The Office of Technology Assessment, at the request of the Congress, has conducted a series of assessments of the Nation's ability to provide for its future national security technology and industrial needs. In the most recent report, Assessing the potential for Civil- Military Integration, OTA examined the potential for making greater use of common technologies, processes, labor, equipment, material, and/or facilities to meet both defense and commercial needs. This effort, often termed civil-military integration or CMI, is believed by many observers to be an essential element of a successful U.S. national security strategy. OTA's assessment found that greater CMI is possible, and confirmed the potential for cost savings and increased technology transfer as the result of increased integration. The assessment noted that CMI appears essential if defense is to take advantage of many rapidly developing commercial technologies.

"This book examines the roots of the military industrial complex (MIC) in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the MIC's full flowering in the wake of the Cold War, and how America's current MIC evolved after the events of 9/11 and throughout the War on Terror. Specifically, Cooling argues that the MIC has transformed into a problematic demand for absolute security that is neither practicable nor financially sound. While emphasizing many aspects of Eisenhower's broad conception of the MIC, and Eisenhower's own warning at the close of World War II, Cooling's synthesis provides historical perspective on American industry as a matter of national security, on the rise of outsourcing practices, and on the changing nature of modern warfare"--