Crest, Colgate or War?

In its December issue, our (big) sister publication, The Atlantic, presents the results of a sobering "war game" the magazine organized on the subject of how to respond to Iraq's onward march to develop nuclear weapons. One of the key conclusions: the process by which people at the highest levels of the federal government make life-or-death decisions about national security issues is abysmal. "Companies deciding which kind of toothpaste to market have much more rigorous, established decision-making processes to refer to than the most senior officials of the U.S. government deciding whether or not to go to war," said Michael Mazarr, a professor of national security strategy at the National War College. (Click here for a preview--and then do all of us over here at Atlantic Media a favor and sign up for a subscription.)