Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP - President Barack Obama, accompanied by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, left, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, and other officials, announced a strategy shift towards Asia and said budget issues will require more restrained use of military force.
“[Obama’s] impressions of the presentation were that, while thorough, it felt too much like a budget exercise,” Donilon recalled. “And he did not want this to be a mathematical set of cuts to meet a budget goal.”
Obama favored what Donilon described as a broad discussion of U.S. strategy and priorities, including the need to expand its military influence in Asia.
President Barack Obama insists the United States will maintain what he calls the best-equipped military in history despite deep and looming defense budget cuts. (Jan. 5)
Document
Read an outline of the new U.S. military strategy.
Civilian advisers and military leaders discussed whether the armed forces needed to continue expensive preparation to fight large, sustained counterinsurgency efforts, such as the recently concluded war in Iraq. Everything was on the table.
“It’s important to note that the work on the strategy was accelerated by the budget decisions, but not motivated by the budget,” Dempsey said.
‘Uniform buy-in’
Donilon prepared a 50-page briefing book for Obama and the other participants for an Oct. 20 meeting, providing a history of the choices under consideration and an assessment of what challenges the military would face going forward under various scenarios. It also presented a draft of the strategy whose rough outlines had emerged in the first meeting.
The book was the basis for a Nov. 2 session that Obama convened in the Cabinet Room. It included Panetta, Donilon, Dempsey and for the first time the civilian service secretaries.
Obama delivered opening remarks that emphasized the importance of the country’s economic strength in promoting its national security. He spelled out his views about the military strategy in Asia and the Middle East, the importance of caring for returning veterans, the need to bolster cyberwarfare capabilities, special operations forces, intelligence gathering and other elements that would emerge in the document.
In the Situation Room on Nov. 29, Obama wanted to know what practical results would flow from the strategy he had outlined.
This included determining the appropriate size of the forces, what technological capabilities were required and what effect, in terms of reductions, would ground forces experience.
At one point, participants said, Obama ruled out a proposal to cut an aircraft carrier group, arguing that reducing the number from 11 would undermine his ambitions in the Pacific and in the Persian Gulf, where Arab allies fear a rising Iran.
The discussion carried over into an unusual meeting Dec. 1, held in the East Room of the White House.
Obama convened not only his senior military leadership, with whom he had been working all along, but also combatant commanders from around the world and posted at the Pentagon.
The group sat around a set of tables arranged in a square with Obama on one side, flanked by Donilon and Lew.
He explained his views, and then, in the next 90 minutes, listened as his commanders commented on the emerging strategy.
“He was testing his strategy principles, and things were flagged in the process that made the result better,” one participant said. “But this was also a chance for uniformed commanders to get their shot at the president. The result of this, of course, is uniform buy-in.”
The process — inclusive and long — represented a change for the Pentagon.
As defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld sought to ram his change agenda through the Pentagon’s bureaucracy with mixed results. His successor, Robert M. Gates, often relied on a group of trusted aides as he developed policy.
Panetta, who does not have as clear an agenda for changing the military, has focused more on reaching consensus rather than driving the Pentagon bureaucracy toward a particular outcome.
“Rumsfeld ran things on fear. Gates kept things to himself,” the senior military official said. “Panetta has been very collaborative.”
‘Restore that balance’
On Dec. 8, Obama convened the NSC in the Situation Room to discuss the review and its results.
The goal was to outline the principles that had emerged from the review and, in Donilon’s words, to decide “how we communicate these decisions around the world and how we coordinate these decisions around the world.”
Less than a month later, Obama headed to the Pentagon, where he became the first president to speak from the building’s briefing room. With his senior officers and months of debate behind him, Obama addressed Congress without referring to it specifically.
“It will be easy to take issue with a particular change,” said Obama, citing President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warning to “maintain balance in and among national programs.”
Obama continued: “After a decade of war, and as we rebuild the sources of our strength at home and abroad, it’s time to restore that balance.”
The Post MostMost-viewed stories, videos, and galleries in the past two hours
Live Q&A, Tuesday Noon ET
Gene Weingarten takes polls and chats about his recent columns.
| 11:00 AM | ComPost Live with Alexandra Petri |
|---|---|
| 12:00 PM | Chatological Humor: Monthly with Moron |
| 1:00 PM | Advice from Slate's 'Dear Prudence' |
| 1:00 PM | Eugene Robinson Live |
Loading...
Comments