U.K. Defence Secretary Liam Fox outlined a new vision of how a reformed military should be structured and managed, including giving service chiefs increased power over their budgets and creating a new Joint Forces Command.
“Since becoming Defence Secretary, I have been determined to bring the way the MoD is run into the 21st century,” Fox said Monday, releasing recommendations of an expert panel led by Lord Levene, chairman of Lloyds and former defense official.
“The Department’s existing structure and lack of accountability contributed to the dire financial position we inherited,” Fox said. “We must take action to tackle the drivers of structural financial instability and the institutional lack of accountability endemic across Defence, dealing with the root of our problems as well as the problems themselves.”
Fox said he would transform the reform plan recommendations into “meaningful change.”
Key components of the reform vision include: Giving each service chief more power to run their departments, including increased control of equipment programs and greater control over their budgets, as part of a much clearer framework of accountability and control.
Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Sir David Richards welcomed the restructuring recommendations that would “align authority, accountability and responsibility” in the armed forces.
“The focus on strategic planning and operations and the restoration of control to the service chiefs will be vital to maintaining operational effectiveness as we implement the SDSR while fighting two wars,” he said. “The creation of the new Joint Forces Command will ensure we continue to develop close working relationships between the three services and their integration with new capabilities such as cyber operations.”
Another key part of the review was to create a new Joint Forces Command with a new military commander to “oversee and integrate joint military capabilities that currently sit across the three Single Services–including cyber warfare and military intelligence to foster an increasingly joint approach within Defence as a whole,” the MoD said in a statement.
A year ago in August, the United States announced the closing down of its Joint Forces Command with the various component parts parceled out, some to the Joint Staff, which answers to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen. The officer in charge of closing down U.S. JFCOM, Gen. Ray Odierno, has been nominated as the next U.S. Army Chief of Staff.
The reform plan also brings a greater focus on affordability, MoD said in its statement, with increased budgetary discipline and a cost conscious mentality at every level of MoD.
It is expected that there will be streamlined decision making supported by a simpler structure with fewer senior posts, clearer responsibilities, and greater accountability, MoD said.
The Defence Board will become smaller, but stronger and more strategic, the statement said. The board will make major decisions, set direction, and hold the services and the rest of the MoD accountable.
Defense will also be expected to make better use of people and the reform plan expects to include filling posts “with the right person, with the right skills, and keeping them in post for longer; and new, more joint personnel management for senior military officers.”
Last August, Fox commissioned Lord Levene to lead an independent and thorough review into how Defence is structured and managed. This complemented the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) announced last October.
The SDSR laid out the vision for the role of Britain’s Armed Forces and the military capability needed for the future. Lord Levene’s report aims to ensure the MoD is better able to deliver the changes described in the SDSR and focuses resources on military capability rather than support structures and headquarters staff.
The report, “Defence Reform: An independent report into the structure and management of the Ministry of Defence” also recommends a review of all senior non-front line military and civilian posts to see if they are needed and, if so, if they should be civilian or military.
Levene said, “The financial crisis in Defence that the Government is tackling has been well-documented. We looked into the underlying organizational causes of the crisis and found that the way Defence is structured and managed contributed to the loss of control over the budget, and needs to change….Our proposals aim to build on the strengths of the individual Services and the Civil Service but within a stronger single Defence framework to ensure the whole is more than the sum of its parts.”
The MoD will publish a blueprint setting all the major changes the Department plans on later in the year.