Crisis Management During a Missile Attack
Some of the most important decisions in the history of our nation have been made based on the wrong intelligence, and it’s not who you think.
Michael Dobbs recently penned a piece for the Washington Post titled, “Cool Crisis Management? It’s a Myth. Ask JFK,” about the insider view of President Kennedy’s handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Dobbs recounts how vastly erroneous intelligence guided Kennedy’s decision-making process and deliberations. He suggests three important lessons learned from this crisis that can help guide future presidents:
1) The view from the oval office can be very limited (emphasis on very).
2) Some body always screws up (Maultsby pilots spy plane into Soviet territory).
3) Personality matters (restraint can be a good thing).
So theoretically, how can we apply these lessons to, say, a missile attack on the U.S.?
1) Since the view from the Oval Office can be very limited, the best offense is a good defense. If there are unknown-unknowns, we must be prepared for anything and everything.
2) If someone “screws up,” and it will happen, we should take the human element out of it. This may seem like a scary proposition, but if an effective tripartite missile defense system were operational, we would be able to employ tried and tested technology to defeat the threat.
3) Personality does matter, that’s why we need missile defense. No matter who the president is, missile defense would remove any adverse consequences of presidential decision-making, regardless of personality type.
The larger lesson here is that Kennedy had faulty info. He made decisions to the best of his ability, and got lucky. If it comes to another “missile crisis”, do you want to spin the wheel or go with the sure thing?
Tags: missile attack, missile defense