DoD Medical Unification: A Necessity for the Combatant Commander and Homeland Defense

Abstract

Since the end of WWII, there have been no less than two dozen formal audits, boards, studies and reviews all questioning the efficiency and effectiveness of the three Services maintaining their own Medical Departments. For a variety of reasons the Service Medical Departments have remained arguably unchanged by Goldwater-Nichols DoD Reorganization Act and the 'jointness' it intended. Contrary to some initial expectations, TRICARE has evolved into an effective mechanism for providing healthcare to our active duty personnel, retirees, and their respective families. The remaining piece of the puzzle seems to be the effective and timely delivery of operational medical support to the true primarily customer, the Combatant Commander. This can be resolved though the establishment of a unified Defense Health Agency. For CONUS and OCONUS support missions the Combatant Commander is best served by a single, effectives, and mission oriented voice for medical. For example, Presidential Decision Directives have established two Federal Lead Agencies that will oversee the response to a WMD attack on the homeland are the FBI (crisis management) and FEMA (consequence management). A cursory review of FEMA's Federal Response Plan, has the DoD as a primary supporting Agency with more support tasks as any other Agency; all of these tasks requiring coordination with Service medical organizations. The Combatant Commander is better served with having one voice, one chain of command, and one expert that can be relied upon to provide the necessary medical support where when it is needed. The era of looking out for what is best for the individual Service medical departments is past. By looking out for the needs of the Combatant Commander, the needs of the Nation are also best served.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 13, 2002
Accession Number
ADA405649

Entities

People

  • Jack R. Rumbaugh

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Hospitals
  • Interagency Coordination
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Hospitals
  • Military Medicine
  • Military Operations
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Public Health
  • Therapy
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Medical or Health Care Field.