The Wild Blue Yonder in a Purple World: Improving USAF Interaction with the Joint Warfighting Capabilities Assessment Process

Abstract

It has been ten years since the Goldwater-Nichols DOD Reorganization Act was signed into law. The resultant dramatic change in the relationship between the joint staff and the service staffs is most obvious in the ever-expanding responsibilities and importance of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC). During the January 1997 Air Staff reorganization, the Director for Joint Matters (XOJ) position was created in partial response to this power shift. Among XOJ s responsibilities are controlling and coordinating USAF interface with the Joint Warfighting Capabilities Assessment (JWCA) teams, the JROC's assessment arm. This thesis analyzes the new USAF organizational structure for its capacity to meet JWCA support requirements and to determine whether other options might do so better. To analyze the USAF-JWCA Support Structure this study first describes the JWCA process functionality and influence. It then develops objectives and tasks for a USAF organizational structure to support the JWCA Process. The resulting responsibilities are consistent with existing ones except for an added requirement to perform JWCA-like assessments at the service level. These assessments are designed to guarantee existing and future USAF capabilities enhance joint warfighting capabilities and requirements. Analysis of the existing support structure found it to be sub-optimized for meeting both existing responsibilities and the added assessment function. As such, three new options were developed and analyzed. Option 1 created a Deputy Chief of Staff (DCS) for Joint Matters. Option 2 created a Direct Reporting Unit (DRU) with responsibility for JWCA interface, and coordinating USAF requirements development. Finally, Option 3 reassigned JWCA interface and requirements development tasks to the DCS for Plans and Programs (XP). Option 2 proved the most viable option and is recommended for implementation.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA391873

Entities

People

  • Samuel J. Mccraw

Organizations

  • Air University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Counter WMD
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Business Administration
  • Civil Engineering
  • Computer Programs
  • Engineers
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Students
  • Systems Engineering
  • Test And Evaluation
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Aerospace logistics and air mobility.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.