Military Review English Edition March-April 2016 | Page 48

and fusion that provides finished intelligence and actionable information; and the capability to deliver clear
applicable knowledge to decision makers.
One of the key outcomes from such a consolidated
and focused effort will include a revitalized national
capability to design and articulate strategy, which will
provide both a philosophical context and a functional
guide for our responses. In the process, this could aid in
the invigoration of our supporting political and public
effort in a common front against our enemies and any
significant or developing threats.

The Way Forward
Because the increasing speed and nature of change
in the coming operational environment is indeed
imposing, it is essential that we train and equip ourselves to more perceptively anticipate (foresee) strategic
trends, and that we turn that knowledge and foresight
into effective response strategies. We can never predict the future with certainty, but with greater, more
specific effort, we can effectively anticipate possibilities
and assess the probability of their occurrence. Sitting
idly by, watching the future unfold and leaving our fate
to others by inaction, is not an option under the highstakes circumstances we now find ourselves in.
In order to achieve clear strategic vision, improved
insight-driven planning, and appropriate actions in response to converging and emerging events, any approach
should include a cadre of qualified people collaborating in
a “Manhattan Project”-style effort. This cadre would share
the burden of amassing and analyzing as much legally
and procedurally appropriate information as possible to
collectively develop means and ways to deal with anticipated or unfolding events. Our Nation can only achieve
adequate understanding of how expanded areas of concern relate to each other in a thriving and ever-changing

environment by ensuring collaboration among all agencies
and organizations. We should develop a common cultural and informational understanding for the purpose of
planning (appropriate proportional employment) for all
of the elements of national power. One of the benefits of
such an approach would be to help define and strengthen
our relatio nships with those dependable allied nations
who have stood together with us in the past, to help them
understand and deal with the conditions they face.
Until we approach the problems of the future with
such a construct and attitude, we will continue to fall
further behind in our ability to understand and estimate
the future on behalf of our own strategic best interests.
Our leadership and our institutions need to pay attention
to the emerging future in a way that is reminiscent of, but
different from, the way we have dealt with some of the
greatest threats and most-dire conditions of the past—to
designate the right people and resources necessary to see
the way forward and to achieve strategies and an operational structure that will meet our absolute needs.
We must achieve these goals in a legal and societally acceptable way. (We have had such projects in the
past—at least one of which died an early administrative
death because it was perceived to be a real [or potential] threat to the constitutional rights of our citizenry.)
Success will require the best minds and the partnership
of legislative, judicial, and executive branch leaders as
well as the best of our civilian technologists and civil
rights advocates. In order to justify such an effort, we
must all come to the realization that things have indeed
changed over time, and we are now threatened from
several vectors and points of origin by lethal threats to
our way of life.
We need to deal with the challenges of great complexity, and we need motivating belief and functional
capability to succeed.

Lt. Gen. Patrick M. Hughes, U.S. Army, retired, is the former assistant secretary for information and analysis (intelligence)
at the Department of Homeland Security. His military career included assignments as an enlisted medic, an infantry officer,
and a military intelligence officer. He retired from active duty as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Notes
Epigraph. Harrison Salisbury, Disturber of the Peace: Memoirs of a Foreign Correspondent (London: Unwin Hyman, 1989), 233.
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March-April 2016  MILITARY REVIEW