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Inside the Five-Sided Box: Lessons From a Lifetime of Leadership in the Pentagon

byAsh Carter

Former defense secretary Ash Carter reflects on a career spent inside the Pentagon as a physicist, strategist, manager, and senior official. He explains how the enormous institution develops weapons, manages alliances, responds to crises, and connects military decisions with presidential policy. Through episodes involving nuclear security, technology, budgets, personnel, and operations, Carter draws lessons about leading experts and making consequential choices under pressure. The memoir shows both the capability and bureaucracy of the Defense Department, emphasizing that effective national-security leadership requires technical understanding, disciplined process, candid advice, and responsibility for the people who carry out policy.

Publisher

Penguin Publishing Group

Publication date

2019

Format

Print edition

Pages

480

ISBN

9780593104330