The bad blood between the Drian and military leaders

Minister of Defense wants to return to the decrees defining the role of Chief of Defence Staff. It gets stuck very seriously ...

For Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, appointed on 16 May 2012, it is already the end of the state of grace. Large tensions have arisen with the military hierarchy. While the White Paper promises hangovers that quickly confirm the Finance Act 2014 and the future military planning law, governance ministry is at stake, and a large program of structural reforms.

In the spirit of socialist currently defining future defense policy, which are most often members of the Civil Cabinet of the Minister supported by a number of CGA (Controller General of the Army), the situation can be summarized simply: reforms conducted under Nicolas Sarkozy to strengthen the role and function of the Chief of Staff (ECS) have resulted in a form of empowerment of the first French military. Admiral Edouard Guillaud, Chief of Defence Staff, is not a personal attack, but the exercise of its function defined by Decree 2005 ( Decree No. 2005-520 of 21 May 2005) and 2009 ( Decree 2009-869 of 15 July 2009) is called into question: "The CEMA sees himself as an innkeeper who" would host "the minister within its walls, one hears at Le Drian. It is not our design." Decree of 2009 states, for example the following: "Under the authority of the Minister of Defence, Chief of Defence Staff is responsible: 1. Joint organization and the general organization of the armies; 2. an expression of the need human resources civilian and military forces and joint organizations. participates in the definition of the human resources policy of the Ministry. Among the joint forces and organizations, is responsible for implementation of this policy of military and moral. " But it is now clear that, on these points, the Drian and his men want to take your hand. And not on the details ...

"Restoring the primacy of politics"

This fact is explicitly stated in a letter to Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, dated September 21. The Drian affirms its intention to "restore this ministry the primacy of politics." We did not know it would have been challenged by one French military since the coup of April 1961, but at Le Drian, we think otherwise ...More specifically, said the minister, "it is now essential that the effort focuses mainly on operational units, to the detriment, more importantly, their effectiveness. (...) The work undertaken must lead to focus as much as possible the central government in the role of design, animation, guidance, monitoring and evaluation. " The eyes of the political power it back on the daily management of the armed forces, their operations and their men. And should actually leave the hands of CEMA to join those of SGA (Secretary General for Administration of the Ministry of Defence), currently the Comptroller General of the armies Jean-Paul Bodin.

Remove the management of human resources at CEMA

CEMA's mission is particularly affected by this takeover: the human resources. Never say a word about any designer's responsibilities calamitous payment software balances, the system Louvois, we want to believe in the entourage of the Minister of Defence that these failures "reflect a major managerial deficit related to Decree 2009 . It is the source of this gigantic mess. " It is assumed that in the Drian on this point of human resources, "we are in a small balance of power. Carry we want all the responsibility entrusted by the President of the Republic." But the Staff (EMA) is a whole different story. "If the ECS can not abandon the human resources function is that it gives orders that lead to death. It's as simple as that, says an officer. The year 2011 was particularly hot at the operational level would not have been possible without the decree of 2009. "

The reform desired by Drian

Desired by the Drian, driving with an ax by his chief of staff Cédric Lewandowski, the reform is carried out by a handful of inspectors general. In a report submitted to the Minister in October, the former Director of Human Resources Department, CGA Jacques Roudière abounds in the direction of policy in writing that the hierarchical operation of armies ill-suited to the need to introduce a relationship "functional" sitting on contracts between the various actors: "the functional relationship Ministry of Defence suffers in comparison with the hierarchical mode considered the only effective (...) One credo is recognized: a leader, a mission, resources, and alternative a manager, a contract, performance is not convincing. The contract, yet so strong in other organizations, is struggling to supplant the exercise of hierarchical power. " In a word, the gap is ...

The group CL32

The policy aims to convince the military leaders of the relevance of its choice. Discussions are taking place within a particular ad hoc group, the CL 32, led by the Deputy Chief of Staff civilian and military, Jean-Michel Palagos. It happens to be, as it should be, the Comptroller General of the armies, and studied the possible withdrawal of CEMA skills in human resources, finance, and international relations. On this last point, the EMA does not fight very vigorously. On the hard point (human resources), three options are under consideration. The first is simply the total transfer of this power to the Human Resources Directorate of the Ministry of Defence, Civil structure specialized Secretariat General for Administration (SGA). Second option: maintaining military management by the EMA, but the withdrawal of civilian defense. Third option: the definition of objectives by the SGA and the transfer of skills to local staffs.

"Some guys to presume guilty, dirty hands"

But just as the Chief of Staff is sometimes accused of "militarism", his deputy Palagos does not unanimous. Evidenced by this email, we received a copy sent by a contributor military Jean-Yves Le Drian to one of his superiors. It has all the air of a distress call, we deliver verbatim "in its own juice": "I'm a little worried. It begins to be advocated by the cab [Deputy Director Ed] that 'there are reliable military, those who do not carry weapons inspectors general, engineers or sub weapons, etc.. unreliable And those who bear arms, that  Mahé , Carcassonne and Uzbeen caught on, guys to presume guilty, dirty hands. recently I was criticized for having blood on their hands as part of the operation. Governance Department May it should not belong to murderers or suspected, but soldiers with clean hands. killed We order that made ​​sense, our minds are pure and light. ever we do not accept what they want to spend for crimes. Our shoulders will not bear the responsibilities ever makers policies. We must battle against it to our subordinates. Tomorrow should not put them in jail for having obeyed. Respectfully. "

The Drian, wake up! They became fools ...