Broadening experiences are essential to the development of Army leaders—both Officer and Enlisted Thanks to all those who provided the responses to the following question: If we define a “broadening experience” as an educational opportunity or work assignment in which Army personnel are a small minority of the relevant population, are such experiences essential for […]
Category Archives: Whiteboard
THE HALLOWEEN WHITEBOARD: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
It’s the Night of the Living Dead Generals! We’re changing things up a little with a special Whiteboard celebrating that most ghoulish of holidays, HALLOWEEN. There is no part 1 this time, just a call for submissions: Given the opportunity to lead your horrifying hordes with any military leader in history, whom would you bring back from the dead, and […]
WHITEBOARD: DOES ‘BROADENING’ WORK?
The problem with broadening assignments is the persistent tension between the requirements of the force and the desire to broaden officers A previous Whiteboard was highly critical of Army leader development, with complaints including retaining old human resource paradigms long abandoned by civil society and sustaining up-or-out systems of promotion. This Whiteboard explores one part […]
WHITEBOARD RESPONSE: IS THE US MILITARY TACTICALLY PROFICIENT, BUT STRATEGICALLY DEFICIENT? (2 OF 2)
maybe the grandiose version of strategy is overrated. A nation that muddles along may nonetheless move forward; and America has done just that. This is the second of two response posts for the Whiteboard on the U.S. military’s strategic proficiency (or deficiency). Thanks to everyone who submitted responses. The next Whiteboard is coming soon. Stay tuned! Based on the […]
WHITEBOARD RESPONSE: IS THE US MILITARY TACTICALLY PROFICIENT, BUT STRATEGICALLY DEFICIENT? (1 OF 2)
If strategy is what you do when you run out of money, our post Cold War primacy has largely reduced strategy to the dollar sign on the Pentagon budget Thank you to everyone who submitted. We received a large number of strong responses – in fact, we received so many that we decided to spread out […]
WHITEBOARD: IS THE US MILITARY TACTICALLY PROFICIENT, BUT STRATEGICALLY DEFICIENT?
It is striking how much difficulty the United States has had converting its tactical advantages into clear strategic ‘Wins’ in the post-Cold War period The next Whiteboard tackles a thorny issue where there is much disagreement. We polled faculty, students, and academics from around the country for their views about the U.S. military’s proficiency in tactics […]
WHITEBOARD RESPONSE: SHOULD THE US MILITARY SECURE THE BORDER?
the problem at hand is one of enforcing laws rather than of imposing political aims by force. We thank everyone who submitted responses for our second Whiteboard! Below (in no particular order) were the best responses to the following question. What roles, if any, should the military have in policing the U.S. border? 1. Lieutenant […]
WHITEBOARD: SHOULD THE US MILITARY SECURE THE BORDER?
when the “threat” along the border grows … to an intersection between transnational organized crime and transnational terrorism, the clear distinctions we prefer may become clouded. For this Whiteboard, we polled members of the faculty who specialize in domestic security. They include reserve component officers, a visiting professor from the Department of Homeland Security, and […]
WHITEBOARD RESPONSE: HOW WELL DOES THE ARMY DEVELOP STRATEGIC LEADERS?
U.S. Army strategic leaders must be ‘War Winners,’ not ‘War Managers.’ The responses to our first Whiteboard were overwhelming! Thank you to everyone who submitted. We received a large number of strong responses. The second Whiteboard launches 20 July, and we will be running these exercises regularly. Stay tuned. Based on the judgment of the editorial board, […]
WHITEBOARD: HOW WELL DOES THE ARMY DEVELOP STRATEGIC LEADERS?
Whatever roles military strategic leaders play… they do so as experts in the fighting and winning of wars. Welcome to the inaugural edition of WAR ROOM’s Whiteboard, which invites contributors to comment briefly on an issue relevant to national security, defense, and military leadership. Each whiteboard will be followed 3-4 weeks later (pending reader submissions) by […]
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! — INTRODUCING WHITEBOARD
We invite you, our WAR ROOM readers, to join in the conversation and add to the Whiteboard. If you were faced with a vexing complex problem, how would you start solving it? …After the fear, procrastination, and panic, that is. You would do a little research, assemble your initial thoughts, and reach out to some […]