Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

The defense budget implosion (VIII): Sir Michael Howard on how a financial squeeze can sharpen defense thinking

For part of my book, I decided to go back and check the origin of the thought often attributed to Sir Michael Howard, the World War II hero turned military historian, that everyone gets it wrong at the beginning of a war. I was told once at the Army War College that he continued the ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons

For part of my book, I decided to go back and check the origin of the thought often attributed to Sir Michael Howard, the World War II hero turned military historian, that everyone gets it wrong at the beginning of a war. I was told once at the Army War College that he continued the thought this way: so, the important thing is not to get it too wrong.

For part of my book, I decided to go back and check the origin of the thought often attributed to Sir Michael Howard, the World War II hero turned military historian, that everyone gets it wrong at the beginning of a war. I was told once at the Army War College that he continued the thought this way: so, the important thing is not to get it too wrong.

Well, it turns out that isn’t quite what he said, at least in the article I found, “Military Science in an Age of Peace,” published in the RUSI Journal in March 1974. What he said was that everybody gets it wrong so the important thing to do is develop the intellecutal capacity in officers to adjust faster than the other guy. That’s quite different.

Anyway, all that mess goes into the epilogue of my book. But in the same article he also has an interesting discussion of how to think about defense acquisition. New weapons and other purchases, he says, grow out of a “triangular dialogue between … operational requirements, technological feasibility and financial capability.” He continues:

In discerning operational requirements the real conceptual difficulties of military science occur. If there is not rigorous thinking at this level, neither technology nor money can help. With inadequate thinking about operational requirements, the best technology and the biggest budget in the world will only produce vast quantities of obsolete equipment; bigger and better resources for the wrong war. Indeed, it can sometimes be suggested . . . that ample resources can be positively bad for the military because this enables them to shelve the really vital question: what do we really need and why?

The defense budget is gonna go waaaay down, so might as well groove on the vibe, as it were.

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

Read More On Economics | Military

More from Foreign Policy

The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.
The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.

America Is a Heartbeat Away From a War It Could Lose

Global war is neither a theoretical contingency nor the fever dream of hawks and militarists.

A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.
A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.

The West’s Incoherent Critique of Israel’s Gaza Strategy

The reality of fighting Hamas in Gaza makes this war terrible one way or another.

Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.
Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.

Biden Owns the Israel-Palestine Conflict Now

In tying Washington to Israel’s war in Gaza, the U.S. president now shares responsibility for the broader conflict’s fate.

U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.
U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.

Taiwan’s Room to Maneuver Shrinks as Biden and Xi Meet

As the latest crisis in the straits wraps up, Taipei is on the back foot.