ABSTRACT
At the beginning of 1987 the White House issued a comprehansive statement of US national security strategy that outlines US security interests, discusses foreign policy and regional objectives, including defense and international economic affairs, and deals with strategic and conventional deterrence, arms control, and the need for "integrating a national security capability" new and for the future. In the career military, moreover, promotions tend to go with the higher-technology commands, rather than the traditional bread and butter forces and their supporting logistics or the less glamorous tasks such as mine sweeping. The United States initially put dozens of its most advanced naval vessels in the tense Persian Gulf region with inadequate protection against early-vintage mines.
