Both the Republican and Democratic candidates for president have campaigns built on the need for change. What exactly do they mean? Aside from targeting lobbyists and special interests, neither candidate has spelled out the details of how to bring meaningful change to Washington. If Washington is as broken as Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain claim, one might conclude that all of our federal elected officials are part of the problem.

Accordingly, voters could help the next president immensely by eliminating every incumbent in the House and one-third of those in the Senate. With a nearly clean slate, the new president and Congress should be able to revitalize government operations. Such a scheme, however, has a serious flaw. It assumes people are the problem. Actually, they are captives of a system that prevents unifying themes and common goals from gaining momentum.

The real problem in Washington is process — the way things get done. Congressional committees kill, modify, add to or subtract from well-intentioned bills. Special-interest groups unduly influence our elected officials and manipulate opinion. Federal departments and agencies promote their own biases and pet projects rather than working as teams to accomplish well-defined goals. Presidents have obligations to contributors and political party backers. Under such influences, campaign promises barely survive the Inauguration as the process of give-and-take makes real change extremely problematic.

A simple solution exists, one that will take us off the political treadmill to nowhere and focus us on solving problems systematically. The next president and Congress must make one important process change in Washington: Develop and implement a National Strategic Plan similar to the strategic plans set by corporations. A corporate strategic plan includes goals specifically developed to meet the needs of the organization. The NSP will similarly contain integrated national goals addressing the important issues of our time — the economy, financial market regulation, energy, education, foreign policy, infrastructure and healthcare. Teams of specialists will develop these goals for approval and direct their accomplishment. Business, academia and citizen groups will participate as partners in building a better future for all Americans. Each goal will have specific objectives and tasks that dictate the necessary actions. There is no magic wand involved — just comprehensive planning, hard work and sustained focus.

The NSP will be an American plan, not the brainchild of a single political party. Most of the goals will be long-term, extending well beyond the terms of the president and congressional members who approve them. Since the national goals will become the law of the land, future executive and legislative branches must align behind them and fund, support and monitor their accomplishment. The strategic planning process will permit minor adjustments to existing goals and the addition of new ones based on the emergent needs of the nation. Had we used the NSP process after the oil embargo of 1973 and set a well-structured national goal to be independent of foreign oil in 30 to 40 years (a realistic goal then), just imagine how much better off we'd be today.

"We the people" must vote with our voices, contact our federal representatives and demand a process change in Washington — the change achievable through national strategic planning. The sooner we act the better. For example, true oil independence will now take most of this century to achieve — if we start now.

Real change in Washington is possible by forcefully applying national strategic planning. In the 1990s, our government attempted to reinvent itself by using strategic planning processes at the department and agency level. The approach failed because it ignored key strategic planning principles. Leadership also poorly supported the initiative. The stakes are even higher this time, so we must get it right. And once we have runtime with the national strategic planning process, we must add it to our Constitution to ensure it continues to serve the greater national good. We wouldn't want to find ourselves back on that same old treadmill.

Capt. Frank Camelio is retired from the U.S. Navy and served as commander of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard from 2004 to 2007. His book, "One Last Hope: Strategies to Prevent Imminent National Decline and Create a Better Future," explains how to institute national strategic planning and includes a sample national strategic plan. He wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.