Using the extended case method, informed by dynamic capability theory and data from fieldwork and documentation, I examine the relationship between deliberate and emergent planning in a defense agency that reoriented its task from being internationally focused toward a domestic presence during 2014-2017. I find that tensions arise over changes in the deliberate planning activities because of their interaction with emergent planning activities of a strategic initiative. A comparative analysis of sequences and time unveiled a mechanism of intention, tension, and interaction. I develop a process model of this mechanism that explains why an organizational reorientation can be reinforced despite complicated financials and contradictions in the strategic planning of organizational reorientations, adding “stewarding” as a novel aspect of managerial agency in dynamic capabilities.