The headlines are sadly familiar: personal animosity arises between the Secretary of Defense and a service chief; a major weapon system is canceled; a service secretary resigns; and a campaign of “leaks” is orchestrated to resurrect the system. The time was 1949, and the events came to be called the “Revolt of the Admirals,” a struggle to define the roles and missions of a military faced with technological change, increasing commitments, and fiscal constraints. The new technology then was nuclear weapons.
