Author: Dr Leonard Wong
The civil-military relationship, and specifically the interaction between civilian leadership and uniformed military leaders, relies on the attitudes and actions of both civilians and the military. Although recently there has been tension in the relationship between civilian leadership and the uniformed (and retired) military, there is currently no crisis in the civil control aspects of the civil-military relationship. Many options are available to uniformed military leaders to express dissent other than resigning in protest—although these options are rarely discussed in open fora. With an impending change in administration, care should be taken by the arriving civilian and incumbent military leaders to nurture the civil-military leadership.