Civilian Control – How Trump Can Reverse the Trend of Failures in Recent Conflicts
Chris Kolenda
Strategic Leadership Consultant | Speaker & Author | Bridge the gap between your performance and potential and realize even more significant potential.
Civilian Control – How Trump Can Reverse the Trend of Failures in Recent Conflicts
On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald J. Trump blasted American generals for their failure to win wars. Now he has selected from their retired ranks to fill key cabinet level positions.
As confirmation hearings begin, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and others fear that civilian control of the military could be eroded if retired General James Mattis becomes Secretary of Defense.
The important discussions about whether to waive the 7-year cooling off period for Mattis tend to miss an even bigger civil-military challenge: America’s track record since World War Two has been terrible. Reverence for the military by a disengaged public has masked this problem and eroded accountability. Continued failure to win wars has the potential to badly damage civil-military trust – and America’s credibility in the world.
President-elect Trump need not fall into that trap.
If there is “no military solution” to contemporary wars, why seek only military options? By doing so, a President is asking the military for strategies that cannot possibly work.
This sets our troops up for failure and the military to be scapegoated for interventions gone wrong. These heighten the risk of civil-military mistrust.
Waging contemporary war successfully requires the integration of all elements of national power. This is what the Trump administration needs to do.
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Military Analyst /Simulation Subject Matter Expert at DHA
7 年The military is a hammer not a tool of precision . However, although it is a tool it is not the only tool required to "win" . Finally, the political business we (THE USA) decides to get involved in, regardless of reason, requires a person who knows all the tools at their disposal and also knows how to use them. This is to include their hand for the handshake at the end of the negotiations or the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship.
First Officer Kalitta Air
7 年Going to war foolishly and engaging the wrong enemy is what got us into this mess and it is squarely the fault of the politicians. Then, the inability to prosecute the war violently enough so that the enemy would totally acquiesce is another cause of this inept execution (Half butted execution... "Go ugly early"(Rumsfeld) e.g. not enough combat power to do the job...). The politicians are so insulated from the military and warfare that their orders were, in effect, to have a "clean, short, low casualty war on the cheap"..to paraphrase Mr. Rumsfeld once again. What we got was anything but. "The center of gravity is Baghdad" was the wrong objective when the center of gravity should have been the Iraqi Army and Saddam himself. Then when Paul Bremer created the insurgency and later ISIS by effectively disbanding the entire Iraqi Army after they surrendered what did we expect these professional soldiers to do-go work at Walmart? The mess of bogging down in Iraq was caused by foolish politicians starting it and then not following through to win decisively on the battlefield and ultimately understanding the lessons of past victories (WWII and the Civil War) and implementing them effectively. We needed a MacArthur and we got a series of numbskull politicians running the show. Politicians are directly to blame for the mess of Iraq and not the US Military. I sincerely hope GEN Mattis will change the calculus of war fighting.
A much need discussion and reassessment of how Washington and the rest of the nation needs to approach war.
Lecturer at The Bush School, TAMU -Washington DC
7 年Congratulations on a great article. We need experienced professionals that understand whole of government and integration of DIME. The bridge between thecivil-military divide needs great attention right now.
Earth Engineer - Marine Forestation - RAWSB Technologies
7 年I am going to go with Trump on this one. People behave differently when they are in the boardroom with someone whop know how to say. Your fired. If he tells them to win without war, they will say "yes sir". We will see who gets to be the apprentice.