“Penny Wise, Pound Foolish”
“Penny Wise, Pound Foolish”
by Dr. Tammy S. Schultz
Download the Full Article: “Penny Wise, Pound Foolish”
“Efficiencies” is the new Washington watchword as U.S government departments, agencies, and the Congress have begun slashing budgets. Unfortunately, some of these cuts are not being made with surgical precision, but with rusted hacksaws, specifically in the national security realm.
Two areas in particular that we cut at our peril are preventative/shaping operations and stability/counterinsurgency operations (or “phase zero” and “phase four” as they are called — although the military has smartly moved away from this linear paradigm). Cases abound, but just three cases are illustrative of this “penny wise, pound foolish” mindset: The desire to cut or eliminate the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Download the Full Article: “Penny Wise, Pound Foolish”
Dr. Tammy S. Schultz is the Director of National Security & Joint Warfare at the U.S. Marine Corps War College where she is also a professor of strategy. These views are her own.