THE UNITED STATES HAS BEEN THE WORLD’S DOMINANT MILITARY POWER SINCE THE END OF THE COLD WAR, BUT THAT DOMINANCE IS NOW BEING CHALLENGED.

New technologies and weapon systems, often exploiting low-cost commercial products such as drones, are quickly entering the battlefield, and the country needs to rapidly master and counter these threats. Unfortunately, US development- and deployment-cycle times are dramatically longer now than they were decades ago, slowed not by shortcomings in American technology, but instead by bureaucratic process delays. This is a situation that must be reversed if the country is to deter its enemies.

Jack Schuss has long been troubled by the nonoptimal speed of US development of new weapon systems. He is in a unique position to assess our current system, having led the engineering efforts of two major development programs—one commercial and the other military—both executed under the same defense contractor. In Defenseless, he captivatingly narrates these experiences. He illustrates how the commercial program’s progress was faster and its ultimate objective more rapidly accomplished than that of the defense program.

Yet, Defenseless is not without hope. Through these examples, Schuss highlights tactics to reverse this trend, including the adoption of faster commercial development processes that have powered US innovation.