 |
|
In one of his last statements before he retired, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General
Richard Meyers, said the draft nuclear doctrine criticized in
the media was far from
publication. But was it? |
Nuclear Brief October 1, 2005
New Doctrine: How Close to Publication?
Former Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff General Richard Meyers
stated during the Pentagon's news briefing on September 20, 2005, that the critique of the
forthcoming
Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations (Joint Pub 3-12) is
wrong because it is based on an early draft that "doesn't even reflect
the current addition." The draft was "out
for coordination at the lieutenant colonel/colonel level. It had not
been to general officer/flag officer level yet...[and] has been modified
since then," Meyers said.
Yet publication schedules posted on the Joint Staff's
web site, but since removed, suggest the doctrine was a great deal
closer to publication than Meyers suggested. The schedules show
that the draft nuclear doctrine was in the "final" phase for "approval" and that
a specific publication date (August 15, 2005) had been chosen. In fact,
the doctrine had been in "approval" stage and in "final coordination"
phase since October 2004, when the
"final coordination adjudicated comments" was "completed," and the
next phase was listed as "signature" (see table).
|
JP 3-12
Production Schedule Milestones |
|
Date |
Highlights |
| |
Stage |
Current
Phase |
Next Phase |
Projected Approval |
|
April 7, 2005 |
Approval |
Final |
n.a. |
August 15, 2005 |
|
December 30, 2004 |
Approval |
FC |
Signature. "FC
adjudicated comments complete- 15 Dec 04." |
January 2005 |
|
October 29, 2004 |
Approval |
FC |
"Awaiting FC
comments from JDDC." |
n.a. |
|
July 23, 2004 |
Revision |
Approval |
Approval |
August 2004 |
|
April 9, 2004 |
Revision |
Approval |
Approval |
May 2004 |
|
March 1, 2004 |
Revision |
Approval |
Approval |
March 2004 |
|
December 15, 2003 |
Revision |
Approval |
Approval |
March 2004 |
|
October 31, 2003 |
Revision |
Approval |
Approval |
March 2004 |
|
July 31, 2003 |
Revision |
FC |
Approval |
December 2003 |
|
April 30, 2003 |
Revision |
FC |
Approval |
November 2003 |
|
March 31, 2003 |
Revision |
FC |
Approval |
November 2003 |
|
September 30, 2002 |
Revision |
2nd draft |
FC |
December 2003 |
|
June 23, 2002 |
Revision |
1st draft |
2nd draft |
October 2003 |
|
FC: Final Coordination JDDC: Joint
Doctrine Development Community |
Another indication of the advanced stage of the draft,
which appears to contradict Meyers' statement, comes from the
production schedules' record of how quickly other Joint Publications
were published after completing their final coordination phase.
One example is Joint Pub 2-01, Joint and National
Intelligence Support to Military Operations, which was published on
October 7, 2004. This revision was begun in January 2002, completed
first draft in July 2002, second draft in January 2003, and final
coordination draft in December 2003. After that, "approval" was
scheduled for May 2004 but slipped to October 7, 2004, when the doctrine
was finally approved and published. In other words, less than a year
between final coordination draft and approval. There are many other
cases like this in the production schedules.
Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations (JP 3-12) completed final
coordination draft in October 2004, and went through a unique second
coordination draft that was completed in March 2005. This additional
process clarified the issues so much that the specific date of August
15, 2005, was set for both signature and publication.
All of this strongly suggests that the doctrine was
very close to publication when it was
critiqued in Arms Control Today on September 7, 2005, and reported
in the
Washington Post on September 11. If Gen. Meyers' statement means
that the draft doctrine has been changed considerably because of the
critique of some of its core elements, then that is all for the better. |
