It is a truth universally acknowledged that power in Washington is not necessarily measured by an impressive job title, or even appearances on CNN. Case in point: Andrew Marshall, who died last week at the age of 97.

Marshall, who ran something called the Office of Net Assessment at the Department of Defense from 1973 until his retirement four years ago, probably had more influence on American military thinking and planning — and by extension, foreign policy — over a longer period of time than any other government official, including officials who were nominally his superior. Yet he was almost wholly unknown to the public, even to many in government and political journalism.