Bill Shore’s Letters
Our Role in Newly Approved National Defense Strategy
Originally published: August 2008
Last week the Washington Post reported that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had approved a new National Defense Strategy. Though not released publicly, it was provided to the Post by a defense industry news service called InsideDefense.com. Secretary Gates articulated a sobering vision of “ long-term, episodic, multi-front and multi-dimensional conflict more complex and more diverse than the Cold War confrontation with communism.” The article focused on recommendations to fight irregular wars against terrorists rather than the military’s traditional focus on conventional wars against other nations.
But the Post failed to report one of the most remarkable features of the report, which is the Defense Secretary’s description of the role you and I and fellow citizens must play. Not since General George Marshall’s plan to reconstruct Europe after World War II has there been such an expansive vision for Americans sharing their strengths. Among policy statements from the current Administration, it stands alone in the conviction that those outside of government have a role and responsibility essential to a stronger America and safer world.
I found and read the entire report on-line. In balancing his call for restructuring our military capabilities to master the irregular warfare conducted by violent extremists with cautions about the limitations of military power, Gates explains:
“Military efforts to capture or kill terrorists are likely to be subordinate to measures to promote local participation in government and economic programs to spur development, as well as efforts to understand and address the grievances that often lie at the heart of insurgencies…. Iraq and Afghanistan remind us that military success alone is insufficient to achieve victory… Beyond security essential ingredients of long-term success include economic development, institution building and the rule of law, as well as promoting internal reconciliation, good governance, providing basic services …We must tap the full strength of the American people.”
Near the end of the report Gates turns to the role of those outside of government:
“The United States must improve its ability to deploy civilian expertise rapidly, and continue to increase effectiveness by joining with organizations and people outside of government – untapped resources with enormous potential. We can make better use of the expertise of our universities and of industry to assist in reconstruction and long-term improvements to economic vitality and good governance…. Having permanent civilian capabilities available and using them early could make it less likely that military forces will need to be deployed in the first place.”
It is a paragraph brimming with new possibility. Gates goes beyond saying all hands on deck are required to win a war, suggesting instead that civilian capabilities, imaginatively and rigorously deployed, could actually prevent war.
The document sets the stage for the creation of something we brainstormed about after our 2002 trip to Ethiopia: the creation of a Strength Corps, some type of institution positioned between a military corps of professional soldiers and a Peace Corps comprised primarily of idealistic young people not yet experienced in business, management, or the professions they will ultimately adopt. A Strength Corps could fill the gap by affording opportunities for skilled professionals – engineers, marketing executives, doctors, technology specialists - perhaps at mid-career and looking for more meaning and purpose or simply an opportunity to serve, to be deployed on targeted, temporary assignments around the world where the need is greatest. Creation of a Strength Corps or similar program would of course require an investment to fund, organize and support the safe and effective deployment of such talented civilians. But think of the power it could tap into and leverage, and the return on investment it could yield if it achieves even some of the impact contemplated by a Defense Department that routinely allocates hundreds of billions of dollars on measures deemed necessary for our security.
It is ironic that it is the Secretary of Defense, rather than leaders of the civic sector, nonprofits, or international development organizations, who is championing such citizen engagement. To not articulate the connection nor embrace a role in the national security challenges that define our era would be a colossal failure of imagination. Shame on us if we don’t seize the opportunity to respond with concrete ideas and recommendations for making the Defense Secretary’s vision a reality.
The muted response to Robert Gates’ bold idea suggests it may be ahead of its time. But terrorist extremists are real, and so are the limits of military power in combating them. We likely haven’t seen the last of terrorist attacks on our values or our soil, and we may not until we engage not just the brave men and women who wear our nations uniform, but all of us.
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