Stringer Joint special operations forces SOF integration with conventional forces CF is a difficult undertaking in missions ranging from humanitarian to combat, yet all future military operations against peer adversaries will require the close cooperation of SOF and CF for success.
Joint Force Quarterly 4th Quarter, October This issue of Joint Force Quarterly includes the winning essays from our annual Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Essay Competitions, along with features from a number of seasoned national security professionals. Congratulations to Dr. NDU is saddened by the passing of Gen Ret. Colin Powell, and expresses our condolences to the Powell family. Therefore, it was imperative that we find some method of doing what it was necessary to do that was within our financial possibilities for an enduring peace.
I have always felt that the proposal was evolved from a misunderstanding. It was based on the fact that the Germans were able to act with such tremendous impetus and power at the start of their war, particularly with air, because they had worked toward a definite date to start. But what we are striving to do, I assume, certainly what I was striving to do, was to see a system and an organization develop which would endure for years rather than be organized against a certain date for a war.
We were trying to avoid war, but at the same time we carefully had to avoid a financial effect on our economy which would be as disastrous to us as a war might well be. Now, my associates who differed with me did so, I felt, largely on the ground that they thought America had learned its lesson.
I could well understand that. They just thought I under-estimated public opinion in the United States. Well, I am a great respecter of public opinion, but, on the other hand, I am also a great respecter of the tremendous political influence of the budget and the fact that it almost gets beyond control when it relates to things that do not produce immediate results like good roads, agriculture matters, and such.
So I was all the more interested in seeing some form of unification adopted which would work. What we have to consider along with that is how we manage to meet the situation without financial tribulations resulting from it. That means several things. It also means very definitely that the money that we are given must be spent with great discretion. There you have the root of your trouble.
How that is to be managed? To get back a little bit, to the previous reference I made, each regional commander makes demands that you cannot meet. Your problem is not only to do the best you can for him, but in a sense to keep the peace, to keep him in a state of morale that is conducive to the general situation being maintained. I struggled with that throughout the war. Then, as we got into the war years, the financial side was not such a problem because Congress was exceedingly generous in its appropriations, and we had to be very full in our estimates because no one could tell how much we might lose in the interim between an appropriation and the actual implementation of the money obtained from that appropriation.
But once the materiel was obtained, which was limited by our shortages in various industrial fields by the slow build-up of the vast quantities which finally became available, we were under the insistent demands of various theaters and various services for more than we could possibly give them. It then became necessary to be very stout in defending the policy that we had decided to pursue and in preventing its being sabotaged by ourselves. We had to see to it that when it actually came into functioning, it would prove sufficient for the plan and purpose that had been intended.
Those struggles with various theaters were very difficult to manage. The struggles with various services were very difficult to manage, because, as I say, it was not money so much then but it was materiel, manufacturing facilities and matters of that kind. But the general situation with which we had to struggle then as chiefs of staff was much the same as now. Now we are back to the time when the problem is money and I think the arguments have to be listened to with that always in mind. Chairman, what I might add to that, other than to say that unity is absolutely mandatory, in my opinion, and it involves, of necessity, an approach to the subdivision of funds which has only in mind the security of the country and what you can do that year or the next year.
That, in a sense, is the view that I have always taken and which I hoped would have been smoothly worked out long ere this time. Thank you, Mr. It is always a great benefit to the country to have your mature judgment and views. To sum it up, it might be said that the money or the budget question is the one that is more important than all these other differences that have arisen.
Now, I just want to ask you this one question. Yesterday I stated that I thought the military budget should be not a fixed ceiling taken out of the air, but it should always be based, first, upon the potential [p.
As I understand it today, the military budget is made up by merely a statement that a certain sum of money can be used for national defense. Then, when that is announced, the fuss starts in the Services, just as you said.
That probably is the basic trouble of all of this—the budget distribution. Chairman, I would say that that last line of your statement is what always happens to us. We are told that finally from the Budget Bureau. In my own experience, it has always started first with an estimate of the situation and then you get into your discussion of what is the best way to meet that situation.
Then, that is reduced, at least in a flash estimate, to what it costs. Then, you come to your preliminary budget hearings. Chairman, because you must start with the estimate, and they always have started with the estimate. The military opinion as to what are the requirements of the situation, and then after that the estimates of the cost to implement that program, you then go to your budget and administration phase of the Government and have your first hearings.
Then out of that generally comes back what sum you will get. Then, of course, the trouble starts. As to how you reduce yours to that sum. Now, if the budget was based on the estimate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, bearing in mind the calculated risks based on the capabilities of a potential enemy and our international requirements, then was submitted to the Bureau of the Budget, and then was reviewed and reduced, then you would always be taking into consideration your strength and obligations and your potential enemy.
But, as I understand, the way it is being done, a statement. That is the reason I say it looks to me like we are putting the cart before the horse. It looks like the Joint Chiefs of Staff, charged with the responsibility, should say the potential enemy is such-and-such country. The Coast Guard is undergoing an ambitious shipbuilding plan to acquire three new Polar Security Cutters to bolster its presence in the Arctic. It is also seeking the acquisition of three medium-duty icebreakers that will be known as Arctic Security Cutters.
Karl Schultz. It's complex steel work that shipyards don't necessarily do every day. The Coast Guard is working with the Navy through an integrated program office for the effort. Indo-Pacific : Strengthened alliances and partnerships by deepening interoperability, expanding deterrent networks, and executing maritime security and awareness operations that reinforce a rules-based international order.
Addressed navigation threats with the International Maritime Security Construct. Afghanistan : The U. Korea : Supported diplomatic efforts to negotiate a denuclearized Korean Peninsula while maintaining a high state of readiness with our Republic of Korea allies. These savings will be reinvested into higher priorities for readiness and lethality.
Reform the Department Successes. Take Care of Our People Pay : Secured robust pay and benefits packages essential to attracting and retaining the best personnel and warfighters.
Housing : Worked with privatized housing partners to implement a Tenant Bill of Rights for military families living in privatized, on-base housing. Family : Improved child care and spousal employment support; established 12 weeks of paid parental leave for federal workers. Take Care of Our People Successes. Nuclear Recapitalization : Prioritized modernization of all three legs of the nuclear triad and nuclear command, control, and communications to ensure flexible and resilient capabilities that are safe, secure, and effective.
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