FD 2030 is a Flawed Argument for Change
The December edition of the Maine Corps Gazette is dedicated to FD 2030. The Gazette includes several articles written in support of FD 2030, as well as several articles that raise concerns. Compass Post will feature several of the articles that raise significant concerns about FD 2030. In his article at the link below, General Anthony C. Zinni, takes issue with the narrow direction FD 2030 is taking the Marine Corps.
Marine Corps Gazette (mca-marines.org) July and December 2022
The Flawed Argument for Change
By General Anthony C. Zinni
A Global and Ready Marine Corps Force for All Theaters
The myopic focus on one theater and one narrow role described in the Stand-In Forces and Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations concepts, presents a very limited view of how Marine Corps operational forces can best serve our nation’s national security interests. Pursuing a limited mission as a “reconnaissance/counter-reconnaissance service” eliminates a well-established and varied set of capabilities that Marine operational forces can provide to combatant commanders.
All of us who have served in our Corps of Marines through decades of changing conflicts and commitments understand the need to adapt and incorporate new technology and new ways of meeting our mission requirements. We have in our experience, however, affected those changes through carefully established processes that incorporated the new with the tried and true. The ad-like promotional media for Force Design 2030 begins by quoting the U.S. Code Title 10 mission of the Marine Corps. It does not describe the role of the Marine Corps in subsequent legislation or how it has expanded and evolved since Congress enacted Title 10.
In his 35-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps, General Zinni served in several key Command and Staff roles, including serving as (then) Commander-In-Chief of U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM). He has also served in several diplomatic roles, including as a U.S. special envoy to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
General Zinni has also held academic positions such as the Stanley Chair in Ethics at the Virginia Military Institute, the Nimitz Chair at the University of California, Berkeley, the Hofheimer Chair at the Joint Forces Staff College, the Harriman Professorship of Government at the Reves Center for International Studies at the College of William and Mary, and has also served as the Honorary Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Middle East Institute.
From Gen. Zinni’s article: "Have Navy leaders described the Navy’s role in the littoral strategy the Commandant espouses? " - great question and one that hasn’t be answered outside of polite commentary from the USN.