Two weeks ago, while discussing last November's tragic events at Fort Hood, Defense Secretary Robert Gates proclaimed that the Pentagon "is burdened by 20th century processes and attitudes mostly rooted in the Cold War." This acknowledgement by a wartime defense secretary is yet another stark reminder that the broader U.S. national security system was also designed for a much different era, and stands in need of a holistic review and systemic modernization...
Prior to the financial meltdown, it was post-invasion Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and the events of Sept. 11, 2001, that spotlighted the mismatch between our outdated system of governance and its foremost mission of preserving the viability and vitality of the nation. Perhaps the 9/11 Commission (.pdf) said it best when it called the specific problems revealed by 9/11 "symptoms of the government's broader inability to adapt how it manages problems to the new challenges of the 21st century." ...
More at World Politics Review.
Comments
Great idea.....bringing the USG into the 21st Century. A recommended course of action would be helpful.
Thomas Barnett's "The Pentagon's New Map" addresses this from a national security perspective.....the idea that we need a department/ agency/ organization that does something other than defense but more than "peacekeeping"....a "Department of Security" or something similar. It's a good read.
Perhaps what we ought to look at is a streamlining of federal agencies (as in get rid of some of them) by turning over certain functions to the state governments......or establish regional governing agencies that oversee the administration, maintenance, and execution of policies within their particular region. The Pacific Northwest regional agency...or the New England regional agency, etc.
The federal government can focus on national & international security matters (since we are all ablout doing things as part of coalitions), energy, national level commerce, and such. Education, intra-state transportation, labor, housing, etc.. can be turned over to the states/ regions.
I'm just brain-storming here....but I wanted to throw out some ideas for consideration.