Obligations of Leadership: Use of Checklists, Reviews, and Administrative Procedures
The US Army is taking significant steps to address a long-standing issue of excessive bureaucratic burden, which has been hindering the military's readiness and adaptability. This problem, rooted in complex, slow, and documentation-heavy requirements and approval processes, is exemplified by legacy systems like the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS).
The Army's focus on safety standard operating procedures (SOPs) often requires companies to appoint radiological safety officers, despite tritium being a minor health concern for military personnel. This bureaucratic culture and legacy requirements system prioritizes procedural survival and inter-service validation over speed and responsiveness, resulting in long delays in fielding new technologies and adapting to evolving threats.
To combat this, the Pentagon has officially ended the decades-old JCIDS process and replaced it with a streamlined, more agile requirements model. This reform aims to accelerate the development and delivery of new warfighting capabilities, reduce bureaucratic drag, and allow commands to concentrate on readiness rather than paperwork and slowly changing requirements.
The Army audits unit adherence to regulation via several inspection programs. However, these inspections often stray from questions of mission accomplishment, becoming paper-oriented and a burden on companies. The only echelon incented to question additional duties is the company, as there is no consolidated published list of duties in regulation.
The regulatory regime is unintelligible for its intended audience, and the average company today has at least 31 additional duties imposed on it. The peacetime Army is often described as a procedural organization, unable to observe its outcomes. A 2002 Army War College study found that for a company to fulfill all requirements would take more training hours than available in a year.
General James McConville, Chief of Staff of the Army, emphasizes the need for quick-thinking leaders and drilled fundamentals in the Army. He believes that to win the next war, the Army's small units must operate independently and master the fundamentals of their profession.
In 2019, RAND reported that company leaders spend more time on administrative concerns than training their formations at a roughly 3:1 ratio. Inspections require companies to rehearse for them months in advance and rarely are inspections cancelled. The creation of company SOPs for various programs is often an exercise in box-checking.
The Army should shift its focus from checking binders to checking results, treating readiness as an outcome. For instance, a typical installation arms room inspection checklist requires over ten separate forms on hand, six memoranda signed by the company commander, and cites nine separate Army and installation regulations governing arms rooms. The FORSCOM-endorsed Ground Readiness Assessment Team (GREAT) checklist for driver training programs requires the company to maintain at least five separate forms documenting training, eight documents requiring command signature, and cites five separate regulations.
In summary, the US Army is moving towards a more agile and streamlined approach to reduce red tape, focus on preparedness, and keep pace with rapidly evolving threats. This shift aims to empower company commanders to lead, innovate, and concentrate on their core military readiness and warfighting capabilities, rather than being bogged down by administrative tasks.
- The new requirements model, aimed at accelerating warfighting capabilities, also seeks to incorporate principles from the business world, emphasizing leadership and innovation to combat bureaucratic hindrances in the military.
- The financial burden on companies due to excess paperwork and regulatory requirements is a significant concern, as it diverts resources from essential military readiness and defense activities.
- The Army's mission is to foster a culture where quick-thinking leaders can focus on military readiness, security, and defense, rather than being overwhelmed by administrative tasks and administrative concerns.
