Chasing Success

The Air Force and Civilian Harm

Sarah B. Sewall
2016, 240 pages
ISBN: 978-1-58566-256-2
Cost: $23, AU Press Code: B-142

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This book examines how international expectations intersected with the United States Air Force’s fight for autonomy and utility, explains how the service began to change, and asks how airpower—and the US military as a whole—might further deepen its efforts. The author expands perspectives on assessing and directing the use of airpower and encourages further work to maximize both mission accomplishment and civilian protection. The recent evolution of US airpower offers inspiring, if incomplete, evidence that the conduct of war can become more humane while remaining effective. Technology, adversaries, and the goals of armed conflict will continue to evolve, but the central challenge of humanizing war will endure. Part one outlines the challenge that contemporary expectations about the American use of force pose for airpower. Part two describes the Air Force’s adaptation to modern expectations of civilian protection, tracing operational experiences during the 1990s and the consequent operational and institutional innovation.