Private Warriors

A book needs to be written on the relationship between retired military officers and the defense industries of their respective countries. A book needs to be written on think tank intellectuals who are for sale to the highest bidder when it comes to describing alarming future military scenarios and their expensive material requirements. A book needs to be written on the post-Cold War diffusion across the globe of sophisticated military technology. For some, this will be that book; others may feel it sacrifices these opportunities in favor of vignettes and frissons. Silverstein, a regular contributor to the Nation, among other journals, documents a shadowy community of freelance individuals and nongovernmental agencies that he thinks is attempting to sustain the high-profit days of the international arms market by propping up Cold War antagonism; by fomenting new tensions, in particular with China; and by insisting on ""military revolutions"" that Silverstein dismisses as exercises in marketing armaments by generating anxieties. To make his case, he casts a wide, often ragged, net, here equating government support for arms export with private gunrunning, there reaching into the 1950s and '60s for material on former Nazi soldiers who made postwar careers as arms brokers. The best chapter addresses the growing ""privatization"" of conflict by the emergence of ""security consultants,"" firms willing to provide training, technical expertise and sometimes fighting men to government and businesses. To some readers, Silverstein's criticism of this manifestation will take too much precedence over the reasons for its appearance and its appeal. For others, merely raising the issue and provoking discussion will give this volume value enough. (Sept.)