A word from the chairman.

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

--Abraham Lincoln

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the foremost professional military journal in the world dedicated to joint warfighting. General Colin Powell inaugurated Joint Force Quarterly in 1993 in response to profound change in the national security environment. He encouraged its readers to think in innovative ways and contribute provocative ideas.

My predecessors nurtured JFQ to spur debate. Although the collapse of the Berlin Wall provided a tremendous impetus for change, the journal has emerged as a forum for examining critical ideas on joint warfighting in the last decade. Debates over the maturation of jointness have been prompted by the experience of Desert Storm, Provide Comfort, Deliberate Force, Restore Hope, Allied Force, Southern Watch, Northern Watch, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom. These operations have also informed the discussion of the revolution in military affairs and myriad ways to transform the Armed Forces to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Those contributors who rose to the occasion and shared their ideas in the pages of JFQ illustrated the wisdom of Lincoln's dictum on dogma. They demonstrated the potentiality of creative thinking. The journal has been instrumental in stimulating new ideas among military professionals and defense analysts.

In fighting the global war on terrorism, joint warfighting remains as important as ever. Both U.S. and allied servicemen and women are not just debating the best means to conduct joint operations--they are living them each day in far-flung corners of the world.

Joint warfighting is now the baseline of how we conduct business. Coordination with other Federal agencies, allied governments and militaries, and nongovernmental organizations is here to stay. But the field remains open for discussing national security policy, operational strategy, military integration, and other issues as well as joint matters.

Although younger men and women in uniform have become accustomed to operating in a joint environment, we cannot afford to fall into the trap of treating out current way of fighting as dogma. Joint warfighting and doctrine are constantly changing. The transformation of the Armed Forces requires hard thinking. We must continually reevaluate our progress and challenge every notion we feel comfortable with. Comfort leads to complacency, which we cannot afford. The threat to the Nation and out liberties is real. Spirited debate should never stop as we continue striving for excellence.

Military transformation is largely an intellectual process--and the pen is a forceful way of breathing life into that process. I urge you to continue to use JFQ as a forum to challenge conventional thinking and develop future strategies and concepts for joint warfighting.

Enjoy reading the selection of articles published over the last decade that are reprinted in this 10th anniversary issue. I congratulate the contributors and the editorial staff for making the journal an influential venue for exchanging ideas on jointness. And I thank the many hands that helped it reach this milestone. But it is not the time to rest on our laurels. I urge readers and contributors alike to keep those great ideas flowing into JFQ--let's continue to actively debate those ideas essential to fighting and winning America's wars.

Let me iterate that challenge which General Power provocatively stated in the inaugural issue of the journal: "Read JFQ. Study it. Mark it up--underline and write in the margins. Get mad. Then contribute your own views. We want to hear from you. We need to hear from you. For it is only you and your buddies who can make JFQ one of the most thoroughly read and influential journals in our profession."

RICHARD B. MYERS

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff