Strategic Leadership

Most of my military career was focused on leading at the tactical and operational levels. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. It was truly an honor to serve in operational units as a direct and organizational leader in times of peace and war.

But the military needs strategic leaders. If one stays in long enough, inevitably they must take the plunge into the art that is national security.

During my 24 years of service, I really only focused on strategic leadership during the last five years. Some of my colleagues took career paths that kept them engaged at the strategic level for nearly their entire career!

I was humbled to attend the National War College (NWC). The NWC is nestled on the banks of the Potomac not far from the capital. It is one of our nation’s premier strategic leadership learning institutions. NWC alumnus include historic leaders to include former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Senator John McCain to name just a few.

It was an honor and privilege to learn at the historic campus with a little over 200 fellow classmates representing the best of U.S. military and civilian leadership as well as distinguished leaders from our allies. Many of my classmates are currently serving at the highest levels of government!

After learning how to be a strategic leader at the War College, I had a “utilization” tour at the Missile Defense Agency. Here I put my new found knowledge on national security strategy to use helping to deploy strategically important missile defense systems.

I served in this capacity for nearly four years until my retirement. I feel very fortunate to have had an opportunity to serve at the strategic level of our national security enterprise.

So what exactly is strategic leadership?  I will offer the book answer first, from the Army of course, but then provide what I think is the best example of strategic leadership. Army Regulation 6-22 states:

“Strategic leadership guides and integrates multiple organizational level units that perform a wide range of functions. It influences several thousand to hundreds of thousands of people….strategic leaders shape Army culture by ensuring their directives, policies, programs, and systems are ethical, effective, and efficient.”

Well written and certainly from the Army perspective. For me though, when I think of strategic leadership, I think of the National Security Council (NSC).

Many may not realize how important the NSC is in guiding our nation’s strategy and policy. Varying in size during each administration, the NSC comprises senior leaders from across our government who tackle our nation’s toughest security problems. They are accompanied by numerous younger staff members working behind the scenes who collectively recommend security policy.  

Students of the NSC often suggest that President H.W. Bush developed the model for the modern NSC. Most administrations since his presidency have generally followed the “Bush / Scowcroft” model for the Security Council. To include his son’s National Security Council featured in this week’s pic. The following text from one of my National War College assignments provides a brief overview of the Bush 41 NSC. 

Given his previous experiences in Congress, as Vice President, and as Director of the CIA, President Bush was highly experienced on foreign policy and his engaged leadership on national security matters were the legacy of his presidency.  

The president issued National Security Directive 1 on the day of his inauguration which directed changes to NSC organization from the Reagan administration.  Bush appointed the experienced General Brent Scowcroft as National Security Advisor, streamlined the organization for efficiency, and established a culture within the NSC that resulted in cooperation among the agencies.

President Bush and Scowcroft maintained an “informal but intense” friendship that allowed the President to trust that the NSC would meet his foreign policy objectives without micromanaging.  Likewise Bush’s demand for collegiate and inclusive relationships amongst the cabinet permeated to a NSC that maintained good working relationships amongst all of the agencies.

The Bush 41 NSC organized eight policy coordinating committees by region and function rather than multiple interagency groups.  The NSA chaired committees with the primaries- Secretary of State, Defense, director of CIA, CJCS, and White House Chief of Staff. 

As required the primaries surged up to a “gang of eight” which included the President and VP.  Deputy committees were mandated to have the actual deputy or a representative chosen personally by the primary.  In 1992 there were 47 members of the NSC compared to the 104 Bush 43 maintained in 2008.  

Due to the NSC’s ability to recognize global change and translate that into major foreign policy successes, the Scowcroft model for the NSC is often regarded as one of the most effective in recent history.  It is the Bush 41 NSC which brought the terms “primary” and “deputy” committees into widespread usage. Scowcroft’s NSC was noted for a bottom up approach whereby the primaries developed issues for the deputy committees to address via National Security Review (NSR) papers which informed the president’s directives.  

Bush’s foreign policy experience and emphasis on relationships enabled the NSC to facilitate historic foreign policy successes in the late 80s and early 90s including German reunification and the peaceful breakup of the Soviet Union.  The hallmark of one of the best NSCs in history will undoubtedly remain the successful buildup and combat operations of a U.S. led 34 nation coalition during Operation Desert Storm.    

I never really thought about this level of leadership when I was serving at the tactical level on operational and combat deployments. I probably should have! It was the policy makers serving on the NSC over the years who were ultimately directing our nation’s military instrument of power. 

Leading at this level certainly wasn’t for me. I am very thankful we have extremely talented strategic leaders serving our nation in this capacity. Even more thankful that I had an opportunity to meet some of these talented folks a few years ago at the National War College!

While it truly is our nation’s Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Guardians who stand point to keep us secure, keep our nation’s strategic leaders in your thoughts. They have an incredibly tough job!

The views, opinions and biases expressed in this blog are the authors and do not reflect those of the U.S. Army or Department of Defense.

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