THE ART OF BUSINESS: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF GIANTS

President Bush is "doing the right thing" with regard to terrorism by creating a national intelligence director and counterterrorism center. His heart and purpose are in the right place, seeking to reduce the threat of terrorism in our nation. But he's only got half the equation-he's not "doing things right."

On August 3, 2004 USA Today published an article stating that although Bush was ready to create the new intelligence director position and counterterrorism center, he rejected the Sept. 11 commission's recommendation to give the new director control of all intelligence budgets and "the authority to choose who would lead the CIA, FBI, Defense Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies."

If renowned ancient strategist Sun Tzu, author of the classic Art of War, could comment on modern politics, he'd have a field day. Why? Because according to the Sun Tzu's wisdom, creating a national figurehead without the authority to lead and act with power is like sending an army out into the field without guns or ammunition. It's almost a guaranteed defeat, and a humiliating one at that.

Sun Tzu's five strategic arts clearly define what it takes to create a victory, whether on the battlefield or in the halls of the executive office.

1. Possibility: Seeing the possibilities and creating a vision of how to win the battle. Taken off the battlefield, it means creating a vision that makes a positive difference in the world. Bush's actions meet the criteria for this art.
    
   
2. Leadership: Leading the troops with commitment, courage, passionate belief in the cause, service to a higher purpose, and decisive action. A neutered, powerless intel chief certainly won't be able to meet this criteria.
    
   
3. Timing: Predicting the enemy's actions, and marching all the troops to arrive at the right place at the right time for focused, directed, productive action. Without unilateral powers, the new intel director won't be able to march anyone anywhere. As Senator Joe Lieberman said at a hearing on creating the new agency, "When everyone is in charge, no one is in charge." The result? Lots of action, no achievement.
    
   
4. Leverage: Leveraging the terrain, allies, weapons, knowledge, and anything else-even the enemy-to gain the advantage and win. With so many turf battles raging in the intel community, no coordinated leverage is possible. Even the sharing of information is currently next to impossible.
    
   
5. Mastery: Deploying and wielding troops and weapons for a balanced, well-coordinated attack. The key word here is coordination. Although Bush is calling for "an integrated, unified national intelligence effort," his rejection of the proposed authority for the new intel director precludes such a coordinated effort.

Out of the total of five strategic arts, Bush has achieved only one. Because effective strategy calls for the combination of all of these arts, Bush's 20% effort is doomed to fail. Another figurehead, another day on the Hill.