The Georgia Department of Defense senior
leadership gathered in early January for a weekend of intense strategic
planning. The Strategic Management Board (SMB) is comprised of some 30
members including senior officers and enlisted leaders from the Army and
Air Guards and the State Defense Force.
While the group meets at least annually to project
the organization’s priorities for the next three-to-five years, this SMB
meeting was especially important. In his opening keynote address, Major
Gen. David Poythress, Georgia’s Adjutant General, outlined several major
changes and challenges facing the National Guard in the coming years,
including Army transformation, potential new missions and units in the
Air Guard, budget reductions, and force structure cuts across the board.
He also pointed out that recent BRAC announcements could have profound
impacts on the Georgia Guard and SDF.
Unique to this year’s Strategic Management Board
meeting was an afternoon of hearing directly from representatives of the
Georgia DOD’s customers including National Guard Bureau Air
representatives, First U.S. Army, Georgia Emergency Management Agency
and veterans organizations. Armed with a weekend’s worth of establishing
priorities, as well as input from the organization’s customers,
workgroups from each of the major components will spend the next several
months revising the Georgia DOD’s strategic plan for the coming years.
