Civil-Military Relations and the Potential to Influence: A Look at the National Security Decision-Making Process

This article argues that the civil-military turbulence witnessed at the outset of the Clinton Administration was a contemporary manifestation of longer-term systemic trends of professional preparation among top-level civilian and military officials. The U.S. military since Vietnam has altered its attitude towards political-military knowledge, experience, and higher education. At the same time, civilian officials have declined in national security expertise-this trend partially caused by the end of the draft and the civilian reaction to Vietnam. The confluence of an increasingly politically savvy military and less militarily experienced civilian leadership has resulted in more military influence in the national security decision-making process. When civilian and military preferences diverged in 1993, civil-military tension heightened as military arguments prevailed. However, the key to restoring the balance in U.S. civil-military relations lies not in restraining military behavior, but in enhancing and promoting civilian professional preparation.