They Shouldn't Let Him Touch it with a Ten-Foot Pole

General Cartwright

"Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General James Cartwright has commissioned a broad independent review to help the Pentagon more rapidly develop and buy urgently needed military equipment."  So begins a piece over at InsideDefense.Com, about how the Vice Chief is taking a hard look at "new ways to execute the joint requirements process" to replace the slow, bureaucratic" system known as JCIDS.  The Small Wars Journal also has a link to the piece, but theirs is accompanied by this headline:  Top Commanders Bemoan JCIDS.

JCIDS is shorthand for the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System.

They taught us at the Army Force Management School (AFMS) that General Cartwright is considered the "father of JCIDS."

If you've ever seen this Pentagon chart, which I wrote about recently, you know a little something about JCIDS already ...

JCIDS, DAS, and PPBE

JCIDS, along with the Defense Acquisition System and the DOD's Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution framework, is the process through which we get capabilities into the hands of our warfighters seven to ten years after they ask for them.

It's a system bemoaned by the military's top commanders.  It's the subject of a 4-week course at the AFMS.   Some of the instructors have had to go through the course multiple times before they could teach it.

General Cartwright is the father of it - the JCIDS part.

Again, it is a system that is bemoaned by top commanders - hence, the referenced article about General Cartwright looking at fixing it.

Look at the (JCIDS, DAS, and PPBE) chart again and ask yourself this question:  would you trust the man who gave you that to be able to fix it?

Now does that 10-foot pole make sense?

Army Force Management School, Part IV

Sean Naylor's book

The biggest challenge of the last couple of days in the Army Force Management Course has been to stay awake. We had had our first test on Friday (I passed) then settled in to learning about the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS).  I went through a two-week course on JCIDS back in October, so going through the chain of documents and milestone decisions for a second time is, to use a military euphemism, a challenge.  The most interesting blocks of instruction (death by PowerPoint) have been the Future Force Warfighting Concept Development and Experimentation; Science and Technology and Army Modernization; and, believe it or not, the class on Cost-Benefit Analysis Overview.

During my down time, I am enjoying reading Sean Naylor's account of the early days of the war in Afghanistan, Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda.  I actually started it back home, but because of I was so busy and had several other books started, it was difficult to get in to; but, with all those distractions removed, I'm finding it a riveting read.  There is a very interesting review of the book on the Pritzker Military Library's website, here.

Why Are We Still Doing This?

So, the Army is sending me to this professional development class to learn about the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System and the Acquisition Life Cycle.  Inspired by former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the JCIDS is how the US military plans for and fields new capabilities.  I learned today that it takes about five years from concept to fielded capability, and that this is an improvement over the previous system.  The acquisition thing is a creature of Congress and the military bureaucracies.  Improvement, I'm betting, is not even in its lexicon.

Back in August, I heard General Pete Chiarelli, the Army's Vice Chief of Staff lament the fact that our enemies can field their capabilities a lot faster than we can.  The enemy doesn't have to abide by so many bureaucratic rules.  He doesn't have to worry about environmental policies or ensuring that minority contractors are treated fairly.  Our five year cycle is only three to him.

Now, tell me again why these two quick wars, Afghanistan and Iraq,are still not won going on ten years now?