Report to JFK : the Skybolt crisis in perspective /

Neustadt (emeritus, Harvard) has written a fascinating book for students of the presidency, national security, and bureaucratic politics. Based on a recently declassified memo the author prepared for the Kennedy administration in 1963, the book examines the 1962 Skybolt crisis between Britain and the US. The US had been planning to share Skybolt, a new air-to-surface missile program, with the British as a method of updating British nuclear forces. Ultimately, however, the US canceled the program, straining the US-British alliance and leaving the British searching for other options. The book includes the original memo of 1963, reflections based on recently declassified British sources, and a comparative study of the British and American governmental processes during the 1960s and 1990s. Neustadt's initial memo to Kennedy drew lessons from the misunderstanding between the two governments, lessons relating to bureaucratic politics, miscommunication between governments, and alliance politics. In particular, Neustadt highlights the problems officials had in communicating their security preferences across the Atlantic and up and down the hierarchical levels within the US government, as well as the importance of domestic politics in alliance relations. Useful for students at all levels and for governmental officials. W. W. Newmann; Virginia Commonwealth University