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"First, in supporting national efforts to address complex security challenges, the Joint Force's leadership approach is often as important as the military capabilities we provide.
Second, the changing security environment requires the Joint Force to deepen security relationships with our allies and create opportunities for partnerships with new and diverse groups of actors.
And third, our Joint Force must prepare for an increasingly dynamic and uncertain future in which a full spectrum of military capabilities and attributes will be required to prevent and win our Nation's wars."
I find these "strategy" documents to be immensely difficult to read. I most often come away thoroughly numb and unclear about just what it is I have read. This one is no exception.
Is it a national strategy document?
Is it a military strategy?
Does it actually articulate a strategy, or just a bureaucratic plan or - worse - an agenda?
There must be some way to read these documents and come away with better insights about just what they are and what they mean, if anything.
There is.
Col. Chet Richards (U.S. Air Force, ret.) is a contributor to the new publication The Pentagon Labyrinth: 10 Short Essays to Help You Through It. Colonel Richard's essay, "Confused Alarms of Struggle and Flight: A Primer for Assessing Defense Strategy in the post-Iraq World" comes to us just in time for Admiral Mullen's The National Military Strategy of the United States of America.
Both Colonel Richards' essay and Admiral Mullen's document are attached. I urge you to read them; either one first; both are pretty short. Colonel Richards argues in his essay that to be a strategy - let alone a potentially successful one - several fundamental and yet straightforward questions must be asked. I urge you to apply these tests to Admiral Mullen's publication.
Is it a strategy, or just an agenda? In either case, is it a successful one? Without prejudice, I urge you to decide. If you care to send me your own analysis, I will be happy to consider it for distribution.
Do you have comments or questions for Colonel Richards? Contact him directly at cr_labyrinth@me.com; sometimes these strategy documents are as easy to digest as cold oatmeal, but sometimes a discussion with someone with Colonel Richards' experience and insights can warm things up.
The Pentagon Labyrinth is a new 150 page handbook guide to the Pentagon being released by the Straus Military Reform Project of the Center for Defense Information. More materials from this publication and announcements about events will be released in the coming days and weeks. Please feel free to make inquiries about the handbook.
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