Managing Competing Agendas
Afranika Stephenson
Strayer University
PAD500 Modern Public Administration
Dr. Angela Smith
November 11, 2017
“The mission of the Department of Defense is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and to protect the security of our country. The department's headquarters is at the Pentagon.” (Department of Defense, 2017). In the America’s First Foreign Policy, the Trump Administration has outlined a few different areas their foreign policy would focus on to increase American interests and security. These areas are defeating ISIS, rebuilding the American military, embracing diplomacy, and renegotiating America’s position in NAFTA. As a result of the “America’s First Foreign Policy” military focus, it is noticeable that The Department of Defense government agency will have a profound role in accomplishing the goals outlined in the policy (America’s First Foreign Policy, 2017). This paper will discuss the structure of the Department of Defense, how certain budgets of the DoD affect the “America’s First Foreign Policy”, and the challenges that may be presented to management within the DoD due to political responsiveness.
The Department of Defense is composed of a few different levels starting with the President of the United States, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces and is the “ultimate authority” of the American military. The Office Secretary of Defense enact policies that are determined by the Secretary by assigning the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff and military departments, and unified commands with missions (“How We’re Organized”, 2017). The Chairman organizes military operations, the military departments train the military forces and the unified commands perform the military operations (“How We’re Organized”, 2017). Together the Commander and Chief as well as the Secretary of Defense make up the National Command Authority. Each level beneath the Commander and Chief within the Department of Defense has its own organizational structure. To start, the Office of the Secretary of Defense has four advisors that work with the Secretary of Defense. These advisors focus on policy, finance, force readiness, and purchasing (“How We’re Organized”, 2017). The Office of the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, is composed of the Chairman, the Vice Chairman and four heads of military services. Their role is to support the Chairman as he is the military advisor to the President, National Security Council and the Secretary of Defense (“How We’re Organized”, 2017).
There are six military departments total with three military departments used to train the armed forces. Those three include the Navy, Air Force, and the Army, the other three are the Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Guard & Reserves. The Marine Corps is an extension of the Department of Navy and has units trained in land, sea, and air defense. They are used to settle international disturbances. The Coast Guards main focus is to provide maritime safety, naval support and enforce maritime laws. The Guard & Reserve are vital for peacekeeping efforts and play a key role within Homeland Security (“How We’re Organized”, 2017). The unified commanders are a channel between the Commander and Chief and the Secretary of Defense and the military departments. There are five commanders with geographical responsibilities and four with worldwide responsibilities. Based on the advice of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense deploys troops and exercises military power by way of the unified commanders. These commands are composed of Northern Command, European Command, Central Command, Southern Command, Pacific Command, Africa Command, Strategic Command, Special Operations Command, and Transportation Command (“How We’re Organized”, 2017). According to the Department of Defense website, the agency also provides homeland security through military missions, homeland defense, and support to civil authorities. Ongoing military operations abroad have reduced the terrorist threat against the United States. This supports the current foreign policy that has been proposed by the Trump Administration.
Within the Human Resource sector of the Department of Defense, there are a few different methods used for hiring and appointing individuals in this agency. Those methods are, competitive service, Presidentially appointed, the excepted service, highly qualified experts, and senior executive service. The competitive service, applies to all civilian positions within the federal government that is not excepted from civil service by laws or appointment. All other methods of appointment are completed and approved by the President by the advice of the Senate, Secretary of Defense, or the Director of Administration (“Human Resources”, 2017). This is essential when discussing the “America’s First Foreign Policy”, because part of the policy calls for rebuilding the military. This will allow individuals to be appointed for positions within the military who are like minded and will be able to fulfill the goals that the policy calls for.
According to the abstract for the DoD’s FY2017 discretionary budget proposed by former President Barak Obama. The purpose of the budget was to reflect military threats in the Middle East by ISIS, Russian aggression as well as China claiming sovereignty in international waters by building islands (“Department of Defense (DoD) Releases Fiscal Year 2017 President”, 2016). They felt that the budget would be able to prepare the military for any current or future threats that America or foreign allies may experience. Since the budget increased 2.2 billion from the amount presented in FY16, it can be seen that the budget would positively impact the current “America’s First Foreign Policy”. The military budget from the Obama administration and the military focus in Trump Administration’s foreign policy seem to be working in tandem with one another.
Based on the text, Denhardt explains in Chapter 7,“The Ethics of Public Service”, when an administration is newly elected, and there are senior positions that are filled with new appointees. There may be tension between civil servants that were managed by the previous administration and the current administration (Denhardt, 2014, p. 249). This “transition” can be seen as a challenge for management in a way that, the views of the civil servants of the previous administration may not align with the views of the newly appointed. In reference to the Department of Defense, the change of appointees would be a facet of the presidential transition to the Trump administration. Newly elected Commander and Chief, Donald Trump, has recently appointed James Mattis as Secretary of Defense. Gen. Mattis is a retired Marine, and also retired as chief of U.S. Central Command in 2013 (Jim Mattis Secretary of Defense, 2017). Even though Mattis has experience working as a unified commander during the Obama Administration, he supports the expansion of the U.S. military in Iran, a view that former President Barack Obama did not share. According to Cohn, Mattis is experiencing some “push back” from White House officials who want to open a “border front” in Iran and supporters in Syria. He feels that this could potentially pull the US into a confrontation with Iran (Cohn, 2017, p.40). This not only speaks to the political environment as well as the second challenge that the Department of Defense faces. While the end goal of defeating ISIS and expanding the military is shared, the method or steps required to get there between the Secretary of Defense and White House officials are different.
In short, the “America’s First Foreign Policy”, speaks on few focal points with the purpose of increasing American interests and security. This discussion of the Department of Defense not only allows us to understand how this agency functions, but lends an idea on how the agency coordinates plans on protecting the United States. By examining the political environment as well as the staffing process, a view of the challenges the agency may experience while collaborating with our new administration can be observed.
References
America First Foreign Policy. (2017, March 08). Retrieved October 20, 2017, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/america-first-foreign-policy
Cohn, M. (2017). JAMES MATTIS: TRUMP'S MILITARY DECIDER. National Lawyers Guild Review, 74(1), 38-42.
Denhardt, R. B. (2014). Public Administration: An Action Orientation, 7th Edition. [Strayer University Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://strayer.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781305561953/
Department of Defense (DoD) Releases Fiscal Year 2017 President. (2016, February 16). Retrieved November 11, 2017, from https://www.defense.gov/News/News- Releases/News-Release-View/Article/652687/department-of-defense-dod-releases-fiscal- year-2017-presidents-budget-proposal/
DoD-101. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2017, from https://www.defense.gov/About/DoD-101/
How We're Organized . (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2017, from https://www.defense.gov/About/DoD-101/#How%20We're%20Organized
Jim Mattis Secretary of Defense. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2017, from https://www.defense.gov/About/Biographies/Biography-View/Article/1055835/jim- mattis/
U.S. Department of Defense. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2017, from https://www.defense.gov/
Human Resources. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2017, from http://2017dodtransition.defense.gov/Incoming/Human-Resources/