Combatant Commands
Combatant Commands

Author: Cynthia A. Watson

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2010-12-16

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0313354332

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A one-stop resource for information about U.S. military commands and their organizations, this book describes the six geographic combat commands and analyzes their contributions to national security. The first book on the topic, Combatant Commands: Origins, Structure, and Engagements is a unique introduction to the geographic commands that are now at the heart of the U.S. military deployment abroad. The book begins with a description of the six commands—Northern Command, Pacific Command, Central Command, Southern Command, European Command, and Africa Command—explaining how they fit into the current national security establishment. Each command is discussed in depth, including areas of responsibility, subcommands, priorities, threats faced, and engagement institutions. The history of joint combatant commands is outlined as well, particularly the impact of the Root Reforms of the early 20th century, the push for the 1947 National Security Act, and the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Military Reform Act. In this way, the evolution of combatant commands becomes a window through which to view changes in the U.S. military. Geographic combatant commands are vital to national security. By understanding how they work, readers will better understand where our military is today and where it may be headed.

Dealing with Korea
Dealing with Korea

Author: Craig R. Firth

Publisher:

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 58

ISBN-13:

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A combination of crises and hardships currently threatens the North Korean regime with collapse. Accompanying this threat, however, is the opportunity to gently draw North Korea into wider engagement with the international community. Halting progress toward peaceful reunification has been achieved, but more effort from external sources is necessary to accelerate the process. Among official U.S. agencies, only the military currently possesses the ability to subtly enhance the engagement process on the peninsula without any major concessions on its part. The author summarizes the geopolitical history of the peninsula, and addresses the issues confronting North Korea. He then proposes a model with which the U.S. military could bolster North Korean confidence in the possibility of reduced tensions on the peninsula without compromising its own security or readiness in any way. He bases the model on the precedent set by NATO during the decline of the Soviet Union. Aware that discussions of troop reductions, arms reductions, and the like are beyond the exclusive purview of the military, the author recommends modification to the schedule and scope of joint/combined exercises as the appropriate tool to influence the security environment in a subtle, yet, to North Korea, highly symbolic and significant manner.

Evolution of United States Central Command from Operational to Strategic Headquarters
Evolution of United States Central Command from Operational to Strategic Headquarters

Author: David A. Dawson (student.)

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13:

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Geographic combatant commands are intended to function as a bridge between the operational and strategic level commands. However, a combination of doctrinal, organizational, and cultural factors often lead combatant commands to focus on the operational level. Doctrinally and organizationally, reliance on functional component commanders forces the combatant commander to assume an operational role. Culturally, the desire to 'get into the fight' draws the commander and staff into a focus on current operations. This proved to be the case during the first twenty years of U.S. Central Command. The operational focus of the CENTCOM headquarters did not present serious problems as long as operations were relatively short, as in DESERT STORM, or routine, as in SOUTHERN WATCH. But by late 2003 the demands of sustained combat operations across the CENTCOM AOR required the Commander of USCENTCOM to reorganize command relationships in order to regain his strategic focus, creating JTFs for both Iraq and Afghanistan to focus on operations in those countries. Current doctrine needs only minor revision, but when contingencies occur, combatant commanders should quickly establish JTFs to handle major operations.