mission creep

mission creep

The gradual expansion or widening in scope of a project, action, or task, especially a military operation, beyond its initial goal or objective. Congress is wary of granting the president's request for military authority in the region, fearing a repeat of the mission creep that plagued his last war effort.
See also: creep, mission
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • a means to an end
  • means to an end
  • afield
  • far afield
  • far/farther/further afield
  • scope out
  • scope someone out
  • ultra vires
  • bloody nose attack
  • bloody nose strike
References in periodicals archive
If true, if this is mission creep in action, it would hardly be a surprise.
The problem with this new mission creep is that the desperate souls have lost the war and they will not return to the good old days when their terror proxies were roaming free across Iraq and Syria.
And this would be mission creep on a much bigger scale.
So the mission creep extends to questions about the ability of the Tees Valley to educate its children and supply the skilled workforce, without which this transformation will be threatened.
"ICBA and the nation's community bankers remain deeply concerned with the tax-exempt credit union industry's continued mission creep, which has been led by a regulatory agency that has repeatedly shown itself to be captive to the industry it is charged with regulating.
No10 denied the extra troops were a sign of mission creep. It was in line with UK policy in tackling "the evil that is ISIS".
Many are worried about mission creep; indeed, the SOR imbued with commando ethos would like nothing more than to engage ISIS.
Moustafaev presents students, academics, and professionals working in a wide variety of contexts with an examination of the elicitation, documentation, and management requirements of controlling mission creep in project management.
Key said New Zealand's military personnel would fulfill a non- combat, "behind-the-wire" mission to train Iraqi Security Forces, but opponents have said there would be no safeguards against " mission creep" into combat roles, while claiming forces loyal to the Iraqi government had also committed atrocities.
Asked about concerns of mission creep, he replied: "This is a very limited mission.
military involvement in the Middle East -- given that the American people are war-weary and this action has not been debate or authorized by Congress." Spokesman James Lewis said that from the start Lee "has been gravely concerned with mission creep and risks to American servicemen and women."--AFP
We have been here too many times to think otherwise and the talk of mission creep, boots on the ground and all the rest only stirs up recent memories of our terrible mis–steps and mistakes in the Gulf.
Cameron faced persistent and tough questioning from lawmakers about the campaign's objectives, the risk of mission creep and the readiness of Iraqi forces to take advantage of airstrikes.
As with any wholly successful program, the addition of minor secondary tasks results in divergence from the system's original purpose--a phenomenon dubbed "mission creep." The most prevalent example of this mission creep for the DSP was creation of the attack and launch early reporting to theater (ALERT) during Operation Desert Storm.
The study, by the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, also cited concerns in the higher education community about mission creep at two-year schools and the potential for creating unproductive competition between universities and colleges.