Military Review English Edition November December 2016 | Page 90

Schwarzkopf was
given the latitude
to do in the midst
of his teaching
tour at West Point.
Commanders
demonstrate the
ability to think in
space (positioning
of talent) and time
(sequencing of resources), and they
exhibit substantial
system-engineering
gifts. This career
path is appropriate
for officers who
demonstrate impeccable judgment
and show deep interest in becoming
students of history
and warfare.
Gen. Colin Powell—the communicator. Powell’s
searing experience in Vietnam shaped his worldview, and
one might conclude that his time as a graduate student
at George Washington University provided him with
much-needed time to reflect and write. He served as a
White House fellow at the Office of Management and
Budget under future Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci.
This experience challenged him in very different and strategic ways as a young lieutenant colonel. The opportunity
to expand and cultivate a strong professional network
must have also given him even greater confidence to
proceed as a strategic leader. His merging of military and
civilian thinking is a skill that cannot be overstated in
strategic terms. A persistent challenge for senior military
leaders is translating military language into a form that
can be understood and appreciated by civilian counterparts. The culmination of honing these skills was on full
display with Powell throughout Operations Desert Shield
and Desert Storm, as he provided nearly perfect clarity to
both political leaders and to the Nation.9
Strategic career path #4 (communicator). This path
demands direct and regular involvement with the civilian
sector. It may be accomplished through a fellowship
experience (as a White House or congressional fellow) or
88

Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (left), Gen. H.
Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of U.S. Central Command, and
Schwarzkopf’s wife, Brenda, ride in the New York City welcome home
parade 10 June 1991. The parade honored the men and women who
served in Desert Storm. (Photo by Master Sgt. Wetterman, U.S. Army)

during a year with industry, in a position where there is
high-level government or corporate interaction such as
within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for
Policy, or on the Joint Staff in a position of policy formulation (e.g., as a Joint Staff intern, military aide, or policy
analyst in a very challenging joint-staff billet). This career
path is appropriate for officers who are comfortable operating outside military circles and who demonstrate an
aptitude to thrive in the interagency environment. This
may include experience on the National Security Council
or in other venues within the national security community, such as the National Counterterrorism Center, the
Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence
Agency, the National Security Agency, the Department
of State, or the Department of Defense. In these positions,
officers cultivate the ability to translate detailed military
concepts and distill complex ideas into simple terms for
civilian counterparts. This type of high-level engagement
November-December 2016  MILITARY REVIEW