Military Participation in National Security Policy Making: The Commitment of Combat Forces in Vietnam.

摘要

This study examines the role of senior military leaders in the national security policy decisions that led to the commitment of US forces to combat in Vietnam in 1965. It provides an outline of the events leading up to those decisions, including descriptions of the key policy makers in the Johnson administration. Concluding that the military played a limited role in those decisions, the study gives reasons for the military leaders' exclusion from the policy process. Opposition from within the military to the commitment of US forces is also examined. The study ends by seeking implications for the future from the lessons of the Vietnam decisions. A more active role for military leaders and legislative changes are recommended. (SDW)