Nerdfest

Today is day 5 of a 6-day Interagency (Army, Air Force, State Department, USAID, and US Dept of Agriculture) Strategic Planning workshop. I'm in heaven.

We're talking measures of effectiveness (outcomes, not outputs!), de-conflicting multiple plans (for example, ISAF vs. ANDF) , developing 1, 3, and 5 year projected end-states, synchronization matrices- great stuff!

In all honesty, one of the most heartbreaking things about my tour in Iraq a few years ago was the shocking lack of vision, lack of a plan, lack of a clear understanding of what we were doing and why. Blood was spilled and treasure was wasted in vain.

This experience, this nerdfest I'm in now, is encouraging. Granted, half the eyeballs in this room are glazed over, but this is important work. What are the root causes of instability in Afghanistan? How, given limited resources, will we tackle those drivers? How will we know whether we're succeeding? How do we make sure all US agencies are pulling together? This room doesn't have all the answers, but to board that plane to Afghanistan without asking the questions would be criminal.