Roadmap of names: George Packer writes an article for the New Yorker. He writes about David Kilcullen, among others. Kilcullen is of the Aus Army, and has been hired by Petraeus.
KLP Question: Do we really think that the federal bureaucracy will get pared down, especially under the Democrats as Packer and Kilcullen seem to think necessary? And are they advocating changing the Constitution so that the "unified command" would be people by unelected people from "civilian agencies".....
From the article:
The U.S. government, encumbered by habit and inertia, has not adapted as quickly to the changing terrain as the light-footed, mercurial jihadists. America’s many failures in the war on terror have led a number of thinkers to conclude that the problem is institutional. Thomas Barnett, a military analyst, proposes dividing the Department of Defense into two sections: one to fight big wars and one for insurgencies and nation-building.
Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel and Colin Powell’s former chief of staff, goes even further. He thinks that the entire national-security bureaucracy, which was essentially set in place at the start of the Cold War, is incapable of dealing with the new threats and should be overhauled, so that the government can work faster to prevent conflicts or to intervene early.
“Especially in light of this Administration, but also other recent ones, do we really want to concentrate power so incredibly in the White House?” he asked. “And, if we do, why do we still have the departments, except as an appendage of bureaucracy that becomes an impediment?” In Wilkerson’s vision, new legislation would create a “unified command,” with leadership drawn from across the civilian agencies, which “could supplant the existing bureaucracy.”
Here are some interesting articles I located on each of these folks:
On Writing The Assassins' Gate
By George Packer | bio
tpmcafe.com
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Before leaving for Iraq Petraeus recruited a number of highly educated military officers, nicknamed "Petraeus guys", to advise him as commander. While most of them are American military officers, he also hired Lt. Col. David Kilcullen of the Australian Army, who was working for the US State Department.[10]
en.wikipedia.org
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4/06/06 Twenty-Eight Articles, Fundamentals of Company-level Counterinsurgency by David Kilcullen, Ph.D. Distilled lessons from history and recent experience. Lt Col Kilcullen (Australian Army, Reserve) served on East Timor and is now seconded to the US Department of State. (199 KB PDF)
d-n-i.net |
