Military Professionalism - United States Air Force Academy

Sewall, Sarah and John P. White. Parameters of Partnership: U.S. Civil-Military
Relations in the 21 st Century. The Harvard Kennedy School Project on Civil-
Military Relations, 2009.
The authors believe that civil-military relations could be more effective, and they offer
recommendations for achieving this. They state that individual relationships are
important. Trust should be built on transparency and clarity of roles. Military officers
should remain apolitical, but civilian leaders should respect officers’ advisory role.
Military dissent should not be tolerated, and retired officers should not engage in political
activity that might undermine civil-military relations. Accountability in defense policymaking
is critical.
Segal, David R. and Karin De Angelis. “Changing Conceptions of the Military as a
Profession,” from American Civil-Military Relations: The Soldier and the State in
a New Era. Ed. Suzanne C. Nielsen and Don M. Snider. Baltimore, MD: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 2009.
Samuel Huntington’s work on military professionalism focused on active-duty
commissioned officers. The authors suggest that senior noncommissioned officers,
reserve commissioned and noncommissioned officers, civil servants, and civilian
contractors be considered in discussions of military professionalism. They write that this
expanded definition will increase the likelihood that the behavior of force will meet the
professional standards to which it is held, and increase the effectiveness of the military.
Shanker, Thom. “Joint Chiefs Chairman Readjusts Principles on Use of Force.” The
New York Times (Mar. 3, 2010).
www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/us/04mullen.html
Adm. Mullen argues that overwhelming force can be counterproductive when fighting a
counterinsurgency. Collin Powell had previous set the following preconditions for
implementing military force: force should be used only when vital national interests are
at stake, when support from the public and its elected representatives is assured, and
when overwhelming force is to be committed. Adm. Mullen suggests replacing the
overwhelming force criteria with a new precondition: implementing force only when
other instruments of national power are also ready to engage.
Smith, Grady A. “Values, Ethics: Born of Enlightened Choice.” Army (Jun. 1982):
11-13.
Ethics is the application of personal values to a professional situation requiring choice.
The profession is not ethical—people are ethical; the profession does not adhere to
values—people do. But people can make their profession the symbolic repository of their
ethics and values.
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