Capabilities-Based Planning in the Coming Global Security Environment
Abstract
Capabilities-based planning as a desirable approach (but to what end? This will be discussed later...) has come up because the Cold War ended and the U.S. had no enemies to match us or for us to match them, as we strove to do with the Soviet Union. Of course, its nearly 15 years since the Berlin Wall fell, and nearly 13years since the Soviet Union finally collapsed (it had been collapsing for around10 years before that final collapse, but we were not allowed to notice; DOD is a very prudent organization). One wonders why it took DOD so long to try to think in another direction. The inertia of minds, legacy forces, and legacy methods probably had something to do with it. But then the question arises, as discussed below, whether capabilities-based planning itself is just another manifestation of inertia. I think as currently approached it may be. The opportunity for longer range planning for a real world may have come with 9/11 and the huge shocks that the U.S. has experienced with the occupation of Iraq. If DOD is to truly address this changed world, however, it may no longer be called capabilities based planning. We will see.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- AD1014540
Entities
People
- Henry H. Gaffney
Organizations
- Center for Naval Analyses