Providing for the Common Defense. The Effects of Recent Arms Trade Reform on the Army Profession.

摘要

Three administrative reforms within the Department of Defense--the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense (The Packard Commission of 1985), the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act (1986) and the Foreign Military Sales, Reinvention Initiatives (1996 to present)-have had a detrimental effect on the U.S. Army as a profession. Reforms that focused on streamlining bureaucratic processes for DOD weapons acquisition and arms exports have inadvertently compromised affective-based attributes that define the Army as a profession. This study employs concepts from sociological analysis to define profession and the functions unique to a profession in modern society. In light of these definitional and functional attributes, the study concludes that reforms in arms acquisition and exporting are actually contributing to a trend toward de-professionalization in the US Army.