- The Strategist - https://www.aspistrategist.org.au -
To think and to do in Defence
Posted By Graeme Dobell on February 6, 2014 @ 06:00
Beyond running a huge civilian workforce, the Secretary of the Defence Department is torn at by an extraordinary array of g-forces: government, generals, gear (the buying, building and running of), geopolitics and geography. On bad days, and even on normal afternoons, some of those must indeed feel like gravitational forces.
The volume of work is unbelievable and the stakes in terms of peoples’ lives and money spent are enormously high. Mental exhaustion is a serious risk. For all these reasons Defence doesn’t fit well into the daily Canberra spin cycle.
When I was in Singapore, [Richard] Casey [Minister for External Affairs] sent a message to me from London to buy him some shirts, so I bought him some shirts and sent them off. A couple of weeks later he sent them back. So I went out and bought him some more shirts and sent them off and the same thing happened; he sent them back. So I went and sent him some more and he sent them back. I gave up then; I didn’t send him anything and that was the end of that contact.
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URL to article: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/to-think-and-to-do-in-defence/
[1] Image: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Russell_offices_circa_1965.jpg
[2] have charted the ever-shortening lengths of the tenures: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/look-behind-you-mr-richardson/
[3] the passing of a Defence doer and thinker, Bill Pritchett: http://tributes.canberratimes.com.au/obituaries/canberratimes-au/obituary.aspx?n=william-pritchett-bill&pid=169416392
[4] Peter Edwards’ biography of Tange: http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Arthur_Tange_Last_of_the_Mandarins.html?id=evL-Sh8EJQcC
[5] here: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/dennis-richardson-and-arthur-tange-part-ii/
[6] this column: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/dennis-richardson-and-arthur-tange-part-one/
[7] service in WWII: http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/644102
[8] a fine appreciation of Pritchett: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/a-gentleman-in-an-unforgiving-world-20140201-31u2k.html
[9] submission he made: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=pjcaad/wmd/subs/sub12.pdf
[10] 2003 Parliamentary inquiry: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=pjcaad/wmd/report.htm
[11] here: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/obituaries/william-pritchett-from-diplomacy-to-the-defence-department-20140206-324fy.html
[12] Canberra House: http://www.flickr.com/photos/canberrahouse/5750769700/sizes/l/