Pushing a Rope: Balancing the DIME within Geographic Theaters
Abstract
Changes to the global security landscape in the last two decades demand a new approach to the theater commander's strategies. Today, The United States faces an international environment which fosters enemies who use asymmetric tactics and seek nuclear destruction on American soil. It is widely agreed that facing these challenges requires a balanced strategy engaging all instruments of national power. However, following the arms race during the Cold War, the instruments of national power have been far from balanced, and the resources of the United States military have far exceeded those associated with diplomatic, informational, and economic tools. Ideally, the instruments of national power could be balanced at the national-strategic level, but the reality of the domestic political environment makes that solution unlikely in the near-term. Instead, it is necessary to empower the geographic combatant commanders to leverage a balanced response to security requirements within their own theaters. The thesis of this paper is that, though not ideally suited, the geographic combatant commanders are uniquely qualified to balance the instruments of national power at the theater level. In addition to an increasing requirement to engage in shaping and stability operations, the United States must also maintain military superiority to dissuade and deter near-peer competitors. Meeting these expanding requirements in a resource-constrained environment will require maximum efficiency from interagency processes. Due to political realities, it is unlikely that the interagency will be sufficiently reformed at the national-strategic level. Therefore, in the short-term, geographic combatant commanders are best suited to leverage existing federal resources to meet all security goals. In the long-term they should do so with an intent to ultimately pass the responsibilities for shaping and stability to other governmental agencies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 06, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA476733
Entities
People
- Walter S. Morgan
Organizations
- Naval War College