Reprising the Powell Doctrine

Reprising the Powell Doctrine

While a brigadier general and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger’s military assistant, Colin Powell began to formulate a set of questions civilian leaders should ask themselves before committing to the use of military force.  What became known first as the Weinberger doctrine and later, when he became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as the Powell doctrine emerged from disputes within the Reagan Administration over the disastrous end o…