military diplomacy

bang from a much smaller buck

President Vlodomir Zelenskyy lectured todayto the roughly six hundred students at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. That likely sounds odd for a manon a crucial, if not existential, mission desperately seeking weapons from a reluctant U.S. Congress. He and his people face Russia’s enduring pressures and occupation of Ukrainian territory, an invasion soon to mark 22 months since its inception. The Biden administration was adapt at diplomacy, a subset of which is military diplomacy, with this move.

The students attending NDU are primarily uniformed. Today’s generation, with the average service of those in the audience as nineteen years in uniform, received their commissions in the early few years of this millennium—and they fought extensively in Afghanistan and Iraq. These individuals understand the hell of warfare far better than the majority of elected representiatives on the Hill or voters getting tired of supplying a country that hasn’t won yet. These student/service personnel recognise the problems of lacking resources against an enemy with deep-seated aspirations, even though we know the Russians face many internal problems of their own. NDU students understand, because any of the programs they are pursuing is at the strategic level, the intricate relationships between diplomacy, information/cyber, irregular conflict, economics, and the armed forces.

More importantly, particularly at the two largest schools (the National War College and the Eisenhower College of Resources and Strategy) a minimum of half of these uniformed students receive certification opening the door for them to go into ‘joint’ billets in the Pentagon. Those jobs make the students central to the execution, and frequently postulating, of strategic choices as advisors to the civilians responsible for decision-making in the United States. Put otherwise, the students graduating from the National Defense University in June 2024 will often become highly influential in the U.S. national security community. If students don’t go into ‘joint jobs’ they often are highly placed within their own service’s hierarchy upon finishing at NDU.

For those foreign students in the audience because they are matriculated at one of the five NDU schools, the exposure is even more important. No country has the luxury to send a mediocre student to NDU. Each and every International Fellow carries the weight of representing her or his country with pride, leaving a distinct memory with their American counterparts. Those memories frequently translate into actual partnership as the interweaving of various nations’ militaries leads to better coordination and understanding of each other’s positions in case of a conflict. Allowing these officers to hear the Ukrainian president as well as the views or concerns of U.S. colleagues in the audience becomes a shaping factor within the national governments sending students to NDU. This feedback loop can play out with positive results years after they all graduate when U.S. students encounter their former seminar mates or I.F. students come across fellow foreign students at a NATO or ASEAN meeting. The NDU International Fellows almost invariably go into the highest ranks of their militaries.

It behooves Zelenskyy or any other foreign leader to be coherent, cogent, and persuasive in putting forth a case in front of these students. The Ukranian’s message, however, will go a long way to infuse understanding of his nation’s predicament into thinking of the rising generation of military strategic leaders. The Biden team understood this value keenly with this step.

I did not hear the speech as I am, alas, retired. It will be noteworthy, however, to all who did that the Ukranian spent some of his most valuable asset—time—explaining his plight at Ft. McNair.

Military diplomacy isn’t just officers sitting down across a table with the uniformed personnel of other countries. It also means taking time to listen to foreign leaders, meet with delegations from other countries, exchange structured position papers (where appropriate with State Department and NSC coordination), and taking the smallest of steps to break down barriers between cultures. Like any other form of diplomacy, it requires painstaking work but it also can pay off in spades.

Zelenskyy’s speech won’t turn the tide of the conflict but it will raise his visibility at home. It will alert U.S. and International students at NDU to the importance of their role as soon-to-be decision-makers. It will also show the Russians that the Ukranians and the American hosts are assuring Kyiv’s arguments spread as widely as possible to assure the greatest pressure to support assistance.

Time will tell but that is how all strategic arguments go. We will see, however, more U.S. defense understanding of both the objectives and the threats than we would have without this effort.

Have you been part of military diplomacy? If so, how? What would have liked to do?

I welcome any thoughts and all comments. I appreciate you taking time to consider this as the military does not merely hurl bombs at the enemy. Is this a good use of the military’s time?

I thank all the subscribers and supporters.

It’s chilly today but only ten days until the days begin to lengthen again. Thank goodness.

Be well and be safe. FIN