LESSONS ENCOUNTERED

Hoffman and Crowther
side can recognize problems or gaps in performance and implement changes
faster by an altered strategy and adapting its forces. Despite this well-grounded
observation, only recently has interest arisen on how strategies and military
organizations adapt during war.
The two protracted conflicts examined in this volume have spawned a
number of studies on the nature of operational adaptation by military organizations.
3 The Joint Chiefs of Staff have also identified adaptation as a key
lesson learned from the last decade of conflict. 4 However, strategic adaptation,
historically and during this era, remains largely unexplored.
This chapter begins with an overview of the literature on assessment and
adaptation. After this brief examination of the current state of affairs, we establish
an analytical framework for both strategic assessment and adaptation
that serves as the basis for our subsequent analysis of the major strategic
adaptations of Operation Iraqi Freedom (the Surge of 2007) and Operation
Enduring Freedom (2009). The outcomes of these two adaptations are then
summarized. The chapter concludes with insights relevant to the joint warfighting
community.
Assessment
Strategic assessment represents a crucial element in a state’s ability to adapt
strategy to changing wartime conditions, which in turn plays a critical role in
determining the outcome and cost of wars. 5 Yet it is an understudied area, one
in which senior military officers must be prepared to make substantive contributions.
A major shortfall in the conduct of our national security system has
been the lack of appreciation for a continuous assessment of strategy implementation.
Our national security mechanisms should not stop at the issuance
of a Presidential decision. Instead, an “end to end” approach must be considered
that encompasses policy formulation, strategy development, planning
guidance, resource allocation and alignment, implementation oversight, and
performance assessment based on feedback loops. 6
Figure 1 offers a model of a continuous strategic performance cycle and
identifies where the focus of this chapter resides in that process. Research underscores
the reality that functional agencies resist rigorous evaluation, and
the National Security Council (NSC) system must ensure effective mechanisms
and metrics for oversight and performance assessment. 7
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