Is US Fighting Force Big Enough?

[Rob Thornton]

Hi Ken,
I think we are in agreement. There is always going to be tension because of the relationship to domestic policy (and politics) and foreign policy. It never ends.

While some general doctrinal principals can be produced that are enduring in light of the above conditions is good, my concern is that for the supporting institutions to try and guess what those conditions will be vs. responding to the needs of the policy and the GCCs tasked to realize them results in developing capabilities as we'd like them to be vs. capabilities that meet the changes in requirements.

The added danger in that may be that before long we start seeing the conditions as we'd prefer they be vs. as they are because we force fed the kool-aid through out all the instituions and it got the whole DOTMLPF body drunk.

So doctrine just keeps ambling along, sometime bringing back old ideas under new names, sometimes reflecting new requirements in new ways, sometimes blending old and new.

120's point:

Personally, I think we can, as a country, make our military smaller, but only while simultaneously increasing the scope and effectiveness of our non-military elements of power, as well as increasing our HUMINT to a manifold extent.

is a good one, and we are finding out just how hard increasing capacity in the other elements of national power is to do. Not just in terms of recruiting, training, educating, appropriating, retaining - but also in terms of cultural functions, laws and rice bowls. Last year I heard a comment by a retired GO who linked the ability to build capacity in the other elements of power to congressional committees - there was a good dose of "where you sit is where you stand" in the remark, and I think its probably true.

Again Ken's point about the politics of power and the conflict between domestic and foreign policy holds true. The rational for change seems to be such that it must be both immediate and undeniable, i.e. existential in a way that keeps you up at night either worrying about your vote as it relates to retaining your job, or worrying about the huns at the door. The problem with the former is historically (throughout time and place) it seems to be more important than the latter. The problem with the latter is you don't always know it until its a done deal. Both may be made more likely given the level of self interest, lack of education on the issues and lack of personal accountability present throughout a given society.

Best, Rob