Assignment Pentagon: How to Excel in a Bureaucracy

By Perry M. Smith and Daniel M. Gerstein

Book Overview

Selected for the 2019 Commandant's Professional Reading List

Since the first edition of Assignment: Pentagon was published in 1988, great changes have occurred in the international environment, the application of U.S. national security strategy, and the manner in which the Pentagon functions. Now in its fourth printing and with a coauthor to lend a different perspective, Assignment: Pentagon remains the best book for anyone who works for the Pentagon, or for any big bureaucracy for that matter. Eminently readable, Assignment: Pentagon is the essential guide for the newly assigned military person, fresh civilian, and interested outsider to the Pentagon's informal set of arrangements, networks, and functions that operate in the service and joint service world. From the type of wristwatch one needs to how to succeed on the Joint Staff, the book delivers a wealth of practical advice and helpful hints about surviving the pressures and problems of working in "The Building." If you've been assigned to the Pentagon or are starting work for any large company, you need Assignment: Pentagon.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1597970964
• ISBN13: 9781597970969
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Potomac Books
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Some Interesting Insights

This book was first published in the 1980s, and has been apparently revised as recently as March 2007. The edition I read comes from 2002. The book is interesting. It fulfills its billing as a straight guide to what is important inside the big five-sided building along the Potomac River. Maj Gen Smith's most interesting piece of insight comes about half way through in his discussion of the media and the Pentagon leadership. In discussing the role of the daily "Early Bird" news roundup, Gen Smith asserts that senior Pentagon leaders read the volume diligently, seeing the press not as an antagonist, but rather as a source of new and interesting takes on what they may or may not already know. Unfortunately, Gen Smith has a bad habit of occasionally interjecting his personal opinion into his otherwise objective analysis. Also, even though the book says it was revised for 2002, it appears that many sections of the book have not been updated since its original publication 15 years earlier. All in all, this is a solid, brief overview, of some of what goes through Pentagon employees heads on a daily basis. It is worth the read for that reason if for no other.

up to date guide to thriving within a large organization

I am the author of this book. When the new administration took office, it was time to update this book about how the Pentagon works, how to work with the Pentagon and how to work within the Pentagon. There is an enormous amount of misinformation about the Pentagon and what I have tried to do is stick to the realities and to destroy some of the myths. I have received many comments about this book. The most surprising ones have come from people who work in corporations who have told me that this book has given them lots of ideas about how improve their performance in their present jobs.