28 Sep 99
1330-1530 (L)
"You should not have a favorite weapon. To become overfamiliar with one weapon is as much a fault as not knowing it sufficiently well.... It is bad for the commander...to have likes and dislikes."
Miyamoto Musashi 17th century Japanese Warrior, The Book of Five Rings
Overview:
This lesson deals with three dimensions of "jointness" prescribed in law: unified strategic direction; unified command and the integrated teamwork of ground, air and naval forces. It places these dimensions in the context of US civil-military relations and the role of the Armed Forces in formulating and carrying out national security strategy.
By law, Service forces are employed under joint force commanders. As Services, they no longer "fight"; they man, organize, equip, and train forces for joint force commanders to order into battle. This has fostered a growing joint organizational culture, one that does not replace, but overlays, permeates and sometimes competes with Service skills, attitudes, and organizational cultures. By its origins, nature, and composition the National War College is a centerpiece of joint culture, and an ideal place to establish the intellectual foundations and attitudes required to master joint warfare.
As addressed in Course 1, the President's strategy for meeting US security challenges is A National Security Strategy for a New Century, the basis of unified strategic direction. In formulating national military strategy, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff takes guidance from the national security strategy, and from the Secretary of Defense, in such documents as the Defense Strategy articulated in the 1997 Report of the Quadrennial Review. The Chairman, in consultation with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the unified commanders, prepares the national military strategy as his advice to the national command authority on military support and implementation of the national security strategy. The key document is an unclassified publication titled the National Military Strategy of the United States of America, known informally as the NMS. However, the "national military strategy" also includes classified documents derived from the NMS, such as the Unified Command Plan and the Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan, as well as Joint Vision 2010. The national military strategy is introduced in this course so that it can be critically examined from the multiple perspectives of the students' several courses throughout the year, thus establishing a firm conceptual and analytical foundation for Course 5.
Unified command and integrated teamwork is achieved in large measure through joint doctrine. Joint doctrine is authoritative. It consists of those fundamental principles that guide the employment of forces of two or more Services in coordinated action toward a common objective. Joint doctrine is published in a hierarchical series of documents beginning with Joint Pub 1, Joint Warfare of the Armed Forces of the United States. Joint doctrine includes guidance for U.S. military involvement in multinational and interagency operations. Other federal departments and agencies will be involved in some aspect of military operations, leading or supporting depending on circumstances. The interagency arena requires harmonizing very different organizations, capabilities, limitations, and cultures. Finally, the United States will almost always operate in a multinational setting, either with coalition partners or as members of a formal alliance. One of NWC's many strengths is that civilian and military students and International Fellows directly represent the many elements that must be combined in effective military operations. As Joint Pub 1 suggests, "Joint Warfare is Team Warfare": properly conceived that team is a broad one.
Objectives:
- Comprehend the historical, legal, and doctrinal foundations for the U.S. system of military command, including the dual operational and administrative chains of command.
- b. Comprehend the organizational framework within which joint forces are trained and employed.
- Comprehend the importance and the complexities of achieving unified strategic direction within the US Armed Forces.
Issues for consideration:
- How do American traditions of civil military relations affect both the process and the substance of US military strategy?
- In combination, do the various documents of the national military strategy and joint doctrine form a coherent conceptual and intellectual basis for wielding US military power?
- Does the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff have too much power, or too little? What considerations would affect whether to change his role, authority and responsibiltiies?
- Why are the Armed Forces organized under the Department of Defense as they are, and what are the strengths and weaknesses of such organization?
- Why is "jointness" a contentious issue among the Services? What are the advantages and disadvantages of increased "jointness" among them? What pressures and influences promote and detract from jointness?
Required readings:
* JP 0-2, Unified Action Armed Forces (UNAAF), 24 February 1995, Chapters I and II (http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/capstone.htm)
* Chapter 5, Title 10, United States Code, Armed Forces, December 31, 1996 (student issue)
Supplemental readings:
* National Military Strategy of the United States of America - Shape, Respond, Prepare Now: A Military Strategy for a New Era, October, 1997 (http://www.dtic.mil/jcs/) (Go to site map and look under Library)
* "Defense Strategy," from Report of the Quadrennial Defense Review, May 1997 (http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/qdr/sec3.html)
* Joint Vision 2010 (http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jv2010/jvpub.htm)
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