A Goldwater-Nichols Act for the U.S. Government: Institutionalizing the Interagency Process

Abstract

By enhancing the authority of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the unified combatant commands, the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act created a major impetus for the military to operate more efficiently and effectively. There have been broad discussions about similar legislation for the Federal Government over the last year. In September 2004, General Peter Pace, USMC, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asked whether we needed a Goldwater-Nichols like change for the interagency process. He proposed a "lead agency concept" in which the President would designate a department or agency that "would have the authority to tell folks in the Government in various agencies to get this job done." Unfortunately, a Government-wide Goldwater-Nichols Act that relies on the lead agency concept would most likely fail in the absence of "joint" organizations throughout the Federal Government similar to the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the combatant commands that predated the 1986 act. In the absence of organizations that operate jointly and high-ranking government officials dedicated to jointness, the lead agency concept would fall prey to the parochial power of the various departments and agencies, which in the end can choose to cooperate or not. This article argues that a fundamental mismatch exists between the international threat environment and the current national security structure and that the lack of national-level joint interagency organizations undermines the ability of the United States to develop appropriate policies and implement comprehensive strategies. At a time when threats and problems are merging to develop deep, long-lasting challenges to national security, America clings to a ponderous and stovepiped decision making process that makes policy difficult to develop and even more difficult to implement.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2005
Accession Number
ADA479861

Entities

People

  • Alexander Krongard
  • Martin J. Gorman

Organizations

  • Defense Intelligence Agency

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Counter WMD
  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Congress
  • Counterterrorism
  • Department Of State
  • Governments
  • Homeland Security
  • Interagency Coordination
  • Law
  • National Governments
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Political Systems
  • Public Policy
  • Security
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • United States
  • United States Government

Readers

  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.