A Report Of The Defense Science Board Task Force On Strategic Planning And The Maritime Balance PDF Download

A Defense Science Board Task Force was establish to conduct an experiment in applying business policy/strategic planning concepts to the development of a competitive strategy for the Maritime Balance area. The Task Force and its associated Navy Study Group will focus on the long-term competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the maritime area, especially the naval area. The experiment will deal with the strategic planning phase of long-term planning, rather than with specific naval programs. The work of the Task Force and the Study Group will be conducted in a number of phases, starting with the development of a broad strategy for competing. This phase should attempt to structure how we should think about and analyze the competition, including both its wartime and peacetime components. Besides providing a strategy context, the introductory phase of the experiment should: 1) identify naval problem areas and questions which are highlighted by examining the maritime balance area from a long-term competition perspective; 2) Identify issues which would have maritime significance in time of major war, but which are not amenable to naval solutions in peacetime; 3)Identify major issues relevant to the peacetime use of maritime forces; and 4) Identify criteria beyond cost and effectiveness criteria which seem particularly important in judging maritime programs.