Defense planning refers to the process of identifying and prioritizing military capabilities. It is a vital component of national security.
Davis explains how the nature of defense planning has evolved in the United States over time between political change agents and administrative procedures.
Jordan Tama shows how defense planning processes are organized and their effects on policy choices. His analysis draws on public policy theoretical frameworks.
Planning for the Future
The articles in this special issue of Defense Studies offer a rich array of insights into defense planning. The authors differ in their particular focus, but they all exemplify the utility of approaching defense planning as a political phenomenon with its dynamics, not reducible to either purely reactive processes to evolving threat horizons or to the politics and policy decisions that surround them.
For example, Paul Davis outlines the evolution of formalized defense planning systems in periods of significant change, drawing on his decades-long practice as an influential defense analyst within the US policy orbit, including central think tanks and military education institutions. Similarly, Alexander Mattelaer reflects on the evolution of organizational principles for defense planning in the NATO context.
Moreover, Jordan Tama illustrates how defense planning is organized and influences its results. He shows how an emphasis on transparency and inclusivity, in contrast to a preference for closed-door deliberations with limited participants, can lead to more intelligent analytical and policy outcomes.
Preparing for the Unexpected
For example, many have experienced unforeseen expenses like medical bills or home repairs. Having an emergency fund is essential so you can cover these expenses. By preparing for the unexpected, you can reduce stress and anxiety.
Defense planners in white collar crime consulting are a rich source of insights on approaching the planning phenomenon. The contributions to this special issue of the journal illustrate that, for instance, Jan Angstrom’s research on US long-term defense planning reveals how the long-term national trajectories of specific organizations influence the forms of defense planning that emerge and the ensuing biases in both their analyses of military platforms and their formulations of future visions of war (Angstrom, 2018).
Similarly, Jordan Tama’s contribution shows how planners organize their processes, impact their effects, and lead to trade-offs. By applying insights from related public policy research, he deflates the particular aura surrounding Huntingtonian civil-military studies and opens up defense planning to a broader analytical range.
Preparing for Changes in the Law
Defense counsel should seek reform and improvement in the administration of criminal justice, including the judiciary. They should support efforts to improve procedural and substantive law, especially when they are consistent with sound legal reasoning. They should also be prepared to address the changing landscape of legal practice.
The diverse contributions to this special issue establish defense planning as a strategic fact in the broad sense of the term and open up avenues for research in this area. This is particularly encouraging given that, for the most part, academic research on defense planning needs to be more extensive and patchy.
In this context, the contributions of scholar-practitioners such as Magnus Christiansson and Jordan Tama are worth mentioning. They have made significant contributions to the analytical and programmatic literature on defense planning based on long empirical experience with US defense planning circles ranging from central think tanks to professional military education institutions.
Their work highlights the need for more practitioner proximity to the study of defense planning to avoid blind spots and misguided policy decisions.
Preparing for Trial
Trial preparation includes:
- Attending pretrial and settlement conferences.
- Preparing trial memoranda.
- Assembling.
- Conducting trial evidence legal research on case law and precedent.
- Locating and interviewing potential witnesses.
Preparation for a trial is also time-consuming and requires intense focus, mainly as the date draws near. It can be stressful for attorneys and their staff and may create health concerns for everyone involved.
A consistent theme across the contributions to this special issue is that defense planning possesses its dynamics and cannot be reduced to mere reactive reactions to a changing threat horizon or automatic transpositions of such changes into political priorities and decisions.
Hence, establishing defense planning as an object of academic study requires opening up and assessing these interface dynamics.
By doing so, the authors of this special issue contribute to a renewed debate on theoretical approaches, methodologies, and empirical experiences in this new academic field. They do so by employing insights from public policy domains.
