UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE STRATEGIC BEACON IN THE FOG OF LEADERSHIP: A CASE STUDY OF EXECUTIVE MILITARY LEADERSHIP OF THE IRAQ SURVEY GROUP A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By ROY J. PANZARELLA Norman, Oklahoma 2006 i UMI Number: 3207186 Copyright 2006 by Panzarella, Roy J. All rights reserved. UMI Microform 3207186 Copyright 2006 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 STRATEGIC BEACON IN THE FOG OF LEADERSHIP: A CASE STUDY OF EXECUTIVE MILITARY LEADERSHIP OF THE IRAQ SURVEY GROUP A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE GRADUATE COLLEGE By ____________________________ Dr. Gary Copeland ____________________________ Dr. Jerry Weber ____________________________ Dr. H. Dan O’Hair ____________________________ Dr. Keith Gaddie ____________________________ Dr. Russell Lucas i © Copyright by ROY J. PANZARELLA 2006 All Rights Reserved i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the magnificent staff and faculty of the University of Oklahoma for their vision, dedication and hard work helping cohort members turn their dreams into realities. Special thanks to my dissertation committee, but especially the chair, Dr. Gary Copeland, for his professionalism, time, mentorship, friendship and encouragement. I would like to express my gratitude to American military members and their families for their bravery, selfless service and sacrifices at home and on foreign battlefields, principally the men and women from the interagency who served honorably in the Iraq Survey Group. I would like to convey heartfelt appreciation to those ISG members who gave their lives in the cause of freedom; especially Sergeants Baker, and Roukey, Sergeant First Class Wisdom and Specialist Clary. The people of this great country owe a large measure of gratitude to Keith Dayton, George Joulwan and all ethical, conscientiousness, and intelligent strategic leaders who need to keep leading and mentoring. I wish not only to acknowledge, but also to dedicate this dissertation to my family; to Ali, Ryan and Brennan for standing shoulder to shoulder with me for the past ten years. They were my inspiration. Finally, there are no appropriate words to express my profound love and deep admiration to my wife, best friend, and editor, Jody, for her hours of transcription, abundant silent sacrifices, full understanding, compassion, keen insightful nudges, and “gentle” encouragement and mostly for believing in me every millimeter of every step of the way. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS........................................................................................iv ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………….vi CHAPTER ONE Introduction………………………………………………………………………..3 Background……………………………………………………………………… 10 Spectrum of Conflict…………………………………………………………….. 10 Major General Dayton……………………………………………………………19 Iraq Survey Group………………………………………………………………...21 CHAPTER TWO Theoretical Backdrop……………………………………………………………..33 Trait Theory………………………………………………………………………33 Strategic and Executive Leadership………………………………………………48 Intelligence………………………………………………………………………..53 Integrity…………………………………………………………………………...64 Personality………………………………………………………………………...78 CHAPTER THREE Methodology………………………………………………………………………97 Core list questions………………………………………………………………....99 Observation protocol…………………………………………………………….. 100 Limitations of study………………………………………………………………102 Biographical sketches of interviewees……………………………………………107 Interview geography………………………………………………………………109 CHAPTER FOUR Analysis……………………………………………………………………………112 Intelligence………………………………………………………………………...112 Integrity……………………………………………………………………………128 Personality…………………………………………………………………………142 CHAPTER FIVE Conclusions………………………………………………………………………..167 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………….175 APPENDIX A – Official biography General Keith W. Dayton ………………….185 v ABSTRACT Even though the field of strategic leadership has transformed over the past quarter of a century, there is a significant shortage of serious studies. Using a qualitative investigation into strategic military leadership of the Iraq Survey Group whose mission was to determine the truth concerning the existence of Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), I argue that some specific leadership behaviors directly link successful strategic military leadership to classic leadership theories, especially the trait leadership theory. Framing the inquiry were three of the most prominent theoretical traits: intelligence, integrity and personality. Specifically, I argue that General Keith Dayton was a successful intelligent strategic military leader partially because of his extraordinary absorptive capacity and remarkable ability to retain and employ information. Additionally, I contend that Dayton was an effective strategic leader of integrity whose core values or behavior did not change despite the enormous pressure to find WMD and the weight of being responsible for the lives over a thousand women and men in a combat environment. Finally, I make a case that General Dayton was a successful strategic leader because of his unique personality. Evidence solidly supports theoretical linkages to three of the five personality traits: conscientiousness, openness to experience and emotional balance. Despite the discovery that General Dayton’s behavior did not support the classic theory for extraversion and agreeableness, he was nonetheless effective and efficient and therefore a successful strategic military leader. vi CHAPTER ONE This dissertation investigates strategic military leadership as it applies to an historical case study. The purpose of this dissertation is to determine the behaviors that contribute to strategic military leader effectiveness and efficiency using extant leadership theories, but primarily the classic trait theory. Framing this investigation are three of the most prominently investigated traits: intelligence, integrity and personality. Strategic military leadership is leadership that is conducted at a very senior level in all activities across the spectrum of conflict, which includes humanitarian relief operations on the low end to general nuclear release following a major conflict on the other end. Normally, senior general officers and civilians who lead very large organizations exercise strategic leadership in the military, but it may also include others such as two or three star generals or their civilian-equivalent depending on the mission. In non-military organizations strategic leadership is approximately equivalent to “executive leadership”. The case study being examined reviews the senior military leadership exercised over the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) in Baghdad, Iraq while searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction. The period reviewed of the case study is the year 2003 when the majority of the ISG’s work was conducted. The Iraq Survey Group’s senior leader was Major General Keith W. Dayton who is the principal subject of this study. Even though President George W. Bush designated Dr. David Kay as the senior civilian and special advisor to the ISG, Major General Dayton’s responsibility as the Director, ISG was to oversee the Group’s daily activities while coordinating frequently with the most senior 1 military and civilian officials in the Iraqi theater of operations, as well as in Washington, D.C. Key leadership factors or competencies will refine the scope of my investigation and will provide a framework for analysis. A multitude of researchers have conducted copious studies over the past century on individuals’ personal characteristics, making it clear that many traits are linked to leadership. A few of the traits that are consistently identified in these studies are intelligence, integrity, sociability, determination and self- confidence (Northouse, 2004). Specifically, this paper will investigate three of the traits and their sub-traits most often highlighted in research as directly related to leadership: intelligence, integrity and personality. This paper will follow the work of other researchers who combine sociability, determination and self-confidence as identified by Northouse into the larger category of personality. This research will rely on a qualitative methodology with semi-standardized interviews as the primary method of inquiry. This dissertation has several implications for the study of strategic military leadership. On a fundamental level it considers the impact of a senior military leader’s personal attributes on her or his mission and charter. Additionally, this paper should formulate some thoughtful observations about the efficacy of the trait theory while constructing some useful inroads to the study of strategic military leadership across the spectrum of conflict. The real contribution of this dissertation is the identification of specific leadership behaviors that directly link successful strategic military leadership to general leadership theories, especially the trait leadership theory. The theoretical structure of the paper is based on three of the most significant and studied theoretical traits: intelligence, integrity 2 and the five factors of personality. I argue that General Keith Dayton was a successful intelligent strategic military leader because of his unusual ability to absorb and process enormous amounts of information