The concept that technological superiority can solve our military problema and particularly that it can solve political probleDJs is nctive and totally unjustified by recent history.
In World War II both Japan and Germany were initially technically superior to the United States. I cite the Japanese ZERO fighter aircraft and the LONG LANCE torpedo. While eventually U.S. planes were equal or superior to the Japanese, their torpedo was ah1ays far better than anything we were able to build.
German technology remained superior throughout the war.
The Allied Victory was attained through the superiority of the high command, better strategy, the tremendous industrial power and resources or the United States, and by the exploitation of Allied Maritime power.
Technology has the ironic paradox that the technological revolution that makes exotic defenses possible also insures that those defenses can be penetrated or otherwise defeated. This bas two aspects: One in the field of weapons development and use; the other is the area of sabotage and information security.
Thus the concept of invulnerability through technical superiority is a dangerous fallacy, a delusion! Technological ingenuity is a two-edged sword; it cuts both ways. The more the requirement for perfect performance, the more this paradox applies. The larger the system and the more people involved, the less the security. The greater the emphasis on its importance or dependence on its performance, the greater the incentive to defeat or to penetrate the System.
the late Henry E. Eccles
Rear Admiral, USN(Ret.)
(Naval War College Review, May-June, 1986)
