We Need to Talk About Defence: Reforming Contemporary Defence Management

Based on a distinguished 35-year career in the RAF as an Air Commodore, Andrew R. Curtis highlights what is wrong with the way defence is managed today, and presents evidence-based proposals to fix it. Defence is failing to deliver. From the ability of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to develop defence policy, to the single service's - Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force (RAF) - ability to acquire and maintain military capability, and undertake military operations. This is not a new problem; indeed, ever since the creation of the MoD in 1964, there have been tensions between the department of state and the armed forces over allocations of responsibility, authority and accountability. Concerned with political oversight; the allocation of responsibility, authority, and accountability; administration of people; organisational structures; and policies and processes, Curtis compellingly demonstrates the critical need to reform the management of Defence for the UK’s armed forces to fight and win in the future.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Tables List of Acronyms Glossary of Terms Foreword Preface Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Why we need to talk about Defence Chapter 3: Acknowledging the Past Chapter 4: Learning from the Present Chapter 5: Looking to the Future Chapter 6: Canadian Armed Forces Unification Chapter 7: The Unites States Marine Corps Chapter 8: Modern Defence Forces Chapter 9: Where does Defence go from Here? Appendix 1: Force Structures Appendix 2: Ranks of the UK Armed Forces Appendix 3: Summary of Proposed Reforms to the Management of Defence Endnotes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Dr Andrew R Curtis OBE is a Retired Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force, where he served for 35 years, an Independent Defence and Security Researcher and an Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute. With a PhD from King’s College London, he is the author of Understanding UK Military Capability (2022) and blogs regularly on www.onukdefence.co.uk.

Review :
The organisation and management of defence has always exercised governments in many countries, being technically, militarily, financially , industrially and politically very challenging. The UK has, in the last generation or two found it especially difficult and, despite several reforms, has not done it very well. In We need to Talk about Defence Andrew Curtis has carried out a deep and penetrating analysis both of the way defence management has been carried out and has conducted a fascinating and informative comparative study with the practices of several other western nations. This, and his own considerable experience at senior level in the RAF, have enabled him to draw out important and highly relevant lessons for the UK. Those responsible for the overdue and vital overhaul of the UK’s defence management should pay very careful heed to his conclusions. For the first time since the end of the Cold War, defence is back on the national agenda – and with a vengeance since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Building better defence for the United Kingdom will take clarity as well as more money and commitment, and Andrew Curtis offers an excellent, clear-eyed view of what’s been wrong for so long with the way we ‘do’ defence in this country. His recommendations for reform should be an intrinsic part of the conversations our leaders need to have about defending ourselves more effectively in a darkening world. They ought to take his ideas seriously.