Abstract:
Wyoming Congressman Richard Cheney had long been a faithful supporter of Pentagon spending and new weapons systems. But when, in the wake of the failed nomination of Texas Senator John Tower, Cheney almost overnight finds himself appointed secretary of defense, his challenge is budget-cutting, not build-up. With the budget process already in full swing, the Bush administration's new defense secretary must handle hard choices among politically popular weapons systems while struggling to take control of the vast Pentagon bureaucracy. At the same time, a sudden ostensible end to the Cold War calls into question the most basic assumptions underlying U.S. military deployment.