So little attention has been given to the concept of strategy by our militarists, our educatorrs, our mediacs, etc., that there is no succinct label for the absence of any strategy in a given situation. (Is this "S-word" a curse or obscenity?)

I've had to formulate one: astrategy. (The prefix "a-" indicates negation or absence.)

Walter Lippman warned 75 years ago that it is essential to "separate as absolutely as it is possible the staff which executes from the staff that investigates". In spite of 13 intelligence agencies, with combined budget of $30 billion+:

• the CIA failed to provide timely and relevant intelligence during th "Gulf War" of 1991 (so the Pnetagon took over guidance but would not allow the CIA to monitor a strategic arms control agreement -- the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty -- so Congress refused to renew it)
• World Trade Center, 1993
• Marine barracks in Saudi Arabia, 1996
• U. S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, 1998
• failure to monitor Indian nuclear tests, 1998
• bombing of Chinese embassy in Belgrade, 1999
• U.S. Cole, 2000

THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN RIDES THE LAND -- headless of STRATEGY. ASTRATEGY IS THE NAME OF THE GAME.