Congressman Forbes Warns of Complacency in Strategic Planning

Feb 4, 2015
Defense Drumbeat
"RIP Air-Sea Battle?"
National Interest
Rep. J. Randy Forbes

"The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem, as they say, and Air-Sea Battle came as badly needed intervention at a critical point. It is hard to believe today that less than a decade ago, these issues did not appear on most defense policy makers’ radar as major planning considerations. But at the birth of Air-Sea Battle, “China” truly was what two U.S. Naval War College professors called “the Voldemort of U.S. military planning”—he who must not be named—and both the Air Force and Navy were focused on irregular warfare, as well as supporting the ongoing conflicts in Southwest Asia. ...

"DoD can call these strategies and concepts whatever it desires, but words do matter, and the Pentagon should not underestimate the importance of speaking in plain terms to the broader public and civilian policy makers. ...

"Samuel Huntington argued decades ago that unless each Service articulated a “well defined strategic concept, the public and the political leaders will be confused as to the role of the service, uncertain as to the necessity of its existence and apathetic or hostile to the claims made by the service upon the resources of society.” Joint initiatives are in even greater need of a clear, compelling story about what resources they require and why, since they often compete with individual services’ own priorities. Air-Sea Battle told such a story in a way that helped civilian policy makers understand and provide what the Air Force and Navy needed to address the evolving A2/AD challenge...."
114th Congress