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There Currently Is Disagreement over the Utility of Long-Term Strategic Planning

• Some senior leaders interviewed doubted their ability to predict and plan decades out in a concrete sense.
• Other senior leaders interviewed for this report worried that the Air Force's public documents have become too abstract and technology-focused, rather than concrete and strategic.
• Current and former planners tend to place a higher premium on strategic planning.

Historically, the Air Force Used Strategic Planning to Accomplish Four Key Tasks

• Justify resources to U.S. Congress and to the rest of U.S. Department of Defense
• Structure the force and explain the structure to the rest of the service.
• Define and shape the service's mission and even identity particularly at strategic pivot points.
• Create a dialogue about the direction of the service within the service and with Congress and other key constituencies.

The Most Successful Air Force Strategies Have Applied Five Basic Lessons

• Understanding the policy environment.
• Encouraging ideas from the bottom.
• Starting the strategy from the top.
• Keeping the message succinct, substantive, and sharp.
• Focusing on process as much as product.