Developing Us Army Officers Capabilities

Law, policy, and, most importantly, ongoing operations require the Department of Defense and the Army to develop a cadre of officers skilled in the integration of joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational (JIIM) capabilities into military operations. Based on interviews and focus groups with Army officers and their counterparts and co-workers from other services, agencies, and nations, this monograph identifies and describes the knowledge, skills, and abilities that enable Army officers to succeed in JIIM contexts. Using surveys of experts in officer assignments, the researchers identified the kinds of assignments that develop capabilities in these domains. They also used inventory modeling to assess the Army's ability to develop and maintain a cadre of officers with these capabilities. Broadly speaking, the study found that good interpersonal skills are extremely important to success in the JIIM domains. Still, the JIIM domains are qualitatively different. For example, competence in integrating Army capabilities with those of other services does not necessarily translate into competence in integrating other government agencies' capabilities. Second, different echelons require qualitatively different knowledge, skills and abilities in the JIIM domains. Third, proficiency in these domains improves significantly with repeated developmental experiences. The most important such experience, however, is one that broadens an officer by confronting him with an unfamiliar context in which his success depends on others' voluntary cooperation. Fourth, the current operating environment seems to provide JIIM experience reliably at echelons as low as battalion commanders, executive officers, and operations officers. Fifth, the Army can probably produce and maintain enough "experts" in the JIIM domains to meet likely requirements.