Adam Yarmolinsky

Many independent colleges and universities will have to shut down unless new sources of funding are found. This problem, argued Boston University President John Silber in the May Atlantic, is related to the rapid growth of statesupported university systems, generously financed by tax dollars and duplicating, on occasion, facilities and programs already available at the independent schools. What follows is a sampling of the many responses to President Silber’s article — most of them edited for reasons of space and variety.

“The expanding universe” that is the United States defense establishment consumed nearly $60 billion last year, more than half the national budget (and the President has asked for additional funds this year), commands the services of some 4 million persons, sustains a high proportion of American industry, and maintains an arsenal that could demolish the planet. Only a major revolution in management and planning techniques could produce the mixture of efficiency and control that makes the system servant rather than master of the republic. From the standpoint of a participant in that revolution, Mr. Yarmolinsky explains the techniques and tools by which the civilian controls and directs the power of the Pentagon. He was a Special Assistant to Secretary of Defense McNamara and later a deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, he is now a professor of law at Harvard and a member of the Kennedy Institute of Politics.