Transforming Military Force: The Legacy of Arthur Cebrowski and Network Centric Warfare

(Hardback)

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Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrived at the Pentagon in 2001 with an agenda that included the transformation of the American armed forces. His intent was to modernize the existing force while simultaneously developing high-tech innovations to revolutionize the military of the future.The primary architect of transformation, Arthur Cebrowski, conceived what is known as network-centric warfarea concept to leverage advances in military technology that will influence the U.S. Armed Forces for many decades to come. The basis of this work was Arthur Cebrowski's autobiographical history of the development of network-centric warfare. He passed away, however, before he could complete his account. Blaker has used much of the material gathered by Cebrowski to craft a history based on the former naval officer's own writings, testimony, and interviews of Cebrowski conducted by a variety of individuals in the media and military during his time in Washington, D.C. Transforming Military Force is also an examination of the successes and failures of this new form of warfare, analyzing what has been done in the past and offering suggestions on the future direction of this form of conflict.

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Blaker spent October 2001 to November 2005 meeting frequently with the late Vice Admiral (ret.) Arthur K. Cebrowski and listening to him outline his ideas on military transformation, ideas he was in a position to implement as he spent most of this period as Director of the Office of Force Transformation in the US Department of Defense. Blaker takes the reader through Cebrowski's views of network- centric warfare and how it should be adopted by the US military. Blaker also assesses Cebrowski's influence while at the Office of Force Transformation and describes his perspective on bureaucratic infighting while at the Pentagon. * Reference & Research Book News *

Author Bio

James R. Blaker is a vice president and senior analyst at the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Previously, he served as senior advisor to the Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Analysis, and Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force. Dr. Blaker is the author of United States Overseas Basing: An Anatomy of the Dilemma (Praeger, 1990).