The Foreign Service Journal, March 2012

M A R C H 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 65 B OOKS A Tandem Couple State vs. Defense: The Battle to Define America’s Empire Stephen Glain, Crown Publishers, 2011, $26, hardcover, 485 pages. R EVIEWED BY W ILLIAM D. B ENT Is American foreign policy becom- ing too militaristic? The last decade has witnessed a blurring of the roles of the Foreign Service and the U.S. mil- itary in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other locales. Even casual observers can’t miss this trend, whether they’re reading recent articles in the Foreign Service Journal or viewing the ubiqui- tous pictures of helmeted, flak jacket- clad FS personnel on Facebook or blogs. Finding the proper balance be- tween diplomacy and force has be- come a particularly pressing challenge since 9/11, one that makes Stephen Glain’s State vs. Defense: The Battle to Define America’s Empire a worthy ad- dition to any foreign affairs practi- tioner’s bookshelf. The author’s prose is crisp and lively, and I found myself absorbed in his sometimes novelistic treatment of the heroes, villains and fools of U.S. foreign policy since World War II. Using examples from the early days of the Cold War to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its aftermath, Glain weaves a narrative showing how the American national security complex has built a legacy of “fraud, falsehood and decep- tion” in a relentless pursuit of its self- serving interests. He also does an excellent job of citing specific exam- ples to support his thesis that “the Pentagon has all but eclipsed the State Department at the center of U.S. for- eign policy.” Glain’s highly personal account be- gins with vignettes about growing up near Camp Pendleton and frequently draws on his experiences as a foreign correspondent. Reflecting on his life- long personal and professional deal- ings with military personnel, he concludes that their “growing preva- lence relative to their civilian counter- parts was more consistent with an empire than a republic.” Otherwise, for all its virtues State vs. Defense is hardly original. While Glain quotes 39 individuals he has in- terviewed over the course of his ca- reer, these sources don’t reveal much new. Similarly, much of his subject matter has already been covered by such luminaries as George Kennan and David Halberstam. The book’s title, evoking a tug of war between the Pentagon and Foggy Bottom for control of U.S. foreign pol- icy, is a bit misleading, as well. While it suggests a boring tome full of bu- reaucratic disputes over budgets, re- plete with graphs and figures, this book centers on the personalities in- volved in shaping postwar U.S. foreign policy. Furthermore, some of Glain’s vil- lains never worked for DOD, while a few of his heroes — George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower, for example —were military men by training. His comparison of Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright illustrates another difficulty in typecasting. Glain hails Powell, a general, as a hero, particu- larly in comparison with his predeces- sor, whom Glain views as a hawk even though she was an academic. Nor do all the author’s points hit their mark. For example, emphasiz- ing the fact that President Lyndon Johnson appointed Walt Rostow as na- tional security adviser on April 1, 1966 — April Fool’s Day — is gratuitous and petty. Glain also makes some glaring er- This book illuminates the perils of employing the wrong combination of strength and diplomacy to promote U.S. interests.