Strategic Thoughts for Defence Planners

Defence planning attempts the impossible – to meet ‘requirements’ that can only be known in the light of events that have yet to occur. Ways in which the prospect for defence planning can be improved include (1) distinguishing the most important defence decisions, and getting them right enough; (2) developing a sufficiently flexible planning capability and dynamic military posture; (3) balancing short- and long-term investments; (4) insisting upon education in general strategic theory as a qualification for the practice of strategy; (5) appreciating that a country can afford to spend on security and defence however much it chooses politically so to do; and (6) recognising that, although defence and security are closely related, they are not synonymous.