We need to encourage all officers to engage more directly in the generation of expert knowledge, and remove barriers to doing so based on rank or position.

I have never forgotten this incident.

I was a junior field-grade officer, and my boss — a senior flag officer — wanted to write an article but did not have the time to do it himself. He asked me to write something and gave me some ideas. I did some research and wrote the piece. My boss approved the finished product and said my name should appear on the by-line because of my contributions to the work. I submitted the co-authored article to the desired publication. The next day, the editor contacted me and asked that I remove my name; the editor felt that brand-name flag officers would never co-author works with someone so junior. The editor was concerned that readers would skip the piece. This was my first introduction to intellectual property in the Army. The editor’s advice stung, but I accepted it because the organizational culture dictated that everything in the organization was owned by the leader.