CSBA announces the release of the seminal 1992 report, “The Military-Technical Revolution: A Preliminary Assessment.” Written by Dr. Andrew Krepinevich for the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment (ONA), this is the first time the document has been made available to the public. Included in this edition are a foreword by Mr. Andrew Marshall, director of ONA, and a new introduction by the author.

On August 1, 1991, Dr. Krepinevich, then military assistant to Mr. Marshall, was tasked with writing a new kind of assessment for the Pentagon - one that explored whether or not a major shift of military warfare was underway. Soviet military theorists had long been concerned that US technological developments were going to fundamentally change the nature of security competition. The Pentagon needed to know if they were right.

Through numerous meetings with Defense Department experts and the security studies community, Dr. Krepinevich focused on four key issues relevant to technological advancements and their affect on warfare:

• How does one identify appropriate technological and strategic innovations?

• How can a government foster innovation?

• How can the acquisition process be changed to better support field experimentation?

• How can the United States involve its allies? What roles would they play?

The report’s view of the future remains startlingly relevant today. It addresses dissuading potential enemies, a concept that has become a pillar of the Bush Administration defense strategy. It also elaborates on asymmetric threats that have become all too real in recent years. Yet, the question still remains whether the United States will take advantage of the opportunity to use that knowledge to shape the future. Now, as it was ten years ago, this report is a good place to start.

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If you would like to order a copy of the report, please click here.