Thin Pinstriped Line

The Civil Service is under fire again, with demands for it to change to reflect better the society it serves and be more flexible and business like. These demands are made regularly by all sorts of people and institutions, but are they fair, and what lessons could the British Armed Forces draw from the Civil Service? In the UK the Civil Service is a term used to, in broad terms, to refer to the people who work in the central government departments, such as the MOD, the FCDO, Health, Work & Pensions and so on. It can also refer to people who work in a variety of arms length bodies or smaller organisations, that have links to a major department. All the main Ministries have their administrative HQ’s in Whitehall, where they will house a raft of senior officials (the so-called Permanent Secretary) and Ministers. In general terms these Minsters will range in rank from relatively junior posts through to the Secretary of State, to whom the Department reports, and who is accountable f...

  There are media reports emerging that suggest that the Royal Navy may be considering paying off some of the Type 23 frigate force. Such a move, if reports are to be believed, could see the four oldest ships pay off in the near future as part of defence cuts in the Integrated Review. This has already led to concerns that the Royal Navy escort force could drop to just 15 escorts in the short term. Is this accurate, and should we be concerned about this, or is there more to this than meets the eye? Let’s be clear at the outset. Anyone who tells you that they know precisely what the Integrated Review will say is, without doubt lying. It is still several weeks away, and anyone involved in defence reviews can tell you that a week is a long time in Main Building politics. Right now, there is no point worrying about a decision that may, or may not, have been made. Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright A better question to ask is ‘why would the Royal Navy consider looking at...

  It is a quiet time for writing on defence matters, and there is relatively little to comment on that is new or newsworthy. While we await the publication of the Integrated Review next month, there will be some leakage of force cuts and final jockeying for position in the outcomes, but it does feel that, right now, there is relatively little of interest to comment on. One thing that did catch the authors eye the other day was the publication of an article on ‘ The Drive’ website about the US Navy’s floating command posts for WW3. It was an extremely useful article, exploring what role was played by the US Navy in contingency planning for WW3 and how certain ships would fulfil the role of a ‘Navy One’ style floating White House for the President (or successor). This article is fascinating as the subject of continuity of government planning is so bleak, and so complex and yet so little understood. Here in the UK, for example, we focus heavily on the existence of a network of bu...

  Reports in the media this week suggest that the British Army faces a possible reduction in headcount, from a nominal target of 82,000, down by about 10,000 soldiers to closer to 70,000 troops. This will be delivered by natural wastage, and not redundancies and the savings used to fund enhanced equipment for the force. The plans are already being attacked, with complaints focusing on the idea that this is too small to be credible as a force, and that in the eyes of the world, the UK will no longer have an effective army. Do these plans make sense, or do the numbers not add up? Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright The argument for a smaller army can be made relatively easily. Although during the Cold War the UK maintained a larger standing army, this was drawn initially a large pool of conscripts (until 196o), and then the maintenance of a large fixed force based in Germany primarily to deter Soviet attack. This was a force fixed in place with a known main threat, ...

Recent news reports have focused on the fact that members of the Royal Navy have been making use of various hosting sites to produce and sell explicit content online. This has raised concerns about the potential for blackmail, as well as the wider security risks that could be posed. There is perhaps a wider issue to consider here, which goes beyond the basic challenge of whether it is acceptable for members of the armed forces to produce and sell pornography online, to a wider question about how much control can the military have over a person’s private life? The British Armed Forces are rightly proud of their extremely high standards and expectations. They represent the core values of the nation, and expect people to meet them – issues that would not be considered an offence in civilian life can be considered a real challenge for the military – ranging from the minor (e.g. dress codes in messes) to the serious – e.g. offences that breach military law. While on duty, personnel a...

  The British Army is apparently under strength, and no less than 31 of the Army’s 32 Infantry Battalions do not have enough soldiers to ensure 100% ability to deploy. This is the summary of a story from the DailyMail today, which puts forward some grim numbers. It notes that there should be 14,984 infantry soldiers, but in reality, only 11,301 are ‘fully deployable’ and ready for operations. In total there are 13,346 fully trained infantry soldiers right now, a deficit of some 1600 troops. Questions are being asked as to why this shortfall exists, with the blame being laid at the door of Capita (from a recruiting perspective) as well as accommodation shortfalls and other issues. Is this a big issue, or is it something that is perhaps overstated, or even not that big a deal? Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright There seem to be two different sets of numbers to worry about here. The first number is the total number of ‘fully deployable’ soldiers. It is simply not rea...