Goldwater-Nichols Forced Major Changes in Organizational Structure and Officer Career Planning for DoD. What Are Corresponding Implications for the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community Based on the Proposed Reforms

摘要

In 2004, my organization was asked to collect and analyze lessons from the Global War on Terrorism, giving particular attention to how components of the national security establishment worked together and what role DoD could play in making that process more efficient and effective. We conducted concurrent investigations in Washington and at the combatant commands. In Washington, we interviewed the leadership and selected staff members of the Departments of Defense, State, Justice, Treasury, and Energy, the CIA, and the National Security Council Staff. Concurrently, we sent officers to work in Combatant Command operations centers to see how interagency collaboration manifested itself at the other end of the chain. We then sent a team across Africa for two years, visiting Joint Task Force Horn of Africa and embassies across the continent to learn how the interagency process worked in an area of the world in which there were almost no US forces, no alliances with the US, and little military infrastructure. I want to share some lessons from that experience that have relevance to our proceedings today.