Interagency Crisis Process Reviewed

For John, BLUF:  When it is a crisis, everyone gets involved.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

Someone once told me that when Kim Jung-il (you can tell this is an older story) got a cold all the military staff in Korea reported to the Command Post.  No one wants to miss a crisis and a chance to (a) earn a medal or (b) avoid condemnation for not being responsive.  Now comes Night Watch with a description of the process in our Nation's Capitol:

Libya:  Special Comment:  For the record.  Readers need reassurance that the US uses an inter-agency approach to crisis management all the time every time.  All relevant resources are applied to evaluate the situation, limit damage, establish control and stability and restore normality.  That is the way national security crises always are managed in Washington.  Information flows vertically first and then laterally.

In the 4 decades between 1970 and 2010, there never was a time when an American diplomat was injured by hostile action, an embassy or consulate attacked, an aircraft shot down, a ship attacked, an official attacked or kidnapped or many other lesser incidents, especially when they involved damage to US official persons or property, in which the J3 and J2 in the Pentagon failed to set up a crisis action team or group.  Similar teams or cells would be created in the responsible military commands and every agency involved in national security affairs.

During a crisis, all crisis action teams issue situation updates to the national command authority and to each other, often hourly at first.  All are in communications with each other. The White House Situation Room is always in the loop, if not the real time crisis management clearing house, for all reporting on the crisis, in support of the National Security Council staff and the inter agency crisis management process.

An attack on an ambassador is an attack on the United States and the US national security enterprise always takes that as its starting point for crisis management.  Every agency is involved plus the military commands, not just State Department, for example.

News coverage of the Benghazi attack does not reflect the basics of US national security crisis management practice nor the diligence and competence of the people who make it work and would have been on duty on 9-11-2012.

So, either the system fell apart after Mr John McCreary retired from DoD or we aren't getting the full story about Benghazi last month.

Regards  —  Cliff