The Glass Firewall between Military and Civil Administration

Abstract

There is a glass-like firewall between American military administration and civil administration forged during the Progressive era. Turn-of-the-century public administration theory was quite ecumenical. However, under the spell of Progressive state theory, post-war public administration theory assumed that civil administrators could ignore military matters. The separation of military and civil administration is now beginning to adversely affect the American people. The Department of Defense conceived a Total Force Doctrine that was neither substantially discussed with nor understood by civilian administrators. When this doctrine was applied by the Department of Defense in Operation Desert Storm, predictable negative civilian consequences occurred. The glass firewall must go. Progressive state theory and administrative state theory were wrong in assuming that these tensions would vanish as the state modernized. Public administration must address this scission. In doing so, public administration can recover its ecumenical root and the relevance of the field.

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