Interview with CDS Gen. Hillier in Vanguard magazine

The general adheres to Auftragstaktik: good on him. Some brief excerpts, whole thing worth reading (as is the magazine as a whole, check it out):

...
I draw our transformation as a four-stage rocket. The first part we concentrated on was force employment: Canada Command and CEFCOM. That’s where I felt we needed the most change. Guiding this are the CDS’s principles: a Canadian Forces focus, operations primacy, command centric – commanders with the appropriate staff who then have responsibility, authority and accountability to accomplish their missions – and mission command: I want you to achieve this effect in Afghanistan, as opposed to here’s what I want you to do and how to do it [the author at the link seems to share some views with Gen. Hillier]. Lastly, we are an organization based upon civilians, regular force and reservists, and all three components play a part in what we do...

In the past, you’ve mentioned revolutionizing procurement: for the force you need and the complexity of missions, is it possible to create the kind of flexibility that can provide what you want when you want?

I think it is, but I don’t think we’re there yet. It is crucial to the success of the CF to move to something that is flexible and adaptable. We can help that with a strategic-level statement of requirements. No more 1600 pages of specifics; rather we need an aircraft that can deliver the following effect: range, weight, capacity, conditions. Second, we’ve got to take an appetite suppressant on “Canadianization.” [emphasis added] That’s hundreds of millions and it also extends the time line. Lastly, we’ve got to buy off-the-shelf whenever we can. Where we run into problems, and are still running into problems, is when we try to take an aircraft and match it up with, say, a developmental system of sensors. That causes delays and cost overruns.

We’ve also got to demand from the political side that, when those things are done, we don’t then take months and months to sort out industrial regional benefits or contract awarding [emphasis added]. Otherwise we’re into the same dynamic we’re in now...

More on IRBs here. I wonder if frustration over the issues in the two last paragraphs might also have contributed to Gen. Hillier's decision to step down as CDS.