The Impact of Sept. 11, 2001,
on the Unified Command Plan

 
On April 17, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers unveiled the long-anticipated changes to the Pentagon's Unified Command Plan (UCP). ¹   The new UCP, which becomes effective Oct. 1, 2002, increases to 10 the number of combatant geographical and functional commands through which the U.S. military chain-of-command runs. ²   This April's changes now mean that the number of geographical "proconsuls" (as the Washington Post called the regional commanders in chief) equals the number of functional commanders.

The changes are the most significant since 1983, when the United States Central Command was carved out of the European and Pacific commands to provide a clearer focus on the Middle East and Gulf region. ³  

The centerpiece of the reorganization is the creation of a Northern Command (NORCOM) whose mission is "defending the United States and supporting the full range of military assistance to civil authorities." ⁴   While this mission statement clearly reflects the influence of Sept. 11 on the UCP, it does not add any new missions for the Pentagon. As Myers noted, "the changes...merely consolidate existing homeland security duties now spread across several commands under one high-ranking general to coordinate the response." ⁵  

While the Northern Command is the centerpiece of the UCP changes, other commands have also seen modification. In addition to assuming responsibility for most of the North Atlantic, European Command (EUCOM) also will oversee events and security relationships with Russia and the Caspian Sea region. During the Cold War, the former Soviet Union was monitored directly by the Pentagon's Joint Staff. EUCOM will continue to monitor most of Africa.

Pacific Command (PACOM) will work with EUCOM on matters involving Russia's Far East Military District. Under the revised UCP, PACOM will also include Antarctica within its area of responsibility (AOR), the first time this continent has be identified in the UCP. (While the United States is a state party to the treaty that forbids militarization of Antarctica, most scientific, resupply, and rescue missions involving Antarctica begin from New Zealand, which is within PACOM's AOR.)

Central Command's area of responsibility remains unchanged after its recent expansion to include Pakistan and Afghanistan. Southern Command's area is modified slightly by the transfer of some areas in the Caribbean to NORCOM.

Some key issues remain undetermined at this time. With respect to responses to terrorism, details of the relationship between NORCOM and the Office of Homeland Security, headed by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, need to be worked out. While the military chain-of-command (president-secretary of defense-combatant command commanders) is unchanged, the exact point at which Ridge interfaces with the Defense Department is unclear as Ridge is part of the White House and not the head of a co-equal Cabinet-level department.

Finally, a determination will have to be made about Joint Forces Command's priority for using continental U.S.-, or CONUS-, based forces to test new doctrine, tactics, and equipment developed as part of the transformation effort. That is, at what national alert level (the five-color codes developed by the Office of Homeland Security) will CONUS forces stand down from supporting transformation activities to be ready to respond to potential terrorist incidents?

From http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2002/020417-D-6570-003.jpg
Click on map to scroll through larger version.

 
End Notes:

¹  The Unified Command Plan is a pivotal document in that it establishes and missions of all combatant command commanders and delineates the geographical areas of responsibility for the regional commanders in chief.

²  The five geographical commands are European Command, Pacific Command, Southern Command, Central Command, and Northern Command. These now account for all land and sea bodies in the world. The five functional commands are Space Command, Strategic Command, Transportation Command, Special Operations Command, and Joint Forces Command (which used to be Atlantic Command). A yet to be completed study is examining the possibility of merging Space and Strategic commands.

³  Special Operations Command was formally created in April, 1987, but it did not affect the boundaries of the then existing geographical commands.

⁴  Special Operations Command was formally created in April, 1987, but it did not affect the boundaries of the then existing geographical commands.

⁵  See Department of Defense News Transcript for April 17, 2002, "Special Briefing on the Unified Command Plan."

 

By Colonel Daniel Smith, USA (Ret.) CDI Chief of Research dsmith@cdi.org

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