Military command Quote by Garrett M. Graff
““During his first week on the job, McNamara sat down with the Pentagon’s Weapons Systems Evaluation Group (WSEG), which had just completed an intensive study, known as WSEG Report #50, that found that a Soviet surprise attack on only five locations—the White House, the Pentagon, Camp David, Raven Rock, and Mount Weather—would likely destroy all of the nation’s command structure. Even simply hitting the first two would likely wipe out the military command structure, since Raven Rock and Mount Weather weren’t normally manned with senior personnel. “Both the Presidential and the SecDef-JCS levels of command are presently subject to operational incapacitation by the same events,” the report explained. Hitting all the nation’s major military commands and leadership sites would involve attacking just fourteen installations—a””
About This Quote
Source Book: “The Wizards of Armageddon” by Garrett M. Graff, 2004
The report warned that a limited Soviet strike could cripple U.S. command and control, exposing extreme vulnerability in national security architecture.
In simple terms: A few key sites could destroy U.S. military command.
Key Takeaway
Recognize and protect critical command nodes.
Themes
national security
vulnerability
command structure
deterrence
Mood
concerned
urgent
Type
analytical
historical
When to use this quote
- military planning
- policy analysis
- risk assessment
- infrastructure protection
Key Concepts
strategic risk
continuity planning
cold war
geopolitics
Questions to Reflect On
- How can redundancy be built into command networks?
- What modern technologies mitigate such concentration risk?
A Different Perspective
The analysis assumes a static threat model and may not account for modern cyber or space capabilities.
![“This [a surprise attack] is an operation by no means to be despised in war, although it is rare, and less brilliant than a great strategic combination which renders victory certain even before the battle is fought.” quote by Antoine-Henri Jomini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1ab/antoine-henri-jomini-41243_battle_this-a-surprise-attack-is-an-operation-b_767444.jpg)
