Theater Engagement Plan (Strategic Tool for National Security)

Abstract

Shrinking resources and declining confidence in government have spawned legislative mandates for increased accountability and improved performance by Federal agencies. This reform movement has had an impact on the military and resulted in initiatives designed to refocus strategic military leaders on results rather than merely on process and output. To that end the Secretary of Defense through the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff mandated each geographic Commander-in-Chief (CINC) submit an annual Theater Engagement Plan. This Theater Engagement Plan sets forth the Commander-in-Chiefs overall theater strategy and details the type and scope of activities to be conducted in support of the National Military Strategy. This provides the National Command Authority a venue to assess how the geographic Commanders-in-Chiefs are implementing the United States National Security Strategy and validate resource expenditures. This paper examines Theater Engagement Plans to see if they are in fact a valuable tool for the National Command Authority in determining if the goals of the National Security Strategy are being translated into executable programs at the operational level. Additionally this paper will, using the United States European Command Theater Engagement Plan, show how appropriate measures of effectiveness are used to validate the Command's programs. To accomplish this, strategic planning and the key elements of effective strategic planning will be used as a framework. Additionally, the United States European Command Theater Engagement Plan will be highlighted, in regards to the strategic planning model and the theory of metrics, to show how its programs (means) supports the theater objectives (ways) which support the goals of the National Security Strategy (ends).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 10, 2000
Accession Number
ADA378132

Entities

People

  • John D. Poucher Ii

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Counter WMD
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Central Europe
  • Combatant Commanders
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Delphi Method
  • Department Of Defense
  • Middle East
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Planning
  • Military Science
  • Military Strategy
  • National Security
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • United States
  • United States European Command
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Strategic Security Studies