The National Defense University and the American Academy of Diplomacy hosted a presentation by Former Chief of National Intelligence Admiral (Ret.) Dennis Blair, Former Commander of the US Special Operations Command Eric Olson and former Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann:

“Complex Civil-Military Actions: The Imperative for a New Model”

The existing way of doing business with separate lines of civilian and military chains reaching back through multiple agencies and offices to an incoherent Washington bureaucratic process fails to provide effective policy direction in limited war conditions. Good people make it work but the system is a mess. The presenters and authors of an article on the same subject (“Fixing Fragile States,” The National Interest, August 27, 2014) suggest a new approach to command and planning.

The forum was hosted and moderated by former Under Secretary of State, Ambassador (Ret.) Thomas R. Pickering, Chairman of the American Academy of Diplomacy.