The book is Whiton's attempt to articulate a realistic defense strategy for major contemporary threats to U.S. national security, with an emphasis on using smart power, which he defines as "the neglected tools of statecraft that lie between diplomacy and outright war."

[1] One reviewer summarized, "He defines the essence of 'smart power' as 'peacefully shaping political outcomes in foreign countries,' a skill no recent presidency has mastered.

"[2] Lewis Lehrman, a Reagan administration official, favorably reviewed Smart Power, writing, "This book should be read by every unselfconscious, unapologetic patriot, whether conservative or liberal.

However, Abrams also wrote that "it is not Whiton's specific proposals that make this a valuable book; it is his analyses of today's foreign policy challenges and our bureaucratic failings in meeting them.

His portrait of the Foreign Service is etched in acid, and his description of the jumble of agencies and offices supposedly handling political warfare when they oppose even the idea that we should engage in this type of combat is effective and therefore depressing.