By James R. Lint
Faculty Member, School of Business, American Military University
Note: This article is the second in a series.
With the upcoming presidential election, our leadership will undergo a change. New people with new ideas will enter government offices. These new ideas may prove useful in controlling terrorist organizations such as ISIS.
ISIS Battlefield Loss and Deterrence
Two years into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew the U.S. needed a win to improve its morale. The Doolittle Tokyo raid in 1942 provided that morale boost.
The U.S. needs a similar win against ISIS. We have not had our Doolittle raid yet to shift the battlefield initiative. We need to create chaos in our enemy’s ranks.
In the past, WWI, WWII and the Korean War had much shorter periods of combat. Today, wars are fought by a small percent of the world population and with no major impact on non-combatants outside the war zones proper. This is fortunate because ISIS combatants are not causing a large loss of life to our population like the Normandy landing caused to the local French population.
War Against ISIS Harms Allies, National Debt
On the other hand, the war against ISIS is diverting resources from other activities, such as reinforcing NATO allies from the traditional Russian threat or protecting our Pacific allies by stopping the new Chinese encroachment on our Asian allies’ islands and fishing grounds.
ISIS is tying up our military assets and causing a loss of national treasure as we have reached a record high national debt. The quicker we defeat ISIS, the quicker we cut the drain on our treasury and on U.S. taxpayers.
President Lincoln wanted aggressive and winning generals. Instead, he had many cautious generals who would not take the fight to the enemy rebels. Lincoln relieved five general officers before he appointed General Ulysses S. Grant to be the commanding general of the U.S. Army.
In business school, managers are taught to set goals and hold people accountable. The goals should have a timeline and sub-objectives so that the leader can determine if the program is on course.
Our Next President Might Want to Copy Lincoln’s Approach to War
Maybe the next president should request a campaign plan from five different senior general officers and require that the plans have a list of objectives with timelines. Then, after a review of the five plans, the new chief executive can pick the best one and hold that general accountable. Failure to make the objectives and timelines will result in relief of command and replacement.
As the years have gone by, ISIS has moved into more countries, but has not suffered the devastating combat losses our WWII enemies felt. Combat losses to ISIS will deter and degrade the ISIS overseas recruitment efforts. If ISIS is suffering battlefield defeats, many of the young people radicalized via ISIS propaganda will not want to join the losing side.
The United States is a great nation and has been victorious in two world wars. America has the needed military doctrine and technology. What seems to be lacking is the aggressiveness that President Lincoln sought and the understanding of national morale-building that President Roosevelt used. Combined, we should have another topic of discussion the following year.
About the Author
James R. Lint recently retired as the (GG-15) civilian director for intelligence and security, G2, U.S. Army Communications Electronics Command. He is an adjunct professor at AMU. Additionally, James started the Lint Center for National Security Studies, a nonprofit charity that recently awarded its 43rd scholarship for national security students and professionals. He has 38 years of experience in military intelligence within the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army, contractor and civil service.
James was also elected as the 2015 national vice president for the Military Intelligence Corps Association. In 2016, he was accepted as a member of the Military Writers Guild. He has served in the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis and at the Department of Energy’s S&S Security Office. James had an active military career in the Marine Corps for seven years and also served 14 years in the Army. His military assignments include South Korea, Germany and Cuba in addition to numerous CONUS locations. James has authored a book published in 2013, “Leadership and Management Lessons Learned,” and a new book in 2016 “8 Eyes on Korea, A Travel Perspective of Seoul, Korea.”
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