ABSTRACT
Introduction Military leaders at many levels have used strategic planning in various ways to position their organizations to respond to the demands of the current situation, while simultaneously focusing on future challenges. This chapter examines how four Chairmen, Joint Chiefs of Staff-Generals Colin L. Powell (1989-1993), John M. Shalikashvili (1993-1997), Henry Hugh Shelton (1997-2001) and Richard B. Myers (2001-2005)—used a strategic planning system to enable them to meet their statutory responsibilities specified in Title 10 U.S. Code and respond to the strategic environment. As the 1990s progressed, the first three chairmen were faced with responding to a strategic environment that started with the Gulf War and was followed by an increasing number of regional military operations across the spectrum of conflict, while accommodating slowly declining financial resources and a onethird decline in force structure. Since 2000, and particularly after September 11, 2001, the last two chairmen were faced with entirely different strategic challenges
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dominated by the focus on terrorism and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, while needing to transform by developing future capabilities to achieve full spectrum dominance.
