Sounds Like the Department of Everything Else
I’m not impressed with the headline, or the thrust of the WaPo’s article at the administration, but the implications of this move point to some of the thinking of Thomas P. M. Barnett.
3 Generals Spurn the Position of War ‘Czar’ - washingtonpost.com
The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation. (emphasis mine)
I don’t care so much what the retired generals who turned it down are saying against the Bush administration. What I do care about is that this fits with the points Mr. Barnett makes in his “Pentagon’s New Map” about the need for a “department of everything else.” In Mr. Barnett’s view, this “department” would be responsible for all the post-combat, or (in old Pentagon-speak) military operations other than war (MOOTW).
From the Post article:
The administration’s interest in the idea stems from long-standing concern over the coordination of civilian and military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan by different parts of the U.S. government. The Defense and State departments have long struggled over their roles and responsibilities in Iraq, with the White House often forced to referee.
It must be encouraging to Mr. Barnett to have the real world reinforcing his arguments in favor of this construct. Nothing teaches the teacher’s lesson faster than the real world - if the lessons are real world lessons. Mr. Barnett’s are very much real world.
Source: 3 Generals Spurn the Position of War ‘Czar’ - washingtonpost.com
Tom around the web
+ A Wisconsin Librarian linked The side I’ve always been on. + Flit(tm) linked Searching for the Secretary of Everything Else. + And linked India plans on enjoying membership in the big boys’ club. + Most Serene Republic linked First…
Trackback by Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog — April 21, 2007 @ 11:19 am