Command Responsibility: Holding Senior Leaders to Account - MAJGEN Chris Smith

‘[W]hat we're trying to do is restore what has been a loss of trust for a number of reasons over the recent decade or so between generals and rank and file to be frank ...’

In this week’s episode, CAPT Todd Lempa sits down with Major General Chris Smith, the Deputy Chief of the Australian Army, to discuss command responsibility and the uncomfortable question of how armies — including our own — hold senior leaders to account. Building on his earlier episode on Warrior Culture, MAJGEN Smith reflects on the Australian Army’s struggle, common across many militaries, to recognise and act on professional failure or a lack of success at senior levels. Drawing inspiration from Thomas Ricks’ The Generals, he explores how accountability in command has eroded over time and what that means for trust and confidence in the profession of arms.

We examine the 2012 Camp Bastion attack in Helmand Province, where Taliban fighters infiltrated the perimeter, killing two US Marines, wounding several others, and destroying or damaging eight USMC AV-8B Harrier aircraft — one of the most significant single-day losses of American airpower since Vietnam. The breach occurred after elements of the UK-led security force thinned out perimeter manning to support operations elsewhere. While no British officers were held to account, the United States Marine Corps relieved two generals of command following the attack. MAJGEN Smith uses this event to frame a discussion on vicarious responsibility, arguing that senior leaders sometimes need to step aside — not because of personal culpability, but to restore trust and confidence in their institution.

He acknowledges that the Brereton Inquiry put a lot of attention on the NCOs and troops, but that no senior leaders were held to account. In his view, this reveals a broader failure to uphold the principles of command responsibility that underpin the trust soldiers place in their leaders. Across the episode, MAJGEN Smith challenges senior leaders to confront a hard truth: that leadership accountability cannot stop at the tactical level if the profession is to maintain legitimacy, trust, and moral authority.

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