SYMPOSIUM
FORMAT
This event is by
invitation only. Multiple organizations and agencies will be represented outside the SLC’s, including various
government, military, academic and private sector institutions. The content of the symposium will be captured
on a non-attribution basis and distributed to all attendees within 30 days. A bibliography will be included
based on the suggestions of symposium attendees and others.
The symposium will be facilitated by Mr. Peter Schwartz, an internationally
renowned futurist and business strategist. Assisted by Doug Randall, he will engage the audience in the
contemplation of future scenarios, not just simple linear extrapolations of current trends. His facilitation
will be constructed so as to enable attendees to challenge current thinking about how we educate and develop our future strategic
leaders.
Some macro-level assumptions upon which the symposium is predicated
include the following:
1. The
U.S. is now in an era that may entail decades of ‘persistent conflict’;
2. The dynamically complex strategic environment has
created a much broader set of significant national security issues that requires a new strategic design / architecture;
3. National
security education is not only imperative across the federal government, but for relevant industries and state and local governments,
as well.
In order to guide the discussion, some questions are postulated:
1. What
are some defining characteristics of the 21st century strategic environment?
2. What kind of strategic leadership will be required,
and what do strategic leaders need to know and do? What qualities will strategic leaders need to be effective
in meeting the challenges induced by the strategic environment?
3. To what extent, and in what ways, are those qualities
different from those of the current generation of strategic leaders?
4. To what extent, and in what ways, are those qualities similar for military and civilian
strategic leaders? To what extent, and in what ways, are they different?
5. What historical analogies are relevant here:
»The emergence of the World
War II leadership that enabled to United States to prevail in two major theaters simultaneously?
»The emergence
of the Cold War leadership in the late 1940s, which established policies and created institutions attuned to this new world?
»The transition from the Cold War to the post-Berlin Wall world?
6. How well are the relevant professional education systems,
civilian and military, doing at developing those qualities in their graduates? Are we educating / developing
/ training to fight the last war?
How can we reconcile / balance divergent demands for individual advancement and short-term
force structure stability, while satisfying longer-term national security interests?
