PRIVATE WARRIORS

An engaging look at the arms trade and the military-industrial complex in the post–Cold War era.

In six revealing chapters, journalist Silverstein (Mother Jones, Harpers) dissects the mammoth arms business and looks at the way the Pentagon disperses money and power to those who belong to an inner circle (mostly those who have served in the military and intelligence sectors). In chapter one, he profiles Andrew Marshall (one of the Pentagon’s most powerful men for the past 30 years), who can push a weapon’s system through the vast bureaucracy of the government. In chapter two he offers up “the talented Mr. Glatt,” an arms broker who can procure almost anything from the former Soviet Union. Chapter three brings another arms trader (“the shady Mr. Mertins”) and chapter four takes a look at the world of the mercenary and pays a visit to the Soldier of Fortune convention. The last two chapters look at Alexander Haig and the conflict of interest that fills the Pentagon’s procurement process, and finally, in the last chapter, Silverstein looks at the seemingly unstoppable train that is the SDI program. Silverstein takes on an enormously technical subject with candor and an eye for detail that makes reading about even the driest material enjoyable and informative. His profiles bring the arms traders and the policy wonks alive and his discussion of the manner in which the defense industry recruits within the Pentagon and then sends its new employees out to consult on the projects they have procured is sure to be of interest to anyone interested in good government.

A four-star tale of government and industry running amuck.