U. applies the methods of a discourse-centered approach to culture in an examination of an article by the former Secretary of Defense of the United States, Casper W. Weinberger, entitled `U. S. Defense Strategy' (`Foreign Affairs', 1986). U. claims thatthis text, as a linguist sign vehicle, is not simply a device in which an image of reality is encoded, but also an object whose semiotic characteristics can be understood as part of a mechanism for maintaining and enhancing the power and prestige of theauthor and the institution he represents within a field of social power.