An overlooked aspect of American foreign policy is the systems in which decisions and policy are crafted, said Major General Ricky Waddell in a lecture for the Center for Military History and Grand Strategy last Friday.
“Military strategy is not made in a vacuum, at least it shouldn’t be,” Waddell said. “Military strategy should descend from policy, and as policy follows from politics, however, formally or informally made, military strategy should fall in line with those policy statements of intent and application of resources in pursuit of stated or implied goals, objectives or outcomes.”
Waddell spoke in the Hoynack Room about how military planners must diligently strive to continually assess the outcomes of their decisions to make sure they align with the government’s stated policy goals.
“A good military planner will ask two major questions, ‘Are we doing things right?’ and ‘Are we doing the right things?’” said Waddell, the retired commander of the 76th Operational Response Command.
Prior to this assignment, Waddell served in numerous teaching, engineering, and commanding military roles, most notably as the director for European security affairs on the National Security Council.
Waddell said his talk was meant to give a brief insight into the nuances and difficulties of strategic planning in light of the overwhelming amount of information influencing policy outcomes.
“General Waddell gave an excellent talk, balancing well details and generalizations,” Professor of History Dave Stewart said. “All Americans should understand the multi-layered processes he described which govern the making of American military policies and strategies.”
Galloway Resident Director JoAnn Arendt said she walked away from the talk with the impression that our military forces ought to use these critical methods to solve problems like the southern border crisis.
“I find it unbelievable that I can get a speeding ticket for any minor traffic infraction while anyone can come to and cross our southern border with no punishment,” Arendt said. “We have this huge military but no matter what happens at the border, no one seems to care or act.”
But as Waddell pointed out in his talk, the military is bound to the policy objectives laid out by civilian leaders and the journey that information takes to become coherent policy is often strenuous.
“Too often we think in some simplistic terms about the president simply announcing a policy with no insight into the complex nature of forming and executing that policy,” Stewart said. “I found it especially useful that General Waddell explored the process from a broad perspective, rather than providing only a single example.”
Given that the military is equipped with the right tools, Arendt said it doesn’t have an excuse not to solve problems sitting right in front of it.
“For as smart as our military is, sometimes I wish they would just act smart,” Arendt said. “Clearly the military has the systems in place to do the right things and I just wish they’d do that.”
