Tim Cross and Nigel Hall
May 9, 2011
The only good news is that nearly everyone is beginning to acknowledge these shortcomings, and highly respected figures such as Lords
Look across the span of British defence and security and the stark reality is that the weakest point is at the head - in Whitehall and the MOD. Prime Minister
Most concerning, though, is the MOD's own low morale. Corporate self-confidence is shot, and on the face of it, few can see a way out of the wrong-headedness to deal with the resource pressures or the continuing decline. We are in the era of 'Persistent Conflict', and most experts believe that the future will be more - not less - difficult than the past. Counterintuitively, just when we should be preparing and building for more innovative use of our personnel and their equipment - in both preventative and reactive modes - we are removing much of the means for them to do this, axing personnel and key systems, and preparing plans to do more of the same as the books continue to fail to balance.
We are very close to MOD woes impacting front-line effectiveness and morale. Whilst the unflinching 'can-do, whatever-the-odds' dynamic of our young armed forces personnel continues to deliver against all the odds, this absolute core national strength is about to be put at risk - to our future peril.
So what should our Coalition government do? Above the MOD, the government needs to demonstrate that it is empowering the
Second priority is to wheel out some big guns to knock sense, hope and confidence into the MOD. However determined
The reality is that some big-hitters - from both the major parties - including
Commission members should include former top-notch Foreign and Defence Secretaries, both Conservative and Labour, and proven thinkers and practitioners of the calibre of
The government has not got long to get real and to get radical. The most worrying deficit is of hope - and the fundamental law that the 'Moral is to the Physical as three is to one' is an important issue for it to dwell on. The MOD risks an almighty fall if it continues to 'muddle on'. It is time to wheel out the big guns.
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Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization
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Friendly Fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century
Dining With al-Qaeda: Three Decades Exploring the Many Worlds of the Middle East
Uprising: Will Emerging Markets Shape or Shake the World Economy
Copyright 2011, Chatham House; Distributed by TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.