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Submitted by VikingsNow on February 22, 2007
Category: Social Issues
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DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT STRATEGY
Is the military shortchanging its war colleges - and its future?
Author(s): Laura Peterson Date: July 9, 2006 Page: E4 Section: Ideas
LAST SEPTEMBER, in a speech commemorating the 60th anniversary of the National War College in Washington, D.C., alumnus and former Secretary of State Colin Powell warned students that they would graduate into a world facing radically different threats, and ideas about how to fight them, than when he entered the school 30 years ago, at the height of the Cold War. Yet teaching military officers how to negotiate such changes is what the institution was established to do, Powell reminded them. It was at the National War College that he learned to think beyond the boundaries of his infantry training, to understand "the role of diplomacy" and "nasty, dirty, noisy politics."
Powell embodies, for many, the thoughtful warrior-the soldier able to think critically about his country's actions and draw lessons for the future from a historical context wider than the last war. He has also seen his fair share of nasty politics. Today, with the US military embroiled in political battles both at home and abroad and American military strategy in flux, the mission of the nation's war colleges-to turn officers into statesmen who can handle the roles of strategist, adviser, and diplomat with equal facility-is more relevant than ever, many civilian and military leaders say.
But caught between the budgetary pressures of a downsized military and the demands of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to the wider war on terror, some military bureaucrats want to cut back the time officers spend at the colleges-the Army War College in Pennsylvania, the Naval War College in Rhode Island, and the Air War College in Alabama, as well as the National War College-or even close them down temporarily. A report released last December by the Leadership in...
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