Tuesday, May 19, 2009

A Burdensome Bureaucracy

We have an urgent requirement in Afghanistan,General Craddock pointed out,that was 80 weeks to fulfillment.We got it down to 60 weeks;our goal is 35 weeks.There are urgent requirements on the ground.This is simply untenable.We cannot do this.NATO has no counter-piracy policy,either,though it has participated in individual operations.Internal guidance is slow.Parallel tracks for funding is a problem.We were unable to reduce the number of headquarters.We had to salami-slice each HQ to meet manning requirements.NATO and the European Union have to find opportunities to coordinate,sharing the burdens of procurement,counter-piracy and training.We have to get political direction to open those doors.For administrative issues,business issues,the routine business of the alliance,we need to move beyond consensus.The NATO Secretary General needs more authority for timely action.
I started as a lieutenant 37 years ago guarding the Fulda Gap.I am optimistic,but absent the balance,we may well face difficulties and problems in the coming years,General Craddock concluded.With his gray hair and spectacles,he had a grandfatherly quality as he quietly addressed The Atlantic Council of the United States in Washington,D.C.

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