A PUSH From Below:the Only Way
That a
Joint FAO Program Will Ever Be Built
Joseph D. Tullbane, III., Ph.D., President,
FAOA
Over the past few months, I have had the honor of observing, at least
tangentially, the creation of the Air Force and Navy FAO programs, in response
to the demands of a DOD Directive ordering the Services to form programs to
certain minimum standards. In theory, all the Services will finally step up as full
partners in manning the international arena. My observations of the progress
being made are not all that positive. I have now seen a huge quantity of flashy
slides, with all the right buzz words in them, that at best illustrate the problem
and offer only the most basic theoretical solutions to it.
On the plus side of the ledger, Navy has already had two assessions
boards identifying and choosing volunteers for the program from the ranks.
Predictably, while the first board reviewed a fairly large number of candidates,
the second board dealt with a much smaller population, and if there is a third
board the numbers will be smaller still -- there are simply a finite number of
officers in the Navy with the requisite skills to be FAOs.
On the negative side, the Navy is devoting only a single part-time officer to
the problem of creating a FAO program from scratch. He needs to identify
worldwide Navy FAO needs (to include fighting it out with Navy Intel for Naval
Attaché billets), develop a system to run the program and manage its assets, and
build a viable FAO training program, all while creating a base force from officers
already serving in the Navy who have the minimum FAO qualifications. No
matter how good he is -- one guy -- part-time -- GIVE ME A
BREAK!
In the case of the Air Force, it is approaching the problem differently. They
have manned their office with at least three officers (so they have a reasonable
work force in the proponent office). However, they are only just getting in the
game, beginning to fashion a solution and are way behind the power-curve in
creating a program that will work in the long-term.
So the bottom line is that the creation of a joint FAO program (or multiple
Service FAO programs) is not coming along very quickly or smoothly. What can
you do about it? If you are a Navy or Air Force FAO, make your voice heard at
the headquarters. Good ideas can and should be generated in the field. It is
you the serving FAO, that understands best why some FAOs do the job at hand
better than others -- it might be their language ability, their in-depth knowledge of
the region, their contacts within the region, or some other factor. The new
Services cannot simply clone the existing Army and Marine Corps programs --
these older programs were developed to operate within very specific strictures of
their own Service personnel systems. Each Service, because of its uniqueness,
must have a different type of FAO program. But it is you, the serving FAO, that
can identify the key elements of success that each program must address.
Finally, a little pushing from below never hurt any program manager!
Are the Army and Marine Corps absolved of doing anything to improve their
programs because they are fully functioning -- the answer has to be NO! Just
because a program has been around for a long while does not mean that it
shouldn't be periodically reviewed, revised, and reinvigorated. Neither of these
operational Service programs can afford to rest on their past laurels. A
constrained fiscal environment and an uncertain and rapidly changing world
demand that these programs must find new and better solutions to doing their
business -- and that also requires a PUSH FROM BELOW!
1999, Foreign Area Officer
Association
Springfield, Virginia
Maintained by LTC Steve
Gotowicki.
http://www.faoa.org