Mullen Urges More 'Soft Power'

The nation's top military officer expressed concern today that U.S. government agencies other than the military have been slow to expand their role in Afghanistan. Speaking to an audience at Kansas State University here, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, underscored the need for a "whole-of-government" approach to Afghanistan, with greater input from so-called "soft power" agencies such as the State Department.

"My fear, quite frankly, is that we aren't moving fast enough in this regard," Mullen said. "U.S. foreign policy is still too dominated by the military, too dependent on the generals and admiral who lead our major overseas commands, and not enough on the State Department."

Mullen's remarks at the Landon Lecture echoed a familiar refrain that the United States should seek balance in military and nonmilitary efforts, a tack that represents a departure from what Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has referred to as a "creeping militarization" in American foreign policy. The chairman embraced requests by Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for more funding and greater emphasis on soft power, suggesting that deployment of U.S. troops should depend on other government agencies' readiness to engage...

More at American Forces Press Service.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Readjusts Principles on Use of Force - Thom Shanker, New York Times.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, laid out new principles Wednesday for how to use the military in meeting contemporary threats, saying that overwhelming force can be counterproductive if used recklessly.

In a careful recalibration of well-known principles set forth years ago by a predecessor, Gen. Colin L. Powell, Admiral Mullen said the military "must not try to use force only in an overwhelming capacity, but in the proper capacity, and in a precise and principled manner."

Speaking at Kansas State University, he pointed to new rules restricting the use of combat force in Afghanistan, where civilian deaths caused by American troops and American bombs have outraged the local population and made the case for the insurgency. That kind of restraint, at the insistence of the field commander there, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, has been criticized in some quarters as reneging on the so-called Powell Doctrine, which favored overwhelming force to achieve unambiguous victories...

More at The New York Times.

Top U.S. Military Official Outlines Tempered Approach to War - Julian Barnes, Los Angeles Times.

The U.S. military must use measured and precise strikes, not overwhelming force, in the wars it is likely to face in the future, the nation's top uniformed officer said Wednesday in outlining a revised approach to American security.

The view outlined by Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, differs both from the doctrine of overwhelming force advanced by Colin L. Powell, a onetime Joint Chiefs chairman, and the "shock and awe" approach of former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "There is no single, defining American way of war," Mullen argued. "It changes over time, and it should change over time, adapting appropriately to the most relevant threats to our national security."

Mullen's views, presented in a speech at Kansas State University, mirror the latest U.S.-led offensive in Afghanistan, a showcase effort in which troops in Marja are trying not only to seize control of territory but to obtain influence over the local population in a bid to break the hold of insurgents. His comments are significant because the Joint Chiefs chairman under the Constitution serves as the president's chief military advisor...

More at The Los Angeles Times.