Publication

This volume focuses on dealing with complex operations. The included essays acknowledge that the best approach to complex operations is a genuine whole-of-government approach. Joint analysis, planning, and implementation are appropriate, not just on the eve of a complex operation, but on a routine and habitual basis—in the pre-conflict phase as well as once conflict has begun. Yet, many barriers to effective joint collaborative analysis, planning, and implementation remain. Failure to firmly institutionalize a whole of government philosophy and associated practices would be a lamentable mistake, and would constitute an unforgivable failure to learn the lessons of our experience.