In follow-up to our last CMO class, I wanted to highlight a few points about how the military plans for contingencies. My last two assignments have been in planning and I have participated both in long range planning and contingency planning (crisis planning).

When the military gets tasked to prepare for a mission like restoring Aristide back to power in Haiti (1994), we are not asked to and cannot plan for it years in advance. We are rarely asked to reflect over the long term implications of our plans either. Rather, a typical tasking orders us to answer questions that involve the preparation, the deployment and execution of the mission.

Usually, the key question is how long until the mission is ready to be executed. In the planning process, there is no mechanism in place that allows us to discuss long term ramifications such as those we saw in Haiti. In my personal experience, when I have mentioned these issues in other planning activities, I was informed that it was not my area of expertise.

In contingencies where the use of lethal force is being considered, security classification will be part of the process. Historically, this is intended to maximize our advantages while preventing an adversary from gleaning any useful intelligence while we plan/prepare. Another important challenge is to keep our plans off of the local six o’clock news. Once word breaks that we are planning something, our ability to prepare and even the options available become more limited. Accurate information and limited means of obtaining it is the cost of compartmentalization. It is important to remember that the Dept of Defense is the lead agency in crises using force, which represent a small percentage of the total operations conducted in any given year. As such, most agencies will not dedicate either manpower or the resources to obtain security clearances which enable them to participate in military planning process.

Keeping all of that in mind, no plan executed by the military occurs without civilian oversight and approval. While the Haiti plan (1994) left much to be desired, it was approved by civilian authority prior to execution. While I cannot accurately state how many times the civilians were briefed the plan in total, I would find it hard to believe that they did not receive several decision briefs and weekly updates, as well.

Blog post by: Rob Bortree
The opinions expressed above are those of Rob Bortree and not the US Military