Civilian control of the military is a foundational concept of democracy in the United States. In recent years, voices in the community that study the civilian-military relationship have raised concerns that civilian control is being slowly eroded away by the outsized participation of the military in national policy making. Todd Schmidt, Director, Army University Press, joins guest host Carrie Lee to share his thoughts on how the nation got here and what might be done to better balance the relationship. This is the sixth episode in our multi-part special series supporting the U.S. Army War College’s Civil-Military Relations Center.
The information and data that informs policy, where is that information and data coming from? Is it coming from the Joint Staff? Is it coming from the intelligence community? I would argue that the agency that provides the information that informs policy, they’re having significant control over public policy.
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Colonel Todd A. Schmidt, Ph.D., serves as Director, Army University Press at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Military Review Journal; and Executive Producer of Army University Films. He serves as a non-resident fellow to the West Point/USMA, Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic; non-resident fellow to the National Institute for Deterrence Studies; and an AUSA Leadership Fellow.
Carrie A. Lee is an associate professor at the U.S. Army War College, where she serves as the chair of the Department of National Security and Strategy and director of the USAWC Center on Civil-Military Relations. She received her Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University and a B.S. from MIT.
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army, or Department of Defense.
Photo Description: Defense Secretary James Mattis and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., update the media on the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria during a joint press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., May 19, 2017.
Photo Credit: DOD photo by Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith