Norman Augustine: Career, Theories, and Augustine's Laws

Introduction

Norman R. Augustine has played an influential role in the world of engineering and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The purpose of this paper is to provide a biographical sketch of Augustine, discuss his career accomplishments and how they have impacted America and the world, and examine Augustine's theories as expressed in his book Augustine's Laws.

Norman Augustine: Biography

Norman Augustine was born in 1935 in Denver, Colorado, and grew up during World War II (Outside Experts: Norman Augustine, 2004). He was an exceptional student who entered university in 1953 and received his Bachelor of Science in engineering in 1957. Augustine also received a master's degree in engineering in 1959. He has since received several honorary doctorates in engineering and science from institutions of learning throughout the country (Norman R. Augustine, n.d.).

In 1958, while still completing his master's degree, he worked for the Douglas Aircraft Company, where he became a Chief Engineer and Program Manager. He subsequently began working at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he served as Assistant Director of Defense Research and Engineering. In 1970 he joined the LTV Missiles and Space Company as Vice President of Advanced Programs and Marketing (Norman R. Augustine Legacy, 1996).

Augustine returned to government service as Assistant Secretary of the Army in 1973, and became Secretary of the Army in 1975 — a period that coincided with the difficult final years of the Vietnam War (Outside Experts: Norman Augustine, 2004). In 1977, after leaving his army post, he joined the Martin Marietta Corporation, eventually becoming COO in 1987 and Chairman in 1988. When Lockheed Martin was founded in 1995, Augustine became President of the corporation and subsequently Chief Executive Officer in 1996.

Augustine has also held a remarkable range of leadership positions across public and private organizations. According to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, these include:

Chairman of the American Red Cross; immediate Past President of the Boy Scouts of America; Chairman of the National Academy of Engineering; national chairman of the U.S. Savings Bond Campaign; chairman of the Defense Policy Advisory Committee on Trade (DPACT); president of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; president and chairman of the Association of the United States Army; chairman of the Defense Science Board; chairman of the Aeronautics Panel of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board; chairman of the Executive Council on Foreign Diplomacy; chairman of the NASA/White House Committee on the U.S. Space Program; chairman of the NASA Space Systems and Technology Advisory Committee; and member of the NASA Advisory Council (Norman R. Augustine Legacy, 1996).

Augustine is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Electrical Engineering, the American Astronautical Society, and the Royal Aeronautical Society. He is also a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and the New York Academy of Sciences. He serves on boards and advisory committees for numerous corporations and organizations, and has provided counsel to government agencies including the White House, U.S. Senate, NASA, FAA, and the Departments of Defense, Army, Navy, Air Force, Energy, and Transportation, as well as the General Accounting Office and NATO (Norman R. Augustine Legacy, 1996).

Augustine has received numerous distinguished honors. On four occasions he has received the highest civilian honor awarded by the Department of Defense, the Distinguished Service Medal. He has also been awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the Air Force Exceptional Service Award (Lockheed CEO to Deliver…, 1996). Further honors include the National Medal of Technology, the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, and the Department of the Treasury Medal of Merit (Commissioner, n.d.). In 1996 he received the Institute of Electrical Engineering Founders Medal "for distinguished and innovative corporate and technical leadership in aerospace, electronics and the defense industry" (Norman R. Augustine Legacy, 1996).

Following the September 11 attacks, Augustine became a member of the President's Council of Advisers on Homeland Security, which evolved into Secretary Ridge's Homeland Security Advisory Council. He also served as a long-standing member of the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. In an interview with Government Executive, Augustine expressed confidence that Al Qaeda had been significantly disrupted but cautioned: "I don't want to be too specific here, but we've got to be prepared for a total change in their tactics" (Outside Experts: Norman Augustine, 2004).

Augustine is an accomplished author whose books include The Defense Revolution, Augustine's Travels, and Augustine's Laws. He is a noted speaker who has lectured at events throughout the world. He is also an avid traveler who has visited both the North and South Poles, backpacked in the Rockies, hot-air ballooned in Africa, dog-sledded through the Arctic, explored volcanoes, and rafted the Grand Canyon (Norman R. Augustine Legacy, 1996). He is married to Meg Engman. Together they have two children — Rene, a lawyer, and Greg, an electrical engineer (Norman R. Augustine Legacy, 1996).

Career Accomplishments

Augustine has made numerous contributions to the American defense establishment. A key area of influence concerns U.S. semiconductor policy. While serving as chairman of the Defense Science Board (DSB) Task Force on Semiconductor Dependency, Augustine argued that the defense industrial base was becoming dangerously dependent on foreign suppliers — particularly Japan — for essential components such as semiconductors and semiconductor technology (Pages, 1996).

At the time, a U.S.–Japan Semiconductor Trade Arrangement had been signed but had proven ineffective. Rather than reducing dependency, the agreement actually raised costs for U.S. chip consumers and did little to stem Japanese market dominance. Between 1986 and 1989, Japanese imports as a share of total U.S. semiconductor consumption rose from 9.8% to 21.1%, while U.S. exports as a share of Japanese semiconductor consumption grew only marginally, from 5% to 7%. This trend raised serious national security concerns (Pages, 1996).

Augustine warned that "if the present decline in industrial vitality continued, there appears little question that defense manufacturers will have to turn to overseas suppliers and accept overseas dependence for these essential components" (Pages, 1996). To address this threat, the DSB task force devised a plan to develop domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity capable of matching Japan's expertise. The result was the Sematech proposal of 1987, which called for a public-private consortium financed in part by the Department of Defense, along with the creation of the Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology Institute (Pages, 1996).

Sematech was formally established in the summer of 1987, with Augustine's input widely regarded as instrumental in its formation. The organization transformed semiconductor manufacturing in the United States and is today known as International Sematech, headquartered in Austin, Texas, with members including IBM, AMD, and Hewlett-Packard (Welcome to International Sematech, 2004).

Augustine was equally consequential in shaping Lockheed Martin into the defense giant it is today. As president and CEO of Martin Marietta, he pursued a strategy of consolidation at a time of declining military budgets. He identified four options for Pentagon contractors: convert to commercial production (which he considered unlikely to succeed), "hunker down" (which he associated with failure), liquidate (which would benefit shareholders but destroy value), or consolidate to achieve growth and reduced costs. Martin Marietta followed the consolidation path, acquiring GE Aerospace and the General Dynamics Space Systems Division, nearly doubling its assets with the 1993 GE Aerospace purchase. The merger with Lockheed in 1995 created one of the world's largest defense contractors. As one account notes, "for Augustine, size is clearly a key to survival" (Gottlieb, 1997). Augustine also argued that mergers between defense companies could save the Department of Defense millions of dollars annually while increasing productivity (Gottlieb, 1997).

Conclusion

The purpose of this paper was to provide a biographical sketch of Norman R. Augustine and examine his contributions to American defense and industry. Augustine was born in 1935 and grew up in Colorado, receiving degrees in engineering before embarking on a distinguished career spanning government service, corporate leadership, and public advocacy.

His career accomplishments are substantial. He played an instrumental role in creating the Sematech Consortium, which transformed semiconductor manufacturing in the United States, and he was central to the formation and success of Lockheed Martin as a leading government contracting firm.

His intellectual contributions are equally significant. Augustine's theory of defense conversion holds that it is fundamentally unworkable because private-sector employment has very little overlap with defense work. His book Augustine's Laws provides a satirical but insightful view of the world of business and government, highlighting inefficiencies in defense procurement and bureaucratic culture that remain relevant today.

References

Adelman, K. L., and Augustine, N. (1992). Defense conversion: Bulldozing the management. Foreign Affairs, 71(2).

Augustine, N. R. (1997). Augustine's laws. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Commissioner. (n.d.). U.S. Commission on National Security. Retrieved April 18, 2004, from http://www.nssg.gov/About_Us/People/Commissioners/Norm_Augustine/norm_augustine.htm

Gottlieb, S. (1997). Defense addiction: Can America kick the habit? Westview Press.

Lockheed CEO to deliver Sheffield Address at Yale University. (1996). Retrieved April 18, 2004, from

Norman R. Augustine. (n.d.). Forbes. Retrieved April 18, 2004, from http://www.forbes.com

Norman R. Augustine legacy. (1996). IEEE History Center. Retrieved April 18, 2004, from http://www.ieee.org/organizations/history_center/legacies/augustine.html

Outside experts: Norman Augustine. (2004). Government Executive. Retrieved April 18, 2004, from

Pages, E. R. (1996). Responding to defense dependence: Policy ideas and the American defense industrial base. Praeger Publishers.

Van Nostrand, A. D. (1997). Fundable knowledge: The marketing of defense technology. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Welcome to International Sematech. (2004). Retrieved April 18, 2004, from http://www.sematech.org