“Why was there no warning of this?”
“No planning, … just in case?”
“What is the strategy here?”
How often do questions like these arise when an unexpected event brings on a bloody conflict and voices from all sides are calling for contenting powers and stakeholders to effect a satisfactory outcome?
The Salon will ponder these and related issues when it meets on Thursday, June 27. Providing the scene-setter for the discussion will be Colonel (retired) John F. Agoglia (biography below).
To be sure, no single individual or actor with a vital stake in a crisis is likely to have a simple or ready-made solution for violent conflicts that seem to burst on the scene. Perhaps, that is just the point. One-sided courses-of-action are not framed to address multi-sided interests and rights.
Colonel Agoglia will invite participants in the Salon to consider and discuss:
Models and examples of planning processes to guide actors when contingencies arise and action is required. Are these flexible enough to adapt to changing events in the field?;
Lessons learned from the management – or mis-management -- of earlier crises. What do they teach us? recommend? Is it misleading, from the outset, to think of crises as something for managers, like MBAs, to handle?
The role diplomacy plays in conjunction with strategy before, during, and after crises? Does each have its “own lane to travel” or is a “whole of government” approach advisable from start to finish?
The Salon, as previous participants understand, is not a “How-to” Information-Transfer Exercise. Invitees from DACOR and their guests will likely have been involved in one or more crises or aspects of of a crisis in their careers. All attending the Salon are invited to share their pertinent experiences and voice their doubts, actively listen and constructively question.
Sign up soon, bring your ideas, and bring a friend!
Colonel (retired) John F. Agoglia currently leads a four-person team at the National Defense University, Ft. McNair, Washington D.C., designing and facilitating table top exercises for the Office of The Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (OSD-P) that focus on emerging complex national security strategic-policy issues. He is a 1980 graduate of the United States Military Academy and holds a master’s degree in Strategic Planning from the School of Advances Military Studies (SAMS). Colonel Agoglia served for over 30 years as a career officer in the U.S. Army. His last three assignments included:
- Deputy Chief of Plans in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) J5 plans shop, 2001-2004. Colonel Agoglia arrived at CENTCOM from an assignment in Japan four weeks before the attacks of 9/11. He was involved in developing CENTCOM plans for the invasion of Afghanistan and the Global War on Terror. He was part of the original planning group that initiated the campaign plan for Iraq. In May of 2003, Colonel Agoglia served as CENTCOM liaison officer to the U.S. Civil Ambassador in Iraq, Paul Bremer, and worked on priority matters including the planning efforts between the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the military; the transfer of police training from the CPA to the Coalition Joint Task Force 7; and the initial engagement strategy for senior military commanders with the newly appointed interim Iraqi government leaders.
- Director of the U.S. Army's Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) at the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle PA., 2004-2008. As Director, he integrated U.S. government agencies into the U.S. Army and the Joint doctrinal development process to foster greater understanding and improve cooperation among organizations; helped author the updated U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP) and PKSOI “Guide to Non-Governmental Organizations” to facilitate greater understanding of NGOs among the military; co-chartered with USIP the development of the first-of-its-kind stability operations manual “U.S. Government Guide for Participants in Peace, Stability and Relief Operations;” edited the integrated interagency and intergovernmental guide “Measuring Progress in Conflict Environments’(MPICE);” supported the standup of the Department of State’s Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization; and engineered the concept for the development of the Civilian Response Corps and the Interagency Conflict Management System.
- Director of the Counterinsurgency (COIN) Training Center-Afghanistan, during a 29-month deployment from 2008-2010. Colonel Agoglia expanded the in-theater COIN training capacity and led the effort to provide enhanced COIN pre-deployment training for surge forces for Afghanistan. He helped craft the first theater-wide Commander, International Security Assistance Force (COMISAF) COIN guidance in 2009 for all coalition and Afghan National Security Forces, and standardized in-theater COIN training for all deploying coalition forces, U.S. government and select implementing partners. He simultaneously integrated COIN training into the Afghan National Army Training and Education Command. During this time he co-authored an article in the Small Wars Journal, “Getting the Basics Right: A Discussion on Tactical Actions for Strategic Impact in Afghanistan,” and was the featured speaker at many functions including Council on Foreign Relations Roundtables.
Colonel Agoglia’s 30 years of experience comprise operations management, war gaming, strategic planning, and multinational negotiations aimed at developing and implementing strategic policies to influence bilateral, multilateral and intra-governmental civilian-military processes and relationships in the Asian-Pacific, Middle Eastern and European regions.
