The Army’s Starfish Program and an Emphasis on Decentralization

The past 8+ years of war has taught us many things as an Army. One particular lesson we’ve learned is that decentralized threats are best countered by also decentralizing our own capabilities. To adapt to what we’ve learned, the Army is training its leaders to think, act, and operate more decentralized. Now, through the promotion of mission orders, commander’s intent and a new pilot program titled “The Army’s Starfish Program”, we are taking additional steps to promote decentralization as yet another tool to counter decentralized and networked threats.

The Army’s Starfish Program evolved through an opportunistic collaboration between the USA Training and Doctrine Command and Ori Brafman, best-selling author of The Starfish and The Spider. A select group of leaders took part in the pilot program earlier this year and are now reaching out across the Army to share their insights from this unique experience. On 26 April, Ori Brafman will be joined by select students at a Town Hall Meeting at Fort Monroe in the post theater where they will discuss the tenets of the program, their experiences, and the results.

The Town Hall Meeting is open to all servicemembers, their families, and garrison personnel. For those unable to attend due to geography, it will be webcast at http://pl.pscdn.net/003/02467/live3.asx. For those unable to attend the townhall or see the webcast, a tape of the townhall will be hung on the TRADOC webpage in the days following the townhall.

We encourage you to join us to get a sense for how the Army is seeking to learn from its experiences after 8+ years of war.

GEN Martin E. Dempsey

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SWJ Editor’s Note: General Martin E. Dempsey is Commanding General of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command.