DEFENCE BUREAUCRATS: ROOM AT THE TOP

By BGen (Ret) Jim Hanson

The Civilian Bureaucrats: A dozen years ago the Department of National Defence (DND) employed some 34,000 civilians. Most were dedicated, skilled and hard working members of a civil/military team. It also included almost 80,000 uniformed members of the Canadian Forces (CF).

Many of these civilians did important work in National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ). Some were in occupations parallel to those in the military; others, like defence scientists and contracting experts, possessed skills not normally found in the CF. They also helped give NDHQ continuity by offsetting some of the turbulence caused by the frequent postings of their military compatriots.

Civilians on CF Bases provided much needed flexibility and depth in a wide range of administrative and technical trades. This helped maintain Base services when CF members were away, usually without replacement, on UN missions, courses, temporary duty, and sick or maternity leave. Some also held specialties not found in the CF.

Four powerful civilian managers topped the civilian pyramid in NDHQ. The Deputy Minister (DM) of DND had responsibilities parallel to those of the ‘four-star’ general Chief of the Defence Staff. The DM was charged by law for the management of DND assisted by three assistant deputy ministers (ADM): ADM Policy, ADM Finance, and ADM Materiel. They were roughly equivalent to ‘three-star’ generals. Selection for these positions was based upon experience and skill. They were burdensome and wide-ranging responsibilities for which the four incumbents were well paid.

The Liberals assumed the reins of government from the Conservatives in late 1993 and produced a Defence White Paper a year later. They promised to reduce the civil service workforce from 32,500 in 1994 to 20,000 by 1999. The government met its scheduled reduction of the civilian workforce well before the target date. This caused a noticeable drop in civilian output, flexibility and morale across DND.

It also resulted in more contracting out of essential services, once provided by public servants, under the euphemism ‘Alternate Service Delivery (ASD)’. Recent Auditor General reports note that ASD often generates increased cost. More than a few CF members and DND civilians would argue that it has also resulted in reduced levels of accountability and responsiveness.

What impact has this workforce reduction had upon the highest levels of civilian management within DND? Has it also shrunk? Nope. Instead, it has more than doubled. In addition to the DM and ADMs for Policy, Finance and Materiel, DND has now an Associate DM for a new Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness (OCIPEP). Its status falls between a DM and ADM. Moreover, the three existing ADM positions have been joined by five more: ADM Infrastructure and Environment, ADM Human Resources-Civilian, ADM Information Management, ADM Science and Technology, and ADM OCIPEP. Thus while the civilian workforce shrunk from 32,500 to 20,000, the top level of the civilian bureaucracy grew from four to 10.

The Military Bureaucrats: The Regular Force boasted 125 general and flag officers in 1989. Like their civil service counterparts, their selection was on qualifications and years of skilled, hard work. They led and managed 88,800 all ranks in the Regular CF.

Until 1991, there were nine ‘three’ and ‘four-star’ generals or admirals at the top of the CF hierarchy. One ‘four-star’ general, the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), stood at the summit of this pyramid. Just below him in NDHQ were three lieutenant-generals or vice-admirals: the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff (VCDS), the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (DCDS), and the Assistant Deputy Minister (Personnel), or ADM (Per).  Five more ‘three-star’ appointments performed their duties in the "real world" outside of NDHQ. The Commander Maritime Command was in Halifax, the Commander Air Command was located in Winnipeg, and the Commander Mobile Command was headquartered near Montreal. Two ‘three-star’ appointments served outside the country: the Canadian Military Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (CANMILREP NATO) in Brussels, and the Deputy Commander in Chief of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (DCINC NORAD) in Colorado Springs.

Below the one ‘four-star’ and the eight ‘three-star’ positions were over 100 ‘two-star’ (major general or rear admiral) and ‘one-star’ (brigadier general or commodore) appointments. A handful of them were specialist officers: doctors, chaplains, lawyers and dentists. A few others were not specialists per se, but their backgrounds as engineers or logisticians often confined them to jobs in their own fields. Most others were employed in command and senior staff jobs where their army, navy or air force backgrounds were required, or in the so-called "purple" jobs that sailors, soldiers or aviators could fill interchangeably.

Criticism at the time, some of it uninformed, was that there were too many generals to lead a dwindling Canadian military force. Someone decided to do something about it. Over the next decade, while the CF shrunk from 88,800 to less than 60,000 troops, the number of generals and flag officers shrank too. Today there are only 70 of them.

Did the top of the pyramid shrink along with the bottom? Not a chance. In fact there are now one ‘four-star’ and ten ‘three-star’ general or flag officers in the CF, for a gain of two. All but three are in NDHQ. The CDS, VCDS, DCDS and ADM (Per), now called ADM Human Resources-Military, have been joined by the three former commanders of commands, now transformed into staff officers as the Chief of the Maritime Staff (CMS), Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) and Chief of the Land Staff (CLS). The three outside Canada are CANMILREP NATO in Brussels, DCINC NORAD in the United States, and a Vice Admiral at Norfolk, Virginia (replaced by a three star Army officer this past summer), who serves as Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT), a NATO appointment. Until recently, a ‘two-star’ rear admiral filled this Canadian position. The tenth ‘three-star’, a vice admiral with a finance background, is over-ranked for the job in NDHQ so is now on "professional development." It is unclear what "professional development" a ‘three-star’ finance admiral could possibly require at this stage of his military career.

Equally interesting was that the downsizing process for generals reduced command positions in the field in favour of staff jobs in NDHQ. As noted above, the three commanders of commands are now chiefs of staff in Ottawa. In addition, the army’s four brigade groups commanded previously by brigadier generals, have been cut to three and are now commanded by colonels. In fact, of all the general/flag officers shown on the CF staff list, at least 45 are in Ottawa and 13 or more are outside the country. There are just 15 left to fill important command and staff jobs in the "real world" in Canada away from Ottawa. In effect, the general and flag officer jobs are increasingly located in the headquarters bureaucracy.

It would seem that the senior uniformed people have followed their civilian counterparts in protecting their rice bowls at the top end of the civilian - military pecking order. This raises the danger that some of those in ‘three’ and ‘four-star’ uniforms will increasingly think less like the warriors and leaders they are paid to be, and more like the civilian managers with whom they work. At the same time the number of troops serving in the vital operational and training jobs is shrinking along with the number of their visible general officer leaders.