Hillier's descent into Hell

The blogosphere's view of General Hillier, the new Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) has been generally positive: he's been doing and saying the right things since he took on the job. Not everyone is convinced, however. Here is a Globe and Mail report by Michael Nickerson on some concerns with Hillier's performance:

The Swiss Army knife is world renowned; a device with which to whittle wood, pop a cork, and make like MacGyver in a pinch. Every conceivable option is provided, depending on your price point and whether you want the bonus, handy cuticle trimmer. Yet, when push comes to shove, you'll probably want a sharp, straightforward blade that's easy to reach and doesn't require six steps to implement. Simplicity always wins the day.

General Rick Hillier, Canada's chief of defence staff, not only should know this, given his field experience, but I suspect does know this. This reality makes his recent media tour, a politically considered attempt to sell his military vision, all the more perplexing.

Essentially, it appears that Gen. Hillier wants a knife that will do everything for a buck-ninety-nine. And that just might be the sort of pocket change he ends up with in the defence budget.

Nickerson also points out the big weakness in Hillier's current line of argument:

The biggest problem with the magical Hillier salesmanship tour is that the General assumes his line of credit will never be cut off. As many have pointed out, while casting a cynical eye upon the Liberal plan for national defence, only a tenth of the promised $12.8-billion in defence funds will see its way into the department's coffers in the first two years, and that assumes the Liberals will last long enough in Parliament to write the cheque. As Gen. Hillier has already noted, the first order of business is patching holes and purchasing such basics as ammunition, and at the rate Cormorant tail rotors are failing, patching holes may be all Gen. Hillier can do for the foreseeable future.

Given all of that, it's an impossible situation that Hillier has found himself in: he must co-operate with the political process or find himself summarily dismissed. He must put the best possible interpretation on any positive signs — knowing that many (most? all?) of them are purely PR gestures with no real hope of being implemented. He has to do what he can to maintain the already fragile morale of the Forces, letting them know that he's really on their side, even if he has to do the politician's dirty work for them. I don't envy him that task.