Military Leadership

Strategic Planning by the Chairmen, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1990 TO 2005 Dr Richard M Meinhart Letort Paper by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Military leaders at many levels have used strategic planning in various ways to position their organizations to respond to the demands of the current situation, while simultaneously focusing on future challenges. This Letort Paper examines how four Chairmen Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1990 to 2005 used a strategic planning system to enable them to meet their statutory responsibilities specified in Title 10 US Code and respond to the ever-changing strategic environment. These responsibilities include: assisting the President and Secretary of Defense in providing strategic direction to the armed forces; conducting strategic planning and net assessments to determine military capabilities; preparing contingency planning and assessing preparedness; and providing advice on requirements, programs, and budgets."

Coup D'Oeil: Strategic Intuition in Army Planning Dr William Duggan Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "In our military professions, formal analytical methods co-exist with intuitive decisionmaking by leaders in action. For the most part, there is no harm done. But many officers can recount times when they knew they should have “gone with their gut,” but followed instead the results of their analytical methods. The gap between these two forms of decisionmaking perhaps has grown wider in recent times, especially in Iraq, where adaptive leadership seems to have overshadowed formal methods of planning. Departing from formal methods increasingly seems to be the mark of an effective commander, as we learn from Dr. Leonard Wong’s recent Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) report, Developing Adaptive Leaders: The Crucible Experience of Operation Iraqi Freedom (July 2004)."

Transformational Leadership in Wartime LTC Steven J Eden Student Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "Few men are vouchsafed the command of armies; fewer still face the task of rebuilding defeated armies in wartime, and of these only a handful have been successful. Three who assumed command in the midst of defeat were George McClellan, arriving in Washington, D.C., to take over the Army of the Potomac as it licked its wounds after Bull Run; William Slim, coming to Burma as the Japanese drove the British out of Rangoon; and Matthew Ridgway, appointed to lead an Eighth Army reeling back before the Chinese pouring over the Yalu River. "

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff's Leadership Using the Joint Strategic Planning System in the 1990s: Recommendations for Strategic Leaders Dr Richard M Meinhart Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The Joint Strategic Planning System has been considered the primary formal means by which the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff executed his statutory responsibilities specified by Congress in Title 10 of the U.S. Code. Yet little has been written about this strategic planning system itself, although some of its products such as the varied National Military Strategies and Joint Visions have been thoroughly reviewed. One can gain great insight into the Chairman’s formal leadership since the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act by understanding how this system evolved, reviewing its processes, and examining all of its products."

Strategic Leaders Adapting to the Future Environment - Department of State COL William L Wimbish III Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "Competent, innovative and effective leadership is absolutely essential to the success of any organization; especially during times of great uncertainty and transformation. In order to effectively implement, manage and lead change, strategic leaders must possess and use certain core competencies and skill sets."

Fourth Anton Myrer Strategic Leadership Conference: A 'Leadership During Crisis' Workshop COL Gregory A Adams, Michael H Crutcher, Prof James O Kievit, Thomas W Sweeney Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "The September 2001 at tacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon vividly demonstrated that responding to a major crisis is not solely the concern of the military or the national security community or even of fire and police protection agencies. Indeed, there are many types of crises that can threaten not only the well-being of governmental, civil, and business organizations and population at various levels, but also their very existence."

Disaster and Intervention in Sub-Saharan Africa: Learning from Rwanda Dr Steven Metz Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "In this study, Steven Metz examines the policy and strategy implications of violence-induced human disasters in Sub-Saharan Africa with special emphasis on Rwanda. The author argues that our senior military leaders, policymakers and strategists must better understand the African security environment. He also warns that to avoid overtaxing the military, U.S. objectives in African disaster relief must be limited. This combination of limited policy goals and operational efficiency will allow the U.S. military to serve public demands at a minimal cost to its other efforts."