WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- In a convocation at the U.S. National War College, Marine Gen. Peter Pace challenged students to improve governmental interagency cooperation.
Pace Wednesday spoke at his sixth convocation as vice chairman and chairman of the Joint Chiefs to the college's 244 students expected to graduate next year.
“As we look to the next 10, 20, 30 years of combating an enemy that is not going to confront us tank on tank, we’re going to need all the agencies of national power to be responsive inside the enemy’s loop,” Pace said in a statement. “We do not have a mechanism right now to make that happen.”
Pace referenced Goldwater-Nichols legislation, an act pushing joint knowledge and collaboration among the military services, as an example of how to reform the federal interagency process.
Pace urged the needs for a similar act to encourage all agencies of the U.S. government to cooperate and also called on the 31 international officers in the class to treat their classmates as friends.
"Friends are very direct with each other, and we appreciate your time,” Pace said. “We will most benefit from the time you spend with us by you being as direct with us as you can allow yourself to be.”
