Subordinate Is Not A Dirty Word

Whoever came up with this idea skipped the "lessons learned" section of government efficiency, this is a very bad idea.

Career civilian executives at the Defense Department will be taking over more leadership posts held by generals and admirals in the coming months and years.

Positions overseeing logistics and other non-warfighting operations — traditionally considered as military billets — will increasingly be done by members of the Defense Department’s Senior Executive Service (SES), said Patricia Bradshaw, the deputy undersecretary of Defense for civilian personnel policy, in a Nov. 2 interview.

A directive signed Oct. 25 by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England formally gives the top tier of senior career executives authority comparable to some of the military’s highest-ranking generals and admirals and political appointees.

...

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are helping drive the changes in the way the Pentagon thinks about its civilian executive corps.

“We need our generals and flag officers on the front line,” Bradshaw said. “This is a great opportunity to say, do you really need a military officer in that position? We have this whole other cadre of executives. Why aren’t we using them?”

That last sentence is incredible. The article points out there are a bunch of career executives sitting around the Pentagon on the payroll not being utilized effectively, and in trying to figure out what to do with them, the solution they come up with is to promote them. Anyone who has ever worked in any government agency just heard a bell go off, *DING*, because this is how government works in the baby boomer generation.

It used to be said that "Amateurs study tactics. Professionals study logistics." Apparently, in today's DoD this phrase no longer applies, the new phrase for today's DoD would be "Professionals practice tactics on the front line, and leave the civilians in the rear to handle the logistics."

This is Baby Boomer government dumbass thinking at its zenith. Look, I am a civilian consultant. I understand the motivation behind the idea, and let me just say, very bad idea. Logistics trains are getting longer and the DoD is looking to move some roles to the civilian side to save money. Searching for ways to save money in the logistics train isn't the bad part of the idea. However, moving the leadership of those roles to the civilian side creates a gap. It breaks the chain of command and ultimately allows for divisions in resources and attention.

This is an example of why the right arm usually has no idea what the left arm is doing in most government agencies, you have appointments leading one direction and senior career executives doing it their own way, and the breakdown occurs in compatibility and priority when things get tough. In the DoD, things can get very tough.

There are a number of career executives in the DoD that are smart, but they should never be given authority on par with the military’s highest-ranking generals, admirals, or political appointees. They belong on a staff, the word is subordinate. I predict this will ultimately cost more than it is intended save, and I'm not talking just money here.