and Development authorities. A most effective procedure is the letting of
contracts for aid in planning. The use of such a procedure will greatly enhance the validity
of our planning as well as ensure sounder strategic equipment programs. (Marcy 1980)
Two years after his first public recommendation, Truman signed the National
Security Act of 1947. This act established the formation of the Department of
Defense (DoD) as well as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National
Security Council (NSC) in order to not only increase efficiency but also efficacy of
the national security apparatus in its primary mission to defend the US Constitution
4 Do Something: Mid-twentieth Century Developments
would be quickly accepted and fully codified by the US Government’s industrial
procurement complex and normalize it for broader use later on.
The US Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest and oldest government organization in the country. Evolving out of the early observed practical need for effective armed forces to defend the United States even before they were formally
constituted, the DoD is now one of the world’s largest single landholders, with
approximately 28 million acres under its control in the United States, its territories,
and in nearly 40 countries (Brady 2014). In the first decades of the twenty-first century, it oversees well over half a trillion dollars annually and is responsible for purchasing everything needed to provision all branches of the US military and managing
the physical resources to support national defense.
In 1798, the US Congress created the War Department and Navy Department,
which would operate as independent agencies until they were merged due to national
budgetary realignments the mid-twentieth century that created the current US military industrial complex. Just after World War II, President Harry Truman, in a
December 19, 1945, speech to Congress, formally identified the need to reduce
duplicative and wasteful military spending of the nation’s limited financial, physical, and human resources caused by interdepartmental conflicts. In his Special
Message to the Congress Recommending the Establishment of the Department of
National Defense, Truman set a national priority to “realize the economies that can
be achieved through unified control of supply and service functions” (Truman 1945).
Adding support to this presidential announcement regarding budget consolidation, then Army Chief of Staff, General Dwight Eisenhower, proposed establishing
formal ties between military and civilian agencies. Academic and industrial partners
would be supported to spur creativity and innovation in broad areas of scientific and
technological inquiry to “directly benefit the Army” and “contribute to the nation’s
security by cultivating ‘friendships invaluable for future cooperation’.” In order to
start outsourcing advanced technological development, Eisenhower’s April 27,
1946, memo to the Directors and Chiefs of the War Department and others said:
The Army must have civilian assistance in military planning as well as for the production
of weapons Effective long-range military planning can be done only in the light of predicted
developments in science and technology. As further scientific achievements accelerate the
tempo and expand the area of our operations, this interrelationship will become of even
greater importance. In the past we have often deprived ourselves of vital help by limiting
our use of scientific and technological resources to contracts for equipment. More often
than not we can find much of the talent we need for comprehensive planning in industry or
universities. Proper employment of this talent requires that the civilian agency shall have
the benefit of our estimates of future military problems and shall work closely with Plans
and the Research and Development authorities. A most effective procedure is the letting of
contracts for aid in planning. The use of such a procedure will greatly enhance the validity
of our planning as well as ensure sounder strategic equipment programs. (Marcy 1980)
Two years after his first public recommendation, Truman signed the National
Security Act of 1947. This act established the formation of the Department of
Defense (DoD) as well as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National
Security Council (NSC) in order to not only increase efficiency but also efficacy of
the national security apparatus in its primary mission to defend the US Constitution
4 Do Something: Mid-twentieth Century Developments