Capt. Wayne Porter & Col. Mark Mykleby: A National Strategic Narrative
Naval Captain Wayne Porter and Col. Mark Mykleby are military strategists working at the highest level of Government. They present highlights from their paper, “A National Strategic Narrative.” They say that in a time of rapid change, when the world leadership of the U.S. is in question, the country needs a strategy that everyone understands.
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ABOUT Capt. Wayne Porter, USN
“Capt. Wayne Porter’s distinguished career in the U.S. Navy began with his commission in 1986. His tours have included Fleet Ocean Surveillance Intelligence Center, The USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19), Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), and the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
Capt Porter believes US policy could benefit from adhering to a coherent strategic context. He was concerned that US leaders had increasingly become captive to temporal urgency without being able to consider a wider strategic perspective. He felt an appreciation of the interconnectedness and complexity of their strategic environment – better described as a strategic ecology was necessary.
Capt Porter said that this strategy argues for a ‘whole-of-nation’, functional approach to development, diplomacy and defense versus simply treating them as organisational stove-pipes where the structure of the organisation largely or entirely restricts the flow of information within the organisation to up-down through lines of control but inhibits or prevents cross organisational communication.”
ABOUT Col. Mark ‘Puck’ Mykleby, USMC
“Col. Mark Mykleby was a Career Marine officer and F/A-18 pilot with extensive experience in land-based and sea-based operations. His specialty as an F/A-18 pilot was in air and ground fires planning and integration, MAGTF command and control, aircraft carrier operations, and expeditionary operations.
He has unique experience as a strategist developing national level strategies for the United States Marine Corps, Special Operations, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His professional goal is to continue to contribute within the national security community to the development of a national strategy to carry the United States into the 21st century and beyond.
Together, they are strategic advisers to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and authored the ground-breaking White Paper “A National Strategic Narrative” that proposes the United States refocus its Foreign Policy priorities and invest less in overt militarisation and more in education, development aid, and sustainability infrastructure. Their ideas have caused a stir in policy communities.
White Paper: A National Strategic Narrative
“Mr. Y” is a pseudonym for their authorship of the paper. A reference to the well-known ‘X’ article written by George Kennan in 1947 that argued for a policy of containment of the Soviet Union. Porter and Mykleby argue that the U.S. must move beyond a strategy of containment to a strategy of sustainment and recognise that security means more than defense, and sustaining security requires adaptation and evolution.
Writing the Preface of their White Paper, Anne Marie Slaughter, Director of Policy and Planning, U.S. Department of State (2009-2011) said, “We need a story that will transcend our political divisions, orient us as a nation, and give us a common direction and the confidence and commitment to get to our destination.”
The VIDEO
