{"id":19477,"date":"2015-04-01T16:08:40","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T05:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=19477"},"modified":"2015-04-01T16:17:43","modified_gmt":"2015-04-01T05:17:43","slug":"a-first-look-at-the-first-principles-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/a-first-look-at-the-first-principles-review\/","title":{"rendered":"A first look at the First Principles Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a><\/figure>\n

By my count, the title page for the first chapter of the new First Principles Review (FPR)<\/a> of the Department of Defence lists 48 previous reviews dating back to the Tange Review of 1973. You have to wonder if another one is going to succeed where all of the previous ones came up short.<\/p>\n

If the FPR doesn\u2019t work, it won\u2019t be for lack of ambition. It\u2019s a pretty significant shaking of the tree, and some of the structural changes are far reaching. Probably the most significant change, and certainly the most noticeable from the outside, is that the DMO will cease to be a semi-autonomous organisation and will be subsumed into the Defence central structure.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s effectively the end of the DMO as we know it. The rationale is that DMO provides services that are part of an end-to-end capability definition, acquisition and sustainment process, which all becomes part of the Capability Acquisition and Sustainment group under the Deputy Secretary for Policy and Intelligence. There\u2019s some sense to that change, but there are dangers as well.<\/p>\n

For a start, the DMO doesn\u2019t just go and buy stuff. It also has a regulatory role, and acts to protect the Commonwealth\u2019s interests in acquisition processes. As Mark Thomson once wrote<\/a>, it\u2019s not necessarily in Defence\u2019s interest to downgrade those functions. Second, that\u2019s a very big workload for the new DepSec position, and it\u2019ll be quite a juggling act.<\/p>\n

Those changes will require a number of senior positions to be downgraded, and there\u2019ll be staffing reductions at other levels as well. In fact, there\u2019ll be quite a few senior staff members seeking new opportunities. Seven of the current 16 Deputy Secretary positions will be abolished, along with a number of equivalent military positions, including the Head of Capability Development Group. I wrote about changes to responsibility for capability development in my previous post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Changes go beyond the org chart, and the responsibilities of some of the continuing positions will be significantly altered. On the uniformed side of the house, the Chiefs of the three individual services will have a reduced role in the senior decision making framework. They\u2019ll no longer sit on the Defence Committee, which will now be pared down to just six people. In terms of decision making, that\u2019ll certainly make the room less crowded, with the group being about a third of the current size.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the responsibilities of the Chiefs for sustainment of their forces are said be enhanced under this review. Already being charged with the responsibility to \u2018raise, train and sustain\u2019 force elements for government in their role as Capability Managers , it\u2019s not entirely clear what the Review means in terms of change. And there\u2019s still a mismatch between responsibilities and resources\u2014the Chiefs might be responsible for sustainment, but the sustainment resources appear to sit with the DepSec P&I.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the Chiefs will retain carriage of the development of capability requirements, but the civilian side of the house will hold the contestability card. All in all, it\u2019s hard to see the Chiefs being thrilled by these developments.<\/p>\n

At the top of the uniformed ranks there are some welcome developments. As I wrote on The Strategist<\/em> earlier<\/a>, the ADF needed a Capability Manager for joint capabilities\u2014those things that don\u2019t naturally sit with any of the single Service Chiefs\u2014and the Review has made that recommendation. There\u2019s also a streamlining of the powers of the Chief of the Defence Forces vis-\u00e0-vis the Service Chiefs. No longer will a CDF Directive require three single service Directives to implement.<\/p>\n

All in all, the FPR is a serious shakeup of the Defence Department. Some of the elements aren\u2019t novel, and echo previous arrangements, and some are new ideas. But all of them will live or die on the quality of implementation, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll have to keep an eye on over the next couple of years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By my count, the title page for the first chapter of the new First Principles Review (FPR) of the Department of Defence lists 48 previous reviews dating back to the Tange Review of 1973. 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