Donald Trump intends to win against our enemies using unrestricted warfare
Donald Trump brings something to the table that career politicians and senior military officers seem to fall short on… The ability to maximize the use of non-hard kill methods to accomplish American objectives. Over two decades after the U.S. government woke up to the need for information sharing and interoperability among the different agencies as part of a total war effort, a lot of work still needs to be done. Trump’s intentions, so far, hint at something more than efficiency at the government level. They hint at increased information sharing and interoperability among the agencies to better serve the public and American interests.
From Fox News:
The answer lies in the failure of the U.S. government to develop an integrated national security strategy. Integrated strategy uses a “whole-of-government” approach that leverages all the instruments of power, including material instruments such as military strength, trade and finance, and non-material instruments such as public diplomacy, humanitarian aid and counter-influence.
Each of these is like an instrument in an orchestra. And the players of individual instruments must realize this and not play their trumpet when the symphony prescribes the harp. This requires each player to be an integrated strategic thinker who coordinates with the other instruments. And the composers and conductors should know what all the instruments are.
Unfortunately, the federal government rarely has a coherent strategy, and leaders are often ignorant of which instruments of power to use and when, especially those not commonly used like cultural intelligence and offensive deception operations. There are, thankfully, exceptions. The National Security Council has only occasionally developed such a strategy. The Pentagon has done so, but is restricted to mobilizing weapons, materiel and manpower. Virtually every other cabinet-level department neglects and underemphasizes integrated strategy.
In the 1980s, the U.S. military faced a crisis of bureaucratic Balkanization that made America weaker. In 1986, the Goldwater-Nichols Act ended this by compelling the armed forces branches to become strategically integrated, overcoming interservice rivalry and lack of effective coordination. Similar legislation is needed today to ensure civilian agencies coordinate with one another and with the Pentagon. Only then will all federal agencies work in a synchronized fashion that makes them greater than the sum of their parts, enabling the U.S. to defend the nation and project power more effectively across the globe.
Additional Reading:
Lenczowski, J. (2024, November 18). Trump wants America to win a war without fighting. It’s possible and here’s how we do it. Fox News Opinion. Link.
Category: Editorial, Government Incompetence, Military issues, Op-Ed
