Strategic planners: a response to operational complexity

The release of the Defence White Paper 2016 marked a tectonic shift in attitudes to international engagement, elevating it to an ‘integrated core function’ of Australian Defence Force business. This article proposes a human resources framework for the Australian Army to allow it to generate specialist planners with the ability to enhance the capability of local partners. It proposes the development of ‘generalist plus’ officers with regional specialisation, termed ‘strategic planners’ within this discussion. Such personnel would bring recent operational experience, be developed to offer specialist advice to foreign militaries and be capable of orchestrating strategic planning functions, nuanced with regional understanding and context. This form of investment reinforces the long-term requirement for defence attachés to act as military diplomats, imbued with a deep regional political knowledge and requisite language skills. The ability to perform specific advisory functions that require a nuanced understanding of the local political and cultural dynamics of a specific region is an essential prerequisite for the Australian Army to fulfil a number of the tasks set for it by the government.&nbsp