This book develops a responsible and practical method for evaluating the success failure or
crisis of American civil-military relations among its political and uniformed elite. The
author's premise is that currently there is no objectively fair way for the public at large or
the strategic-level elites to assess whether the critical and often obscured relationships
between Generals Admirals and Statesmen function as they ought to under the US constitutional
system. By treating these relationships-in form and practice-as part of a wider principal
(civilian)-agency (military) dynamic the book tracks the duties-care competence diligence
confidentiality scope of responsibility-and perceived shortcomings in the interactions between
US civilian political authorities and their military advisors in both peacetime and in war.
