is placed on the important subjects of
military strategy and tactics, unity of effort, the chain of
command, authority and responsibility, organization, mutual
understanding, loyalty, and indoctrination.

The Implementation of National Policy. Organized government exists for
the purpose of bringing into systematic union the individuals of a
State for the attainment of common ends. The primary national
objective (page 3) is the ensurance of envisaged prosperity and of
essential security for the social system which is the fundamental
basis of the community. Whatever the form of government, the power and
authority of the State are vested in an individual, or in a grouping
of individuals, whose voice is the voice of the State. In the
prosecution of the chief aim of organized government, the State
crystallizes the many conflicting desires and views of its people into
policies, internal and external. Each policy is a method of procedure
for attaining one or more national objectives.

Internal policies are rendered effective by enforcement of the laws of
the State.

External policies, to become effective, require recognition by other
States, tacitly or by agreement. When there is conflict between the
policies of one State and those of another, peaceful means of
settlement are usually sought.

If peaceful (diplomatic) means fail to settle the point at issue, the
State abandons the policy in question, defers action to enforce it, or
adopts stronger measures. Such measures may take the form of
psychological, political, or economic pressure. They may even include
the threat to employ armed force before actually resorting to the
imposition of physical violence. During actual hostilities, also,
every means of pressure known to man, in addition to physical
violence, may be employed.

Whether the use of armed force to impose or to resist the imposition
of policy constitutes a legal state of war is a political question
which does not affect the tasks the armed forces may be called on to
perform. War, therefore, is to be understood herein as any condition
in which one State employs physical violence against another, or
against an organized part of itself which may be in rebellion.

By agreement among nations, effort has been made to discountenance
aggressive warfare. The distinction between aggression and
self-defense is, however, not a matter of agreement. War is still
employed as an instrument of national policy