Huh?
New York Times, 5 November 2013
One of the hardest-hit areas being discussed in federal budget talks is the Pentagon, which would take an automatic $20 billion cut in January under sequestration. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel proposed a 20 percent cut in his own office’s budget, but command headquarters around the world doubled in cost from 2007 to 2012, the Government Accountability Office found. And while Hagel’s predecessor, Robert Gates, said at least 50 generals and admirals should be eliminated, few of the cuts have occurred.
Trim the Top, Like Most Innovative Organizations
With cuts coming, the best junior officers will see a surfeit of generals and seek a future elsewhere than in a top-heavy bureaucracy
Why Cut the Leaders We May Soon Need?
The past isn't a model for the future. More troops and money on the battlefield might not be the most efficient allocation if more drones are used
The bureaucracies that surround top commanders have grown drastically, and the taxpayer-financed perks these commanders enjoy is immense
Cuts Are Needed, but Shouldn’t Affect Diversity
The number of minorities serving in the military's highest ranks has risen, but there are still so few, that cuts, without care, could almost eliminate them.
Phi Beta Iota: Two morons, a half-wit, and one marginally intelligent person. Flag officers today, a handful of exceptions not-with-standing, are toxic, corrupt to the bone, and along with a Secretary of Defense surrounded by sychopants without a clue on how to leverage intelligence with integrity to do strategy, policy, acquisition, and operations, the central problem of our time. Senior executive officers — the bloated civilian counterparts to uniformed flag officers — are included in this general condemnation. The US Navy, to take one example, has over 240 Admirals, and roughly 285 ships. This is insanely criminal and totally unprofessional. The other services are not much better. INTEGRITY is the one word that matters. It is lacking across all mission areas, at all levels, within all services and theater commands. There are very good people all over, but no one, anywhere, is actually trying to reinvent defense so as to create the mix of four forces after next, theater-specific cadres for multinational by, with, and through, or the OSE/M4IS2 approach to C4I that SOCOM, NATO, and the services and theaters all need so desperately. In our view, Admiral McRaven and General Breedlove, joined by Generals Miller and Flynn, have real potential, but first they have to come together and get a grip on their common need for an Open Source Agency (OSA) and the three shared challenges none of them are taking seriously at this time. Intelligence with integrity is the starting point. An Open Source Agency is how we create the foundation for DoD and then Whole of Government ethics in action….affordable, holistic, interoperable, sustainable governance in the public interest.
PDF (2 Pages): NATO WATCH Challenges and Solutions 4.0
DOC (6 Pages): 2013 Open Source Agency 2.1
See Also:
Mini-Me: Afghan & US Flag Corruption on “‘Auschwitz-like’ Conditions at Hospital + Meta-RECAP
Winslow Wheelers: Morally Bankrupt Flag Officers Need to Go + Pentagon Corruption RECAP
Winslow Wheeler: Purge the Generals to Fix the Army + Flag Corruption and Ineptitude RECAP
