Putting the Military Back into the History of the Military-Industrial Complex: The Management of Technological Innovation in the U.S. Army, 1945–1960

Isis ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 106 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas C. Lassman
Keyword(s):  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military ◽  
The U.S

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas I. Faith
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Chemical Warfare ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Institutional History ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military ◽  
The U.S

This book documents the institutional history of the Chemical Warfare Service (CWS), the U.S. Army organization responsible for chemical warfare, from its origins in 1917 through Amos A. Fries's departure as CWS chief in 1929. It examines the U.S. chemical warfare program as it developed before the nation began sending soldiers to fight in France during World War I; the American Expeditionary Force's experiences with poison gas on the Western Front; the CWS's struggle to continue its chemical weapons program in a hostile political environment after the war; and CWS efforts to improve its public image as well as its reputation in the military in the first half of the 1920s. The book concludes with an assessment of the CWS's successes and failures in the second half of the 1920s. Through the story of the CWS, the book shows how the autonomy of the military-industrial complex can be limited when policymakers are confronted with pervasive, hostile public opinion.

The 21st-Century Turn to Culture: American Exceptionalism

2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 794-796
Author(s):  
Rochelle Davis
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
21St Century ◽  
American Exceptionalism ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military ◽  
The U.S

The U.S. Military's turn to culture in the 21st century occurred largely because of its inability to achieve its stated objectives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through conventional military force. Building on a long history of military strategies concerned with the cultural differences of others, the U.S. military crafted a warfighting strategy in 2006 based on a counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine of using cultural knowledge to battle the enemy. Charting how and why culture was embraced as a 21st-century “weapons system” shows us how technopolitical systems inside the military-industrial complex are envisioned, built, and then dismantled. Close tracking of these changing 21st-century strategies of war reveals, deep within the counterterrorism discourse, a fundamental belief in American exceptionalism. The principle that emerged from this ideological environment is that the enemies to be fought are not only terrorists or the ideologues of al-Qaʿida but also the countries and cultures that produced them. The implementation of this principle, despite its obvious failures, reveals the ideological underpinning that has justified the incredible destruction and securitized implementation of warfighting.

scholarly journals Olonets Metal Works as a Centre of Military Production in Russian Historiography

2021 ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Timofey V. Alekseev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Of Innovations ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Military Industry ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
Organizational Experience ◽  
Production Experience ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military ◽  
Military Production

The paper deals with the history of the Olonets metal works – one of the centres of military industry in pre-revolutionary Russia. It aimed to analyse the views of Russian researchers on the problems of military production at these plants and their role in providing the army and navy with weapons in the 18th – еarly 20th centuries. The works of the pre-revolutionary, Soviet, and post-Soviet periods were studied. The relevance of this research is substantiated by the need for an in-depth examination of such a phenomenon in Russian history as the military-industrial complex and its prototype represented by the military industry of pre-revolutionary Russia. The article is focused on the way Russian historiography presents the organization of military production at the Olonets metal works, their technical reconstruction in order to master the production of brand new types of weapons, as well as the role of foreign specialists and foreign technical, technological and organizational experience in this process. The study revealed some important features of the Olonets metal works operation: the use of the economy’s mobilization mechanisms for their creation, their role as a transmitter of military production experience to other Russian regions, the influence of non-economic factors on the existence of military industry enterprises, as well as the effect and significance of diffusion of innovations in military industry. It is concluded that the final period in the history of the Olonets metal works (late 19th – early 20th centuries) is poorly reflected in Russian historiography. In addition, the research points out the need for a comprehensive work on the history of military production at the Olonets metal works in general.

The Information-Industrial Complex

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shawn M. Powers ◽  
Michael Jablonski
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Central Intelligence Agency ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Digital Information ◽  
Intelligence Agency ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Information ◽  
The Military

This chapter examines the emergence of an Information-Industrial Complex in the United States, tracking the rise of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the modern knowledge economy. It first outlines the origins and history of Information-Industrial Complex's antecedent, the Military-Industrial Complex, before turning to the beginnings of the Information-Industrial Complex itself. It then considers how the U.S. government has cultivated a close and codependent relationship with companies involved in information production, storage, processing, and distribution, referred to as the “information industries.” It also looks at In-Q-Tel, a corporation that would “ensure that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) remains at the cutting edge of information technology advances and capabilities,” along with the rise of information assurance after 9/11. The chapter concludes by highlighting the commodification of digital information in the post-9/11 environment through its securitization.

Thermonuclear Gardens: Information Artworks about the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex

Leonardo ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Pinkel
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Industry ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
International Data ◽  
The Military ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Over Time

The author traces the evolution of her installations about the military-industrial complex during the 1980s and early 1990s and artworks that emerged as a result of her research. In addition to national and international data, maps, graphs and statistics about the industry, the author over time progressively added regional, site-specific information in order to empower viewers. The process of creating these works revealed the place of the nuclear industry in the author's own family, which ultimately facilitated the design of later installations.

A Warning Renewed

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Paul C. Light
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Federal Spending ◽  
Full Time Equivalent ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
Federal Workforce ◽  
The Military

Chapter 1 provides a broad history of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1961 farewell address and the author’s methodology for estimating the true size of the government-industrial complex workforce. The chapter begins with Eisenhower’s decision to deliver a nationally televised speech warning the nation of the grave threats created by the conjunction of an imperative, but immense military and armaments industry. The chapter explores the history of the speech and the president’s chosen words for characterizing the military-industrial complex. The chapter continues with a discussion of the method used for estimating the true size of the federal, contract, and grant workforces. The method converts federal spending into estimates of the full-time-equivalent contract and grant employment for use in side-by-side comparisons to the federal workforce. The chapter ends with a discussion of the data deficit surrounding the government-industrial complex and warns readers that all data have expiration dates, including the data used in the book.

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