Our broken strategy-making process

Gen. John Batiste
WashPost

Q: In confronting the issue of Gen. McChrystal's apparent insubordination, did President Obama have any choice but to remove him? Going forward, what can Gen. Petraeus do to overcome this dramatic shakeup and keep his troops reassured and on mission?

Stan McChrystal crossed the line and President Obama did the right thing to accept his resignation. Civilian control of our military is fundamental to our system of government. That said, Stan's action is a symptom of a root cause of significant magnitude.

That root cause is the systemic failure in our government to produce a synchronized, comprehensive strategy with all 18 US government departments and agencies singing off the same sheet of music.

Do not confuse a well-developed Department of Defense military strategy with a comprehensive U.S. government interagency strategy. Hear me out.

Because we have no interagency strategic planning process, there is no comprehensive strategy to deal with world-wide Islamic extremism. The White House staff may have a strategy, but it is produced in isolation without the involvement of the entire interagency community. As a direct result, the plan is not complete and there is no buy-in.

(More here.)