By christopher p. cavas
Published: 7 Apr 2010 16:40
The Pentagon's relentless pressure on each of the armed services to cooperate more fully with each other and pool their resources could leave the United States unprepared to face its most capable potential adversary, a key strategist said April 7.
"The secular religion of jointness," said Bryan McGrath, is making the Department of Defense "ill-prepared" to defend commercial globalization that in turn is underwritten by sea power.
"The inability to do this leaves our country ill-prepared to meet the one adversary we could face - China," he added.
McGrath, a retired U.S. Navy officer who was the primary author of the service's latest maritime strategy, spoke in Washington at a Heritage Foundation panel on sea power.
"Jointness has made our armed services the envy of the world," McGrath noted. "No nation can match our ability to synchronize combat power. It is also a paradigm of acquisition and strategic planning.
"But jointness has gone too far," he charged. "It is an impediment to intellectual and strategic thinking."
With a need to embrace and support the needs of the land services, the Navy, McGrath said, is unable in the current climate to strongly advocate for sea power. A military strategy that clearly favored sea power over airpower and land power would never make its way out of the Pentagon, he said.
"Sea power must receive greater emphasis as an enabler of a grand strategy in a multipolar world," he declared. "But I fear it will not."
The Pentagon has not yet faced up to the challenges represented by a growing Chinese blue-water navy, McGrath said. "We are whistling past the graveyard."
A response to the Chinese should be based on a maritime strategy, McGrath said. "We must find a way to have a national debate about sea power and its centrality to the world."
The Chinese themselves are pointing the way, McGrath observed.
"We must find a way to embrace Confucian duality as effectively as the Chinese do.
We should work to encourage good behavior, but we need to be thinking more about what a war with China would look like. Planning to fight a war with China does not guarantee a war or make it more likely. It simply means that nations should be prepared to fight and win a war they cannot afford to lose, in this case with China."
In response, one veteran naval strategist rose from the audience to challenge McGrath.
The Navy often is described as arrogant in its relations with other services, observed Dick Diamond, a retired naval officer. "Now you have us believe the Navy is drinking the Kool-Aid of jointness."
A key test as to how far the Navy and Air Force are embracing jointness, Diamond noted, will be the release in about two months of internal reports on the Air-Sea Battle, a Navy-Air Force effort to pool their resources to meet tactical challenges on the battlefield.
"The report that the joint Air Force-Navy cell gives their leadership, and what their service chiefs sent forward to the secretary of defense, will answer the question of whether the services are really on board with jointness or not," Diamond told a reporter Wednesday. "It will be a perfect laboratory."
Jointness a Threat To Beating China: Analyst - Defense News
Published: 7 Apr 2010 16:40
The Pentagon's relentless pressure on each of the armed services to cooperate more fully with each other and pool their resources could leave the United States unprepared to face its most capable potential adversary, a key strategist said April 7.
"The secular religion of jointness," said Bryan McGrath, is making the Department of Defense "ill-prepared" to defend commercial globalization that in turn is underwritten by sea power.
"The inability to do this leaves our country ill-prepared to meet the one adversary we could face - China," he added.
McGrath, a retired U.S. Navy officer who was the primary author of the service's latest maritime strategy, spoke in Washington at a Heritage Foundation panel on sea power.
"Jointness has made our armed services the envy of the world," McGrath noted. "No nation can match our ability to synchronize combat power. It is also a paradigm of acquisition and strategic planning.
"But jointness has gone too far," he charged. "It is an impediment to intellectual and strategic thinking."
With a need to embrace and support the needs of the land services, the Navy, McGrath said, is unable in the current climate to strongly advocate for sea power. A military strategy that clearly favored sea power over airpower and land power would never make its way out of the Pentagon, he said.
"Sea power must receive greater emphasis as an enabler of a grand strategy in a multipolar world," he declared. "But I fear it will not."
The Pentagon has not yet faced up to the challenges represented by a growing Chinese blue-water navy, McGrath said. "We are whistling past the graveyard."
A response to the Chinese should be based on a maritime strategy, McGrath said. "We must find a way to have a national debate about sea power and its centrality to the world."
The Chinese themselves are pointing the way, McGrath observed.
"We must find a way to embrace Confucian duality as effectively as the Chinese do.
We should work to encourage good behavior, but we need to be thinking more about what a war with China would look like. Planning to fight a war with China does not guarantee a war or make it more likely. It simply means that nations should be prepared to fight and win a war they cannot afford to lose, in this case with China."In response, one veteran naval strategist rose from the audience to challenge McGrath.
The Navy often is described as arrogant in its relations with other services, observed Dick Diamond, a retired naval officer. "Now you have us believe the Navy is drinking the Kool-Aid of jointness."
A key test as to how far the Navy and Air Force are embracing jointness, Diamond noted, will be the release in about two months of internal reports on the Air-Sea Battle, a Navy-Air Force effort to pool their resources to meet tactical challenges on the battlefield.
"The report that the joint Air Force-Navy cell gives their leadership, and what their service chiefs sent forward to the secretary of defense, will answer the question of whether the services are really on board with jointness or not," Diamond told a reporter Wednesday. "It will be a perfect laboratory."
Jointness a Threat To Beating China: Analyst - Defense News
