191. Interagency National Security Teams: Can Social Science Contribute?
- Author:
- Christopher J. Lamb and James Orton
- Publication Date:
- 03-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- PRISM
- Institution:
- Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
- Abstract:
- There is a consensus that many national security problems require interagency solutions. However, as veteran national security legislator Ike Skelton noted, the current national security system has trouble meeting this requirement: "For many years, we've repeatedly heard from independent blue-ribbon panels and bipartisan commissions that when it comes to inter - agency collaboration on national security, our system is inefficient, ineffective, and often down-right broken." Many of those same blue-ribbon panels and commissions have recommended interagency teams as a potential solution to interagency coordination problems. Recently, for example, the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review Commission called for more "interagency teams with capabilities to plan for and exercise, in an integrated way, departmental and agency responsibilities in predefined mission[s]." Historical descriptive accounts indicate interagency teams can indeed perform with great effectiveness, but recent research also suggests that interagency team effectiveness is not wide - spread, easily replicated, or well-understood. It would be easier to act upon the recommendations for more interagency teams if national security executives knew with greater certainty what factors and what conditions make these teams effective.