Transforming Command
Transforming Command
Book Review by Frank G. Hoffman
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In the Foreword of this well executed book, Brigadier General H.R. McMaster, USA warns that American thinking about defense transformation and Revolutions in Military Affairs up until Iraq and Afghanistan had begun to eclipse the doctrine or command philosophy called “mission command.” “The orthodoxy of defense transformation,” he notes, “considered war as mainly a targeting exercise and divorced war from its political, human, psychological and cultural dimensions.” He goes on to associate the neglect of mission command with negative impacts on U.S. and coalition efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as Israeli efforts in Southern Lebanon in 2006.
Thus, Transforming Command is certainly timely. Partly in response to the effects of the transformation agenda promoted by former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and partly in recognition of the leadership challenges posed by operations against today’s adaptive adversaries, the requirement for empowered and decentralized leadership is once again being recognized in the United States. The U.S. Army’s latest capstone concept, developed by General McMaster stressed “Future operations…must remain grounded in the Army’s long-standing concept of Mission Command defined as the conduct of military operations through decentralized execution based upon mission orders for effective mission accomplishment.” The Army goes on to emphasize disciplined initiative and prudent risk taking based on commander’s intent as key elements of mission command.
Likewise the U.S. Marine Corps has updated its Marine Operating Concepts with a chapter on Mission Command. It defines it as “A cultivated leadership ethos that empowers decentralized leaders with decision authority and guides character development of Marines in garrison and combat.” For the Marines, Mission Command “promotes an entrepreneurial mindset and enables the strong relationships of trust and mutual understanding necessary for decentralized decision making and the tempo of operations required to seize the initiative…”
Download the Full Review: Transforming Command
Frank G. Hoffman is a Senior Research Fellow at National Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies. He is a retired Marine Reservist and frequent contributor to Small Wars Journal.
