Author Description

The officer management system comprises the laws, policies, procedures, and practices that guide how officers enter service and are subsequently developed, promoted, and separated. The purpose of this study is to examine whether that system aligns with the demands officers are likely to face in the years ahead. The basic question is whether we can continue to count on success.The fundamental nature of war remains unchanged, and there is much that the U.S. military confronts that is not unique in its history. Our country has seen, however, a definite shift in the challenges it faces on the battlefield. During the last two decades the U.S. military has engaged in a dizzying array of missions: from largely conventional battles in Operation Desert Storm, to humanitarian assistance missions in Haiti, to support civil authorities during Hurricane Katrina, to countering pirates off the coast of Africa. Today the U.S. military is engaged in complex, simultaneous operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa; the missions are part counterterrorism, part counterinsurgency, and part stability and support activities.If the United States expects its military officers to continue to excel, the future demands new approaches. The uncertainty, asymmetry, and complexity of military operations are not new, but the degree to which each of these features will dominate the future strategic, operational, and tactical environments is. This reality is due to the fact that the underlying trends are accelerating at unprecedented rates and show no sign of slowing. Thus, the hard problems of the past are becoming ever harder, the possibility for surprise is increasing, and we face, as one commentator recently observed, “an avalanche of ceaseless change.” This study identifies two specific implications of the future operating environment for the demands on U.S. officers. First, the responsibilities of junior officers will continue to expand beyond the bounds of their traditional founda