Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
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sit rep S The missing strategic link What constitutes a national defence or security strategy? Within the 2008 Canada First Defence Strategy and 2010 Cyber Security Strategy, the government has attempted to lay out guiding principles. But most critics have argued both documents fall well short of a strategy – historian Jack Granatstein, for one, has called the CFDS a "shopping list rather than a strategy." Dr. Granatstein was one of three panelists to tackle the question of whether Canada needs a national security strategy during a symposium hosted by the Conference of Defence Associations Institute (CDAI) in February. "We need something better than the current ad hockery," he said, saying a strategy provides the rationale for why a government makes certain decisions. Allies, he noted, have in recent years undertaken efforts to better define their plans for national security. Retired MGen Richard Blanchette warned that without a national strategy, it is difficult to explain to security and defence practitioners why decisions are being made. Canadians and allies alike, he said, would benefit from a well articulated strategy. Canadians, however, have shown little interest in a national debate about defence and security. The issue rarely features in election campaigns and panellist Ian Brodie, a former chief of staff to Prime Minister Harper, argued that the CFDS and cyber strategy are "as good as [we are] likely to get under the current circumstances, and likely enough," adding that both are "short, focused and useful." The discussion was prompted in part by a CDAI paper titled "Strategic Outlook for Canada 2013," which offered 28 recommendations. Ferry de Kerckhove, the paper's co-author, observed that most western countries are in a coping mode rather than dealing with conflicts directly – think Syria, Iran and North Korea, to name three. Canada's loan of a C-17 to the French government in Mali, initially for a week, was indicative of that. "Even a [library] book, you lend it for more than a week," he said. To an extent, the Canadian Forces has already done much of the forward thinking necessary to articulate its future, captured in foresight documents such as Projecting Power: Canada's Air Force 2035, Land Operations 2021 and Army 2040: First Look – only the Royal Canadian Navy's Horizon 2050 has yet to be published, though recent commanders from admirals Dean McFadden to Paul Maddison have spoken widely of the necessity of naval power in the 21st century. But Blanchette pleaded for a single vision for national security. "One single document is not the solution but we have to drive toward this," he said. He worried, however, that we are instead moving away from it. Both Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Tom Lawson and Defence Minister Peter MacKay, in presentations to the same conference, indicated that a reassessment of CFDS is planned for after the 2013 budget. Photo Carl Schulze Saving soldier's lives: Protection systems by RUAG. Please visit us at CANSEC 2013, CE Centre in Ottawa, Canada, 29–30 May RUAG Schweiz AG | RUAG Defence Allmendstrasse 86 | 3602 Thun | Switzerland | Phone +41 33 228 22 65 marketing.defence@ruag.com | www.ruag.com www.vanguardcanada.com APRIL/MAY 2013 7