It is often forgotten that US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld emerged from a comfortable retirement to reorganize the American military into a smaller, more agile force, using some of these same insights. But the planning for the Iraq invasion, in which Rumsfeld advocated the use of fewer troops than advised, suggests a poor understanding of distributed systems.
人们常常忘记了这样一个事实，那就是美国国防部长拉姆斯菲尔德在经历了闲适的退休生活后又重新出山，本着上面提到的原则将美国军队改组为更小、也更灵活的作战团体。但在策划入侵伊拉克时，拉姆斯菲尔德鼓吹少派作战部队，显示了他对分散系统的肤浅理解。尽管军队在部署上更加进退自如，布什政府让他们执行的还是老式的占领任务。