Whiz Kids (Department of Defense)
Encyclopedia
Whiz Kids was a name given to a group of experts from RAND
Corporation with which Robert McNamara
surrounded himself in order to turn around the management of the United States Department of Defense
(DoD) in the 1960s. The purpose was to shape a modern defense strategy in the Nuclear Age by bringing in economic analysis
, operations research
, game theory
, computing, as well as implementing modern management system
s to coordinate the huge dimension of operations of the DoD with methods such as the Planning, Programming, and Budgeting System (PPBS). They were called the Whiz Kids recalling the group at Ford Motor Company that McNamara was part of a decade earlier. The group included (among others):
RAND
RAND Corporation is a nonprofit global policy think tank first formed to offer research and analysis to the United States armed forces by Douglas Aircraft Company. It is currently financed by the U.S. government and private endowment, corporations including the healthcare industry, universities...
Corporation with which Robert McNamara
Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth Secretary of Defense, serving under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1968, during which time he played a large role in escalating the United States involvement in the Vietnam War...
surrounded himself in order to turn around the management of the United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
(DoD) in the 1960s. The purpose was to shape a modern defense strategy in the Nuclear Age by bringing in economic analysis
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, operations research
Operations research
Operations research is an interdisciplinary mathematical science that focuses on the effective use of technology by organizations...
, game theory
Game theory
Game theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others...
, computing, as well as implementing modern management system
Management system
A management system is the framework of processes and procedures used to ensure that an organization can fulfill all tasks required to achieve its objectives....
s to coordinate the huge dimension of operations of the DoD with methods such as the Planning, Programming, and Budgeting System (PPBS). They were called the Whiz Kids recalling the group at Ford Motor Company that McNamara was part of a decade earlier. The group included (among others):
- Harold BrownHarold Brown (Secretary of Defense)Harold Brown , American scientist, was U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1977 to 1981 in the cabinet of President Jimmy Carter. He had previously served in the Lyndon Johnson administration as Director of Defense Research and Engineering and Secretary of the Air Force.While Secretary of Defense, he...
- Alain EnthovenAlain EnthovenAlain C. Enthoven is an American economist. He was a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1965, and from 1965 to 1969 he was the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Analysis. Currently he is Marriner S. Eccles Professor of Public and Private Management, Emeritus, at Stanford...
- Patrick Gross
- William KaufmannWilliam KaufmannWilliam Weed Kaufmann was an American nuclear strategist and adviser to seven defense secretaries, who advocated for a shift from the strategy of massive retaliation against the Soviet Union in the event of a nuclear strike.Kaufmann was born in Manhattan on November 10, 1918 to Charles and...
- Jan Lodal
- Frank Nicolai
- Merton Joseph Peck
- Charles O. RossottiCharles O. RossottiCharles O. Rossotti is an American businessman, and former Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Rossotti has a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Georgetown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School ....
- Henry RowenHenry RowenHenry S. Rowen is an American politician, economist, and academician.- Early years :Rowen was born in Boston in 1925. He attended M.I.T. and graduated with a bachelor's in industrial management in 1949...
- John H. RubelJohn H. RubelJohn H. Rubel was a business executive in the early post-World War II years of the defense electronics industry, later serving as Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy administration...
- Ivan SelinIvan SelinIvan Selin is an American businessman, and former Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Under Secretary of State for Management. Selin is a Fulbright Scholar and graduate of Yale University and University of Paris...
- Pierre Sprey
- Adam YarmolinskyAdam YarmolinskyProfessor Adam Yarmolinsky , son of Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky, was an American academic, educator and author, as well as a political appointee who served in numerous capacities in the Kennedy, Johnson and Carter administrations.Besides serving in the White House, he also held posts in...