NSP IP 14 Civil Military Relations What is the proper balance and what are the roles?

TISS Data on Civilian Control Norm - anytime a civilian academian calls something "normal," the next thing he'll do is attack it; Normal Theory of Civil-Military Relations - pg 4 - don't tell the surgeon how to do surgery, but civilian has the options and decisions to have the surgery; Cohen - problem: war is too important to leave to generals; pg 5, para 1; Clausewtizian argument to the next step - each war is peculiar to politics that gave it birth...expertise in one will not mean expertise in another and may be counterproductive; only person who truly understands the political purpose is the policymaker; So....the number in the "insist" column should be zero. Why isn't it? McMaster's Dereliction of Duty - military did not assert itself enough - Cohen says this is a misleading way to look at this; - if you as a military professional believe the politics of the war are wrong, what so you do? If insist means "resign," then maybe it shouldn't be zero. - when politicians populate the senior ranks with generals who will not dissent, what are the impacts? - collision of service-related interests? Is it disagreement in application or purpose of force? Abrams Doctrine - creation of the Total Force - Cohen: the "new" normal? The military officers did not know and were never told of a valid political end; Abrams imposed his view on the civilian leadership; Can you be a political instrument without being political? Abram actually enabled commitment of military resources without political dialogue. He wanted more interference in the form of public debate, not less, and ended with the opposite. Cohen: civilians have the right to be wrong and even if they are not improving military effectiveness, it's their call; Rumsfeld piece...credit Cohen gives doesn't make sense; Unequal dialogue - what Cohen wants to happen behind closed doors; democratic theory says the civilian gets the final say and should be followed; Danger if objective control in deepening partisan behavior - pg 264 High command vs internal military hierarchical position - there is an art of discussion and conversation to dissent;

Is party affiliation indicative of a potential future failure in civil-military relations? (67% of officers associate with Republican Party, 7% with Democrats); generational? "If you insist, I will resign publicly and make you look bad politically"--this is different and is problematic in the issue; Iraq - Rumsfeld's failure to call it an insurgency; Civilian Responsibilities: 1. Pick the "right" people, not the people who tell you what you want to hear 2. Ask a lot of questions 3. Listen to the answers 4. Allow yourself to be educated 5. Reward diversity of thought Lincoln and McClellan Churchill and Allen Brook - don't worry about being rude, just being right; The impact of media in sensationalizing and politicizing civil-military disagreements; Perhaps a military career is not necessarily the right path to prepare one for high command in war... Understand the poltical nature of the conflict Ability to synthesize and comprehend multiplicity of force interactions To see things as they are and not as illusions would have it (courage) Disciplined passion - knowing where to stop Cohen's view of genius is willingness to immerse and adjust understanding and correct course; Separation from society - the all volunteer force is a driving mechanism/contributing factor; US society is not militaristic, but it is remarkably aggressive politically; Citizens define patriotism as support for the troops but not by participating in service; Supporting dilemma--aligning support for operations with support for military; Has the basis of the relationship become defined by contempt and a complete separation of policy aims and military action? Emphasis on public relations - how do we get the messages out? - example: Petraeus op Ed prior to election on how well training of Afghan security forces was going; - it is not military job to sell for support - in conjunction, it is civilian role to take responsibility for policy implementation Fine balance of judgment and intent -

Politicizing military to justify political ends chips away at military effectiveness over time; not in the interests of the military to be a political interest group?