Monday
10 April 2000
0830-1130 (LS)
The military has an important role in engagement-helping to shape the international environment in appropriate ways to bring about a more peaceful and stable world.
GEN John Shalikashvili, 1997 NMS
Purpose
The purpose of this lesson is to comprehend the US concept of "theater engagement planning," analyze its political-military implications, evaluate its role in national security strategy formulation and execution, and formulate concepts of theater engagement appropriate to the future security environment.
Learning Objectives
1. Comprehend the US concept of "theater engagement planning" and its relationship to the National Security Strategy, the National Military Strategy, and the Joint Strategic Planning Process.
2. What activities does theater engagement planning encompass? What activities clearly fall outside the realm of theater engagement?
3. Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of requiring the geographic unified commanders to conduct theater engagement planning. How long have they been orchestrating theater engagement activities?
4. Analyze the interagency implications of theater engagement planning.
5. Analyze a selected region of the world and identify concepts, tasks, missions, and requirements for US peacetime military engagement.
6. Create and devise concepts of theater engagement appropriate to the future security environment.
Discussion
Although the idea of "peacetime military engagement" dates back at least as far as the 1995 NMS, formal theater engagement planning began in the summer of 1996. Since then, the process has matured and expanded, both in terms of quantity and quality. Especially significant was the formalization of "shaping the international environment" as an element of national military strategy as promulgated by the QDR. The five geographic CINCs receive national-level guidance, develop seven-year theater engagement plans (TEPs), and submit them to the CJCS for final approval. The CJCS is charged with approving the integration of each CINC's TEP into the global family of TEPs. The CINCs submit their TEPs in two stages: a strategic concept (covering a seven-year period) every other year, and the detailed activity annexes for the next seven years annually. As you can see, before the TEP for a particular year is executed, it has been reviewed, and probably refined, a number of times.
While theater engagement planning is now a mainstream duty of the geographic CINCs, and consumes an enormous amount of time and energy for staffs, components, and other subordinate commands, very little has been published to date on this important, emerging subject. The Joint Staff is in the process of writing Joint Doctrine for theater engagement, but that process could take well over a year. The article below was written in cooperation with the Strategy Division, J-5, the responsible division on the Joint Staff, and is considered the most comprehensive treatment generally outside the Building.
Issues for Consideration
1. What is the proper role of the theater commander in the development of political and military objectives? Does he have adequate tools to influence strategic choices and desired end states? What national-level strategic planning guidance does he receive? What is the process for national-level review and approval of the geographic CINCs' theater engagement plans (TEPs). To what degree should the CINCs coordinate their TEPs with the US ambassadors in their Area of Responsibility (AOR)?
2. What are the geographic CINC's key considerations in choosing an appropriate command structure and in organizing his theater for peacetime engagement, crisis and war? What are potential areas of friction? How can they be ameliorated?
3. How should the US military conduct military engagement in those regions which are not assigned to a geographic CINC (Russia, Canada, Mexico, the United States)? Should the functional CINCs have any role in peacetime military engagement, and if so, what should it be?
4. What are the military costs of peacetime military engagement? Can they be captured and resourced in the defense budget? All things considered, is this an appropriate and strategically beneficial concept?
5. Archer - Does peacetime military engagement end in wartime? What role, if any, can you imagine for continued military engagement in the AORs of supported and supporting CINCs in the scenario presented?
Required Readings
Thomas Jordan, Douglas Lovelace, and Thomas-Durrell Young, "Shaping the World Through Engagement: Assessing the Department of Defense's Theater Engagement Planning Process," Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College (draft publication) (Reprint)
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