Joint Task Force XXI: SOF as Executive Agency in Military Operations Other Than War

Abstract

While the US military faces growing requirements to conduct Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW), our command relationships are mired in the past, optimized for war, not MOOTW. General Purpose Forces are normally earmarked for Command and Control (C2) of these operations, with primarily conventional commanders, staffs, and service components establishing the Joint Task Force (JTF). Special Operations Forces (SOF) support the JTF. However, given the capabilities of SOF, this command relationship does not take advantage of SOF's strengths, and at times actually impedes our overall efforts. SOF can provide the regional CINC with superior multi echelon C2 in MOOTW. This thesis will demonstrate that the current US military C2 system is unsuitable, and that by changing it we will dramatically improve mission success probabilities, efficiency, and overall combat effectiveness. This thesis examines US operations in Somalia (Restore Hope) in order to shed light on key areas of sub optimization. A SOF based organization (JTF-XXI) will be proposed and compared to the Restore Hope JTF. The thesis will argue that the JTF-XXI is more effective and efficient, and should be adopted for future use.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA341449

Entities

People

  • Mark A. Strong

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Combat Areas
  • Combat Readiness
  • Command And Control
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Employment
  • Health Services
  • Information Systems
  • Lessons Learned
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Organizations
  • National Governments
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Special Operations Forces
  • United States Central Command
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Economics
  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control