Good work requires direction, support, timely feedback and discretion.

The discretion or elbow room people need is to not be totally tied to intelligence from people 10 or 500, or 8,000 miles away. As they say: when in doubt trust the terrain you see rather than someone's map or plan. Still direction support and feedback first are needed to make that work. and that needs to come from someone responsible for their actions, not some hired contractor or paid informant.

clipped from www.nytimes.com U.S. Is Reining In Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan Children related to five people, including three women, who died Feb. 12 in a night raid near Gardez in Paktia Province, Afghanistan, stood at their graves last week. KABUL, Afghanistan — Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top American commander in Afghanistan, has brought most American Special Operations forces under his direct control for the first time, out of concern over continued civilian casualties and disorganization among units in the field. “What happens is, sometimes at cross-purposes, you got one hand doing one thing and one hand doing the other, both trying to do the right thing but working without a good outcome,” General McChrystal said in an interview.