Officials advised to tone down 'joint' rhetoric.

• Position: Washington Pulse - Brief Article

Pentagon officials like to drone on about the "jointness" of every aspect of military operations. That thinking is also becoming pervasive in the development and procurement of weapon systems. The emphasis on "joint," however, has gone too far and may backfire, warns retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales Jr., former commandant of the Army War College.

"We all want to be joint," he tells a Navy conference. "But frankly, I'm getting so sick of the pleadings from the Joint Staff trying to make every piece of warfare joint." What's happening in Iraq, he said, is joint to some extent, "but it's...