Planning Convergence
Abstract
In the Department of Defense (DOD) today, several initiatives are emerging and have begun to converge. Adaptive Planning (AP), Capabilities-based Planning (CBP), and Global Force Management (GFM) are three prime examples. The 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review Report (QDR) reaffirms the DOD commitment to these initiatives and places emphasis on a need to "integrate processes that define needed capabilities, identify solutions, and allocate resources to acquire them." Thus, it is incumbent on DOD to effectively manage the convergence of AP, CBP, and GFM in order to fully support the vision of sound decisionmaking in an uncertain defense environment. The argument of this essay is simple: Placing tight bounds on military operational planners will effectively institute a new planning and military decisionmaking process. The purpose is to suggest a move away from open-ended strategic guidance toward explicit intent, assumptions, and constraints. Unlike today's strategic guidance, strictly limiting available force capabilities and other resources will generate more creative planning options and risk mitigation strategies. This ideaymay seem counterintuitive. However, it is the iterative process of setting new bounds, reformulating a plan, and providing results back to strategists that can ultimately provide insight for decisionmakers. A more meaningful and beneficial convergence of AP, CBP, and GFM will occur because the iterative process demands continuous communication and informationsharing among the strategist, force provider, warfighting planner, and out-year programmer.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA518544
Entities
People
- Paul J. Judge
Organizations
- National Defense University