October 28, 2013

Building Better Generals

By Katherine Kidder, Kelley Sayler, Nora Bensahel, David W. Barno and USA (Ret.)

In Building Better Generals the CNAS Responsible Defense (RD) team urges policymakers and military leaders to redouble their efforts to create an “adaptive and creative officer corps” that is prepared to address a wide range of 21st Century challenges.  CNAS RD Program Director, LTG David Barno, USA (Ret)., Deputy Director of Studies Dr. Nora Bensahel and Research Associates Kelley Sayler and Katherine Kidder stress that after 12 years of irregular warfare, the combination of a volatile security environment, declining defense budgets, and newly constrained U.S. military capabilities risk producing an officer corps ill-prepared for its future challenges. Thus, the authors suggest new investments in flag officer education, assignments, and evaluations to better prepare senior military officers for the fast-moving dynamics of tomorrow’s world.

Authors

  • Katherine Kidder

    Former Fellow, Military, Veterans, and Society Program

    Katherine Kidder was a former Fellow in the Military, Veterans, and Society Program and the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). In that capacity, she led the CNAS Rebui...

  • Kelley Sayler

    Kelley Sayler is a former Associate Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where she worked with the Defense Strategies and Assessments Program and the ...

  • Nora Bensahel

  • David W. Barno

  • USA (Ret.)

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