end of more on US Military cognitive dissonance hits a new low

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Gene Spafford <spaf () cerias purdue edu>
Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2002 14:28:11 -0500
To: dave () farber net
Subject: RE: <[IP]> more on US Military cognitive dissonance hits a new low

The following is based on listening to repeated explanations of how
this works, plus some comments from one of my students who is
active-duty AF. I *think* I have it mostly right. :-) Some of it
expands on Steve Crocker's comments, plus one or two small
corrections. (If anyone sees something wrong, I'd appreciate hearing
about it.)


The military is matrixed as noted by Steve. "Rows" are the force
providers, and the "columns" are the force deployers. The providers
are as Steve noted, the services. These include the secretaries of
the services, down through the chiefs, to the groups doing
development, acquisition, recruiting, training, etc. Joint Forces
Command has a role in this, too, in doing some development and
training of groups to work together across service boundaries, but
the principal providers are the specific services.

The force deployers are the joint commands (unified combatant
commands, or UCC). Each is headed by an O-10 (4-star officer).
[Aside: If Congress were to award a 5th star to a general of the
army, air force general or navy admiral, I assume that person could
also be a joint commander; in practice, he or she would have to be
one to earn the extra star. These are only given by Congress for
exceptional service in times of war. No 5th star is available for
officers of the Marines or Coast Guard.]

There are four basic forms of command relationships--combatant
commander (COCOM), operational control (OPCOM), tactical command
(TACOM), and support (logistics), and a related authority:
administrative control (ADCON).

The <[CO,OP,TA]>COMs + support represent "warfighting" authority that
flows from the President, through the SECDEF, to the Commanders in
Chief (CINCs) of the Unified Commands. The CINC will assign various
forces OPCON, TACON, or in support of the commander of the joint task
force (CJTF) -- a group in a particular military role within a
Unified Command. This authority is then delegated down to subordinate
commanders as appropriate. COCOM is non-transferable (by US Code
Title 10), is exercised only by the CINCs, and cannot be delegated
(unless directed otherwise by the President).

ADCON is the service's "Organize, Train, and Equip" mission (and is
THE peacetime mission for the services). ADCON flows from the SECDEF
through the service secretaries, the Chiefs of Staff, and into the
service specific organizational structure.

Note that commanders throughout the service structures can and often
do wear multiple hats. For example, if an AF Wing is assigned to a
JTF, the wing CC (commander) will still be the wing CC and
responsible for ADCON, while at the same time he or she may also have
OPCON over their own and other forces. The key is that they always
fight under the direction of a CINC or CJTF.

Joint UCC commanders are approved by Congress for their positions.
They have authority under Title 10 and Title 50 of the US Code to
actually deploy forces. That is, they could direct weapons to be
fired without direct Presidential order, although this would be
highly unlikely given current communications capabilities. Thus, they
are carefully considered by both civilian and military review panels
before being nominated, and then confirmed after hearings in
Congress. One of these positions is considered a terminal position.
After peacetime service for several years (3?), the officer retires
at rank. (The same is true after service as Chief of the Joint
Chiefs.) All of these officers get a 4th star when appointed, if they
didn't have one already. Some members of the JCS may move on to
become a UCC CINC: example is AF Gen Ralston who went from being
Deputy Chief of Staff of JCS to being the CINC of EUCOM.

Currently, this group of 9 UCC CINCs is composed of 3 admirals, 4 AF
generals, and 2 Army generals.

Command staff is multi-service, too. The idea is that the services
must work together so they are required to staff together, too. Thus,
you have (potentially) Army personnel taking commands from admirals,
and Marines telling the Air Force where to fly. Someone cannot become
a UCC commander unless he/she has served in a unified command
position (e.g., staff or unit command.) In fact, one cannot become a
flag officer (O-7 to O-10: brigadier general/read admiral,lower half
thru general/admiral; 1-4 stars) without having served in a joint
billet.

The Joint Chiefs provide logistics and planning for the military, but
are not in a combat command role. Orders for combat flow from the
President, through the Secretary of Defense and through the Chairman
of the JCS to the UCC commander. The JCS provides any of the
resources necessary for those commands to be executed by the
responsible joint forces commander. However, the JCS does not develop
battle plans or issue general orders. The battle plans are done by
the staff of the commander (as one would expect) and the orders come
from the civilian chain of command (the National Command Authority)
to the joint commander.

To quote from a Defenselink page:
> OPERATIONAL CONTROL of the U.S. combat forces is assigned to the
> nation's Unified Combatant Commands. The chain of command runs from
> the President to the Secretary of Defense to the Unified Commanders.
> Orders and other communications from the President or Secretary are
> transmitted through the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A
> Unified Combatant Command is composed of forces from two or more
> services, has a broad and continuing mission and is normally
> organized on a geographical basis. The number of unified combatant
> commands is not fixed by law or regulation and may vary from time to
> time.

There are many "dual-hat" commands, where someone is a commander of a
service entity, but may also be in the chain of command for a joint
command. There are also dual-hat positions based on joint defense
commands, e.g., NORAD with Canada, NATO with various other countries,
etc.

UCC commands are:
PACOM (Asia-Pacific region command. Headquarter in Honolulu)
EUCOM (Europe, Africa and Russia. Headquarters in Stuttgart-Vaihingen,
Germany)
CENTCOM (Middle-East,  NE Africa and the "Stans."  HQ at MacDill AFB
in Tampa, FL)
SOUTHCOM (Central and South America.  HQ in Miami)
NORTHCOM (North America: Canada, Mexico, some Caribbean and USA. HQ
at Peterson AFB)
SOCOM (Special Operations forces; e.g., Delta Force, SEALS, etc.  HQ
at MacDill AFB)
JFCOM (force transformation and joint readiness.  HQ in Norfolk, VA)
TRANSCOM (all logistics and transportation. HQ at Scott AFB in IL)
STRATCOM (space defense, strategic nuclear weapons. HQ at Offutt AFB, NE)

Forces not deployed to one of the other commands, a defense agency
(e.g., NSA), or a reserve component are under the Joint Forces
Command. SPACECOM used to be a separate command, and included all the
computer network attack and defense responsibility; it was merged
into STRATCOM on October 1.

Note: The Coast Guard is not a military agency. They are a uniformed
Federal law enforcement agency, soon to be under the DHS. In times of
war, units can be assigned to the Navy and become military.

Note: The National Guard is not a Federal military agency. They are
state agencies, reporting to the governor of each state via an
adjutant general. In times of national need, they are transferred to
a military agency and become a Federal force. When working
domestically (natural disaster, guarding airports, riots) they are a
civilian agency using some Federal resources. This is covered under
state law, and (I think) US Code title 32. When transferred to
Federal service, they become a Title 10 force.

The military services are actually made up of two components, the
active duty forces, and the Guard and Reserve. A great deal of the
total strength of the US military, both in terms of personnel and
equipment, lies in the Guard and Reserve (perhaps as much as half).
The Reserve continues to be a Federal unit.

Note: There are over a dozen other defense agencies that report to
the Secretary of Defense and/or the National Security Council. These
include the CIA, NSA, NIMA, etc. Some are headed by military officers
(usually 0-9/3-star).

Note: There is a legal limit on the number of officers that may hold
ranks at the level of O-4 and above (Major/Navy Lieutenant
Commander). These numbers are expressed as a percentage of
active-duty personnel. Because of these limits, the services can be
very selective about who gets promoted, and generally only the better
and most experienced make the highest grades. We don't see cases of
people being promoted simply because of length of loyal service.


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