New Strategy Stresses Joint Operations

The Defense Department and its partners in other federal agencies must cooperate if overseas missions such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq are to succeed, according to a white paper released Aug. 1 by the Pentagon. "Iraq and Afghanistan remind us that military success alone is insufficient," the paper states. The armed forces and other agencies must work together, rather, to foster economic and institutional growth, and enforce the rule of law, the paper states. Speaking in support of the white paper, Eric S. Edelman, the undersecretary of defense for policy, told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that a "militarized foreign policy" would be "counterproductive, wasteful, and dysfunctional" during a July 31 hearing. More humanitarian missions are needed in cooperation with the State Department and the Agency for International Development, Edelman told senators.