Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrived at the Pentagon in 2001 with an agenda that included the transformation of the American armed forces. His intent was to modernize the existing force while simultaneously developing high-tech innovations to revolutionize the military of the future. The primary architect of transformation, Arthur Cebrowski, conceived what is known as network-centric warfare--a concept to leverage advances in military technology that will influence the U.S. Armed Forces for many decades to come. The basis of this work was Arthur Cebrowski's autobiographical history of the development of network-centric warfare. He passed away, however, before he could complete his account. Blaker has used much of the material gathered by Cebrowski to craft a history based on the former naval officer's own writings, testimony, and interviews of Cebrowski conducted by a variety of individuals in the media and military during his time in Washington, D.C. Transforming Military Force is also an examination of the successes and failures of this new form of warfare, analyzing what has been done in the past and offering suggestions on the future direction of this form of conflict.

Maintaining that enhanced national security and successful foreign policy depend on the capacity to sustain military forces abroad, this book provides a framework for dealing with the tough decisions about overseas basing that will emerge during the remainder of this century. The author argues that what is most important to national security and the optimum performance of individual bases is the capacity of the full basing system to move and employ military forces. Presenting a global, systems perspective for all overseas basing, he demonstrates that the value of individual bases depends on their ability to interact with each other. This system describes the bases as points in an integrated network and defines the utility of a given base not only in terms of the functions that base performs for the region in which it is located, but also in terms of how it fits with and contributes to the entire basing system.

The book begins with a brief history and overview of the current basing system. Then, moving beyond the basic questions regarding overseas basing in the future--How much basing is enough? Where should overseas bases exist? Which ones are most vital?--the author looks at the current crises in the basing system and reviews practical solutions that might be applied for better use of the bases. Students and scholars of foreign policy, as well as policy makers and military strategists, will find valuable ideas in this important new book.