Our services shouldn't try to do other services jobs at the expense of winning their own domain. If multi-domain operations isn't just a rebranding of joint operations, it could distract our services from winning a war.
This officer wants to stop the "multi-domain" talk:
It is time for the U.S. military to end its focus on domains. We need to kill the concept entirely within military programing, planning and execution in order to achieve true integration.
Do read it all.
I'm highly sympathetic. But the author focuses on the black box of effects missions. I agree with that fully, but I think the problem is bigger.
First, I worry this is essentially an effort to downgrade ground forces:
My worry about the Army's emerging Multi-Domain Battle doctrine is that it will be hijacked by the Navy and Air Force--perhaps with the Army's cooperation--to turn the Army into additional anti-aircraft and anti-ship assets rather than using the Army's core competency--land warfare--to help the Air Force and Navy with their core competencies of air and sea control.
The Marines are doing this to support the Navy. Remember, after the Cold War the Navy decided it had no need to fight for sea control and instead looked to project power ashore "... from the sea" as it put it. And then a generation of ground fighting occupied the military. Now the Navy must fight for sea control and is scrambling to make up for 30 years of not preparing. Marines should help.
But it should not be the pattern for all ground forces. Multi-domain operation ideas lead me to worry about all the services:
There is naturally "leakage" of any service being directly useful to other services in their primary domains, as I listed above. But this doesn't mean that any service should cripple their ability to achieve their primary competencies in their own domain in order to help other services achieve their core competencies.
We have separate services for a reason--specific domains require specific skill sets with specific weapons. Don't screw that up by letting bureaucracy empire building twist that reason for self-serving (and likely subconscious) purposes.
Integrate all the domains into one effort, but don't go overboard.
It seems to me that "domain" talk risks losing focus on a service's
core competency. Combined arms is a good thing. Joint operations are good. Is multi-domain just more of this or an excuse to poach other services' turf while neglecting your own core competency?
If each service works to win in its primary domain by making "dead bad guys and broken things", as that officer put it in his article, the service win creates synergy that helps other services win their domain. I discussed this using the Guadalcanal campaign in this Land Warfare Paper.
But hey, I'm just glad the Pentagon is thinking about winning wars at all.
[NOTE: I continue to update this post with war news and analysis.]
