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Professional military education resides in difficult circumstances. While external challenges from the Congress and the administration appear to constitute the most serious problems, the gravest concerns eminate from within the military establishment. Military education tends to vocationalize and specialize professional development rather than convey broad understanding. The political environment faced by the military generalist is not adequately confronted in the educational system nor is the indeterminacy of future strategic design.

The paper responds to a Joint Staff request for assistance in evaluating the effectiveness of the Joint planning process. Only mid-range general purpose force planning functions of the system are examined, including: The contribution of Joint force planning to deliberations within the Administration which result in federal budget allocation decisions; and methods and procedures now in use to develop recommendations by the JCS on forces. The JSOP is the only format remaining for military recommendations on US force levels and structure in the absence of budget restraints. No change in mid-range force planning suggested would eliminate that opportunity. System revisions proposed are instead designed to strengthen rationale supporting forces preferred by the JCS.

The study seeks to give decisionmakers an unclassified analysis of the nature and intensity of US/Soviet arms competition since World War II and to point out implications for future national security policy. The study places emphasis on the overall indicators of the race and strategic nuclear arms. Scholars have concluded that a quantitative arms race usually leads to war, but a qualitative one does not. The study sets up operational definitions for these type races, and tests the US/Soviet case by charting trends in military personnel, nuclear arms, defense expenditures and fear/hostility.

The purpose of the study was to explore the use of adaptive systems concepts and cybernetic modeling techniques in order to accomplish the task of force level planning. The intent is to link strategic level force planning with tactical level resource usage. (Author)