That limited his ability to temporize—assuming that was what he decided to do—and that was always dangerous. Civilian understanding of military capabilities invariably seemed to come in only two flavors. Either they completely misunderstood the capability in question, or else they thought they understood it and believed—usually erroneously—they were then qualified to evaluate its effectiveness. And far more often than not, they overestimated that effectiveness rather than exercising a modicum of prudence and underestimating it.
