Military Leadership as an Element of National Power
Abstract
History shows that national power can be magnified by military genius. The converse is also true. America has never needed military genius to win a war because she and her allies have always had an overwhelming superiority of men, money, and machines. On the other hand, her enemies have postponed defeat many months because they had outstanding military leadership. This national experience has established the "military manager" rather than the heroic, military leader as a model. Will the military manager be the type of leader needed in a war that might be fought against somebody our own size? Without waiting to see whether traditional generalship is obsolete in battle, we can point to failures of the military manager to furnish victorious leadership in the Cold War. He has failed to prevent .civilian expertise from taking over the planning and operations of national security. And while failing himself, he is impeding the development of new military leadership that is needed not only in the councils of government today but also on the battlefields of tomorrow. There may be time to repair the damage and to start developing a reservoir of leadership talent from which to draw the military genius needed to defeat America's enemies in cold or hot wars of the future. An essential first step is to start treating our military establishment as a permanent institution, not as a provisional organization for "crisis management.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 08, 1966
- Accession Number
- ADA526214
Entities
People
- Mark M. Boatner Iii
Organizations
- United States Army War College