Security lessons from the Cold War

Winning the long showdown with Moscow was an amazing governmental achieveme nt-whose underpinnings are now at risk. The key to victory was an instituti onal framework that ably managed defense resources to procure weapons, prep are for a long standoff, and mobilize political support for the Cold War. U nlike the Soviet Union, America innovatively melded public and private effo rts to make new arms systems, use interservice rivalries as a goad to innov ation, and draw on U.S. technological expertise. But foolishly, all these i nstitutions are being dismantled in the post-Cold War era.