They Come and They Go

The Pentagon has decided to scrap (more or less) its Force Transformation Office, which has been rudderless since the death of it first and only leader, Arthur Cebrowski, in November 2005. It is boosting the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, giving it an additional assistant secretary and rolling in the transformation staff. Policy chief Eric Edelman told reporters Monday that changes in his shop would facilitate work with State, the National Security Council, and regional military commanders. Four existing assistant secretaries still will cover three regions and special operations and low-intensity conflicts, while the new one will handle broad global security issues that cross regional lines. Edelman also plans to create an entity within policy planning to work, what he termed, “strategic futures” planning beyond the usual five-year planning cycle.