Description
Jones (security studies, US Army War College), who served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, offers a biography of Robert Komer, who was a Cold War national security policy and strategy adviser to three presidents. After background on Komer's childhood and education, Jones describes how he was a National Security Council staff member during the Kennedy administration and shaped aggressive American foreign policies and US relations with countries that were battlegrounds between communism and capitalism. He outlines his activities during the three years he was named President Johnson's "point man" for Vietnam pacification policy, in which the president thought communism could be combated through economic and social development and military force in Southeast Asia, and became the architect of the military's Civil Operations and Revolutionary Support program and General Westmoreland's operational deputy for his effort in Vietnam. He examines Komer's work during the Carter administration as special adviser to Secretary of Defense Harold Brown and as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and shows how he re-energized the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's conventional capability and created the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force, which implemented the Carter Doctrine in the Persian Gulf. He also details Komer's final role as a defense intellectual and critic of the Reagan administration's defense policies and his impact on American policy and strategy and contributions to counterinsurgency practices. The biography is based on interviews that historians and journalists conducted with Komer, official memoranda, cables, other government documents, and what others said about him. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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History has not been kind to Robert Komer, a casualty of bad historical analysis and inaccurate information. A Cold War national security policy and strategy adviser to three presidents, Komer was one of the most influential national security professionals of the era. The book begins with a review of his early life that helped shape his worldview. It then examines Komer's influence as a National Security Council staff member during the Kennedy administration, where he helped set its activist course regarding the Third World. Upon Kennedy's death, Lyndon Johnson named Komer his "point man" for Vietnam pacification policy, and later General Westmoreland's operational deputy in Vietnam. The author highlights Komer's activities during the three years he strove to fulfill the president's vision that Communism could be repelled from Southeast Asia by economic and social development along with military force. Known as "Blowtorch" for his abrasive personality and disdain for bureaucratic foot dragging, Komer came to be seen as the right person for managing that effort, and in 1968 was rewarded with an ambassadorship to Turkey. The book analyzes Komer's work during the Carter administration as special adviser to Secretary of Defense Harold Brown and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and credits him for reenergizing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's conventional capability and forging the military instrument that implemented the Carter Doctrine in the Persian Gulf--the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force. It also explores his final role as a defense intellectual and critic of the Reagan administration's defense policies. The book concludes with a useful summary of Komer's impact on American policy and strategy and his contributions to counterinsurgency practices, a legacy now recognized for its importance in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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