Chiefs Of Defence

Volumes in the Canada's National Defence series present an annotated collection of government statements on defence policy and internal studies and reports prepared by senior military officers, defence officials, and consultants to governments and ministers from about 1945 to 1997. They trace the history of the ideas that give Canada's defence policy and defence organizations their unique character. If there is an enduring Canadian strategy for national defence, it is expressed in these papers. Volume 2: Defence Organization is a collection of eight documents on the organization of the national defence establishment. Covering the period from 1936 to 1990, the papers include Colonel Pope's Memorandum; The McGill Reports, The Glassco Report, Hellyer's Reorganization, The Management Review Group, The Fyffe Review, The Vance Review, and The Little/Hunter Study.

Explores the crucial aspect of civil-military relations encompassed in the dynamic between policy making, command, and administration by focusing on the centre for defence decisions in Canada, the National Defence Headquarters. Basic concepts concerning civilian control of military forces, military command, and defence administration are first explained, followed by a review of the law and its relation to the Dept. of National Defence. The following two chapters describe the responsibilities and formal relationships of various decision makers (the Minister of National Defence, the Chief of Defence Staff, and the Deputy Minister); the legal aspects of command; the operational duties of the Chief of Defence Staff; the defence decision making structure; and the Defence Headquarters management system. The final two chapters review problems with the defence system, including overall structures, ethics, strategy and command, and administration, along with recommendations for reform of the defence structure.

"The Chiefs of Staff play a little publicised but crucial part in the higher machinery of government. At times mocked by a Press that knows they are duty bound to avoid the political arena, the Chiefs' vital importance is only revealed to the world in time of war, and then only in part. For the first time this book tells the story of the British Chiefs of Staff from the mid-19th Century up to the present day. It recounts their successes and failures in managing the services through the two World Wars, the Korean War, Suez, the withdrawal from Empire and finally the Falklands campaign." "The British failures of the Crimean War compared so unfavourably with the professionalism of the German General Staff in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, that the pressures of public outcry rather than any political motivation drove Prime Minister Gladstone to initiate a programme of military reform. That programme finally led to the creation of the Chiefs of Staff Committee system in 1923, as the nation emerged from the toils of the First World War. The system was emulated in toto by the United States in 1942 and is still the means by which the higher direction of war is exercised in both countries." "Revealing pen-portraits are drawn of the principal personalities - both military and political - who have had to grapple with the controversial issues of defence throughout this war-torn 20th Century. With the benefit of their vast experience, the authors achieve a balance between an appreciation of the individual chiefs (and their often colourful personalities) and the collective contribution they have made to Britain's military operations. The whole provides an incisive account of contemporary British military history."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Defence Reform was launched in August 2010 as a fundamental review of how Defence is structured and managed. Many of the issues are not new and have been noted by similar reviews. The Steering Group believes an effective MOD is one which builds on the strengths of the individual Services and the Civil Service and does so within a single Defence framework that ensures the whole is more than the sum of its parts. A key driver for this review has been the Department's over-extended programme, to which the existing departmental management structure and management structure and behaviours contributed. Many of the Steering Group's proposals are designed to help prevent the Department from getting into such a poor financial position in the future and to put it in the position to make real savings. There are 53 recommendations the key ones of which are: to create a new and smaller Defence Board chaired by the Defence Secretary to strengthen top level decision making; to clarify the responsibilities of senior leaders, including the Permanent Secretary and the Chief of the Defence Staff; make the Head Office smaller and more strategic, to make high level balance of investment decisions, set strategic direction and a strong corporate framework; focus the Service Chiefs on running their Services and empower them to perform their role effectively with greater freedom to manage; strengthen financial and performance management throughout the Department to ensure future plans are affordable; create a 4 star led Joint Forces Command; create single, coherent Defence Infrastructure and Defence Business Services organisations; manage and use less senior military and civil personnel more effectively, people staying in post longer, more transparent and joint career management.