The counterfactual needs a senior officer who could protect an unobtrusive reserve program across several years. Beatty is rejected as effective at short-term politics but poorly suited to the long game, while promising younger officers lacked the institutional weight to act. Roger Keyes is considered, and Jellicoe has the necessary seniority, but Jellicoe is judged too straightforward for a scheme involving concealment. Reginald Tyrwhitt is chosen as the sponsor willing to do what the plan required, making personnel and career timing part of the mobilization problem.
Notable Point · 3:38-4:46
Why Reginald Tyrwhitt fits the scheme
The exercise selects Reginald Tyrwhitt as a politically durable and sufficiently devious sponsor after rejecting Beatty's short-term style and Jellicoe's honesty.