The problem of professional rivalry was exacerbated by George B. McClellan and Henry Halleck possessing fundamentally different visions of the ideas that should guide Union strategy. Operations in Kentucky and Tennessee were taken into account in McClellan's comprehensive grand strategy, but the general faced obstacles in ensuring that those operations were directed toward the strategic and operational objectives he deemed most critical to the Union war effort. The problem of professional rivalry was exacerbated by McClellan and Halleck possessing fundamentally different visions of the ideas that should guide Union strategy. McClellan and C. C. Buell shared a common approach to the critical question of what Union policy should be toward Southerners and their property. To find the means necessary to support Buell's operations without weakening Halleck, McClellan in mid-January conceived a plan in which a large contingent would be sent from the Army of the Potomac to Kentucky.