SECDEF
The Nearly Impossible Job of Secretary of Defense

Of the 21 men who have held the difficult post of secretary of defense since it was created in 1947, only half served more than 18 months. These men have tended to fall into one of the 3 roles: revolutionary, firefighter, or team player. This book analyzes each type for its defining characteristics and evaluates individual secretaries.

Of the twenty-one men who have held the difficult post of secretary of defense since it was created in 1947, only half served more than eighteen months. In office, Charles Stevenson finds, these men have tended to fall into one of the three general roles for executing such responsibilities: revolutionary, firefighter, or, the most common, team player. Stevenson analyzes each type for its defining characteristics and evaluates individual secretaries.