Research Aids:

Consolidated List of Sources on Defense Acquisition, 1945-2003, prepared by Dr. J. Ronald Fox

Section 1-2

Section 3

Section 4

Section 5

Case Study Bibliography

Oral History Finding Aids

Oral History Finding Aids

Oral History Finding Aids are sorted alphabetically by interviewee last name. Select the first letter of the last name for the interviewee you are looking for from the following list:
Introduction A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Preface

In 2000, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH) initiated a multi-year historical effort to examine the history of defense acquisition since 1945.

Given the enormous scope of the subject and gaps in the written record, the Defense Acquisition History Project team identified oral history interviews as a valuable supplement to the archival sources that will formthe foundation of the study. Useful as sources of anecdotal and corroborative information, oral history interviews provide insights into the policy and decision-making processes that often cannot be found in official and other records. The project team undertook this oral history resource survey project for the purpose of assembling the collective institutional memory of the defense acquisition community.

This finding aid is the product of nearly eight months of data collection by Dr. Shannon A. Brown, with generous support provided by Dr. Todd Clark, the other members of the project team, and the and defense acquisition and history communities. A total of 711 oral history interviews are detailed in this publication. It should be emphasized, however, that this work is not an exhaustive list of interviews that relate to acquisition in the Department of Defense, but instead represents only the first-year surveying effort of a multi-year project. Oral history in the Department of Defense is an ongoing activity, and, as such, the hard work of civilian and uniformed historians will continue to yield interviews that are relevant to the history of acquisition. In the coming years, members of the Defense Acquisition History Project will also conduct additional interviews to capture the professional experiences of men and women active throughout the defense acquisition community. Updates and revisions to this finding aid may be made available in subsequent years to include these new materials.

Using the Finding Aid

The interviews listed on the pages that follow are organized alphabetically and numbered sequentially; a complete keyword and subject index can be found at the back of this volume. The search terms used in this index include program and system names, place names, persons, and significant keywords.

To obtain copies of the oral history interview transcripts listed in this finding aid, contact the repositories identified with each entry.

Repository Abbreviations

AFHRA		Air Force Historical Research Agency
ARL		Army Research Laboratory
COL		Columbia University Oral History Research Office
DTRC		David Taylor Research Center
NADC		Naval Air Development Center
NASM		Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
NHC		Naval Historical Center
NRL		Naval Research Laboratory
NWC		Naval Weapons Center
USAMC		U.S. Army Materiel Command
USAMCOM		U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command
USAOSC		U.S. Army Operations Support Command
USASC-FG		U.S. Army Signal Center
USNA		U.S. Naval Academy
USNI		U.S. Naval Institute Oral History Program

Caveats

The Department of Defense and the Armed Services use different citation formats for oral history interviews. In addition, restrictions on the use of the oral history interviews cited in this finding aid vary according to the specific restrictions imposed by the interviewee and the applicable rules and regulations of the repository that retains custody of the interview. Please consult the appropriate staff historians and archivists to determine the correct citation format and to identify any applicable reproduction or citation restrictions before using these interviews in a publication.

Finally, the reader should bear in mind that defense acquisition is a term that encompasses a wide range of defense activities, including research and development, program management, fielding, testing and evaluation, and logistics and procurement, among other functions. All of the interviews detailed in this finding aid include specific information about acquisition, but only in a fraction of these interviews were acquisition issues the focus of the entire exchange between historian and interviewee. Whenever possible, subject and abstract information has been provided to give the researcher a sense of how much relevant material can be found in an interview.

For further information contact the Defense Acquisition History Project at the U.S. Army Center of Military History, Building 35, 103 Third Avenue, Fort McNair, DC 20319-5058, or Dr. Jeffrey Clarke at 202-685-2709.

List of Historical Offices Contacted

The Defense Acquisition History Project team contacted several DOD historical offices to obtain information about their oral history holdings. The project archivists requested information about these offices’ respective oral history holdings, to include the number and scope of oral histories on file, how they were organized, the number that had been transcribed, and the number that had been digitized. In addition, the project archivists requested oral history bibliographies from these offices. The project archivists contacted the following offices:

Office of the Secretary of Defense

Historical Office

Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Joint History Office

Department of the Air Force

Office of the Air Force Historian
- Air Force Historical Research Agency
- Air Force History Support Office

Department of the Army

U.S. Army Center of Military History
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Army Forces Command
U.S. Army Materiel Command
- U.S. Army Armament Research and Development Center
- U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command
- U.S. Army Communications and Electronics Command
- U.S. Army Operations Support Command
- U.S. Army Research Laboratory
- U.S. Army Security Assistance Command
- U.S. Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command
- U.S. Army Solider and Biological Defense Command
- U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command
U.S. Army Military History Institute
U.S. Army Signal Command
U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command
U.S. Army Special Operations Command
U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command
U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command
- Deputy Commanding General for Transformation
- U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery Center
- U.S. Army Armor Center
- U.S. Army Aviation Center
- U.S. Army Chemical School
- U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command
- U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
  - Center for Army Lessons Learned
  - Combat Studies Institute
- U.S. Army Engineer School
- U.S. Army Field Artillery Center
- U.S. Army Ordnance Center
- U.S. Army Quartermaster Center
- U.S. Army Signal Center
- U.S. Army Transformation Center
U.S. Army War College
U.S. Military Academy

Department of the Navy

Naval Historical Center

United States Marine Corps

Marine Corps History and Museums Division

Joint, Specified and Unified Commands

U.S. Central Command
U.S. European Command
U.S. Pacific Command
U.S. Southern Command
U.S. Space Command/North American Aerospace Defense Command
U.S. Special Operations Command
U.S. Strategic Command
U.S. Transportation Command

United States Coast Guard

Coast Guard History Office

Defense Agencies

Ballistic Missile Defense Organization
Defense Information Systems Agency
Defense Logistics Agency