The book analyzes U.S. national security and defense policy utilizing a new approach to civil-military relations, and includes both the uniformed military and the private security contractors.

Thomas C. Bruneau is Distinguished Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where he was chairman of the department from1989 to 1995. He is co-editor of Who Guards the Guardians and How: Democratic Civil-Military Relations.