Joint CSAR--Does the Current Organization Provide The Joint Task Force with the Most Effective Tools?

Abstract

The recovery of isolated military or civilian personnel has been a primary concern for the U.S. combatant commanders. Unfortunately, throughout history, conventional combat search and rescue (CSAR) forces within the Department of Defense have demonstrated a lack of integrated capability in peacetime. As a result, they have undertaken extreme efforts to reorganize, buildup, and employ an ad hoc CSAR force during crisis action planning for combat operations. All military services contribute in preparing for, and responding to, the Joint Force Commander's (JFC) requirement to recover isolated personnel but without one commander in charge to ensure unity of command and unity of effort. Current joint doctrine directs each military service, as well as Special Operations Command (SOCOM), to be responsible for their own CSAR capability, but it does not fully address CSAR unity of effort among the services. Therefore, commanders have resorted to the just do something mentality and favored the use of special operations forces (SOF) to conduct CSAR based on their multifaceted capabilities. Presently, using SOF as the primary CSAR force has been the trend, but this does not fix the CSAR duplication of effort within the military services. This has left the U.S. military ill-prepared to effectively conduct joint CSAR missions for the JFC. This paper will propose the development of a Joint CSAR Task Force (JCSARTF) to integrate the military services CSAR capabilities underneath one commander, the CINC's theater SOC, which will streamline the JFC's capability. In addition, to support this JCSARTF concept, the consolidation of the Air Force's conventional and SOF CSAR capabilities underneath SOCOM can improve the unity of command and effort for the JFC's CSAR mission. The essential CSAR capabilities are in our services; they just need to be reorganized and put in their proper place to ensure an effective CSAR standing force for the warfighting CINC.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 04, 2002
Accession Number
ADA401056

Entities

People

  • Stephen H. Bissonnette

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Combat Operations
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Employment
  • Humanitarian Assistance
  • Lessons Learned
  • Military Force Levels
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • Organizational Structure
  • Prisoners Of War
  • Security
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • United States Special Operations Command
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.