ABSTRACT
The National Security Act was spurred by the rapid and radical change in US foreign policy, military activity, and commitments. The National Security Act of 1947 is now well past normal retirement age but like many other baby boomers is still working full-time. The war had left revolutionary changes in world order: economic unipolarity and politico-military bipolarity. For developing policy the 1947 Act created novel organs to accomplish coordination, the inadequacy of which had been proven during the war. The Department of Defense, the biggest and most important of the organizational innovations, has persisted as a giant conglomerate combining large and diverse military forces, technological research and development, complex and expensive procurement programs, and a dense corps of civilian managers. American military activity did not change drastically, however, when both the Soviet threat and worldwide Marxist-Leninist movements collapsed. The case for moving toward a mobilization strategy was persuasive for a long time after the Cold War ended.
