San Antonio College Library

For five decades the American economy has devoted some of its best resources to waging the Cold War. By the 1990s, this investment had not only made the United States the world's high-tech cop but had also successfully launched many new industries -- computing, chip-based electronics, and satellite communications. But this military-based industrial policy has come at a high social and economic price, as the authors demonstrate in the first comprehensive...

Breaking out of the guns-for-hire mold of traditional mercenaries, corporations now sell skills and services that until recently only state militaries possessed. Their products range from trained commando teams to sstrategic advice from generals. This new "Privatized Military Industry" encompasses hundreds of companies, thousands of employees, and billions of dollars in revenue. Private corporations working for profit now sway the course of national...