Overview

Former U.S. secretary of defense Harold Brown served during the hottest part of the Cold War when the Soviet Union presented an existential threat to America. In Star Spangled Security, Dr. Brown, one of the most respected wise men of American foreign policy, gives an insider’s view of U.S. national security strategy during the Carter administration, relates lessons learned, and bridges them to current challenges facing America.

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9780815723820

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From the government of science to the science of government, Harold Brown has always put his country and its principles first. This book, like his counsel to me as my secretary of defense, offers keen insight into how to ensure national security in a turbulent world. He offers practical ways to redress the widening inequalities in our society and to revive our economy. Harold helped to maintain a strong nation at peace while in office, and here we can benefit again from his wisdom --along with unusual stories of political personalities that make delightful reading. The reader will understand within a few pages why I awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom --President Jimmy Carter Harold Brown is the most unique of statesmen: a scientist, a Cold War warrior, and a secretary of defense under President Carter whose intimate knowledge of our nuclear deterrent was matched only by his clear-eyed patriotism. Star Spangled Security is a fascinating and rewarding look at the last sixty years of American defense and diplomacy --President Bill Clinton Star Spangled Security is part memoir, part history, and part guide to contemporary issues in world affairs. Harold Brown's wisdom shines through on every page of the clearly written text. A brilliant study of high-level decisionmaking, the book provides insights on every aspect of security while blending compelling historical portraits with thoughtful and often passionate advice for the future. --Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Harold Brown has played an indispensable role in American policymaking and thinking about nuclear issues for the entire nuclear age. At once scientist and policymaker, academic and handson operator, he distills his experiences and offers a roadmap in this thoughtful and very readable book. It deserves widespread attention --Secretary of State Henry Kissinger I covered Harold Brown and have been waiting thirty years for this book and all it delivers. There is surely no one else who knows as much about national security, who could hold his own arguing thermonuclear warhead design with Edward Teller and whose talent for one-liners skewers complex problems. He's mellowed over time, but fortunately not a lot. His journey from wunderkind to wise man shows --from his pessimism about Afghanistan ('technology cannot overcome corrupt governments') --to his apprehension about China ('getting to 2030 without a frightening confrontation will be a major achievement'). --David Martin, CBS News Correspondent

Author Information

Harold Brown was the U.S. secretary of defense from 1977 to 1981. His unique, ongoing career spans science, academia, government, and the corporate sector over ten presidencies. He is currently trustee emeritus of the RAND Corporation and a trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.Joyce Winslow is a Washington journalist, op-ed editor, and a prize-winning fiction author in The Best American Short Story collection

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