How Generations of Experts Built U.S. Power

Since the creation of the Continental Army, Americans have always looked to expertise in managing defense. George Washington was chosen to command the revolutionary military because of his extensive experience in the British Army. His soldiers were unseasoned fighters, but he brought knowledge to his leadership; the ability to bring in knowledge, not his checkered record in battle, was one of the main reasons why he was so highly regarded by the troops.

The Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz famously wrote that war is a “mere continuation of policy by other means,” but he did not mean that war is merely politics. Clausewitz’s influential 1832 treatise, On War, meditates deeply on the vital role of training, expertise, and exceptional talent in managing the complexities of national defense. War requires technical skill, organizational acumen, historical knowledge, and strategic insights. While courage and toughness are necessary, Clausewitz writes, these qualities do not substitute for learning. War is too dangerous to be left to dilettantes and pretenders.

The Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz famously wrote that war is a “mere continuation of policy by other means,” but he did not mean that war is merely politics. Clausewitz’s influential 1832 treatise, On War, meditates deeply on the vital role of training, expertise, and exceptional talent in managing the complexities of national defense. War requires technical skill, organizational acumen, historical knowledge, and strategic insights. While courage and toughness are necessary, Clausewitz writes, these qualities do not substitute for learning. War is too dangerous to be left to dilettantes and pretenders.

Since the creation of the Continental Army, Americans have always looked to expertise in managing defense.