Operation Iraqi Freedom: Actions Needed to Enhance DOD Planning for Reposturing of U.S. Forces from Iraq
Abstract
While the pace and overall extent of reposturing in Iraq has yet to be determined, various defense commands began planning for reposturing in fall 2007, and in May 2008 DOD began coordinating these individual planning efforts to develop a logistical framework based on three key assumptions. According to DOD officials, initial planning efforts were uncoordinated because the three organizations undertaking them the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the Army Materiel Command(AMC), and Headquarters, Department of the Army conducted their planning effort on their own initiative and with little input from CENTCOM and MNF-I, the commands overseeing operations in Iraq. By late 2007, however, a move began to synchronize and coordinate the efforts of DOD organizations engaged in planning for a reposturing of U.S. forces in Iraq. This culminated in a May 2008 logistics summit at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, and resulted in an order published by MNF-I that contained the process for the redeployment of units and retrograde of materiel and equipment. The order also established a working group chartered to continue the planning with an eye toward seeking solutions to challenges, including several of the challenges we discuss later in this report. DOD's planning efforts to date have been based on the following three key assumptions: any reposturing initiative will be based on MNF-I and Department of State assessments of conditions on the ground; there will be sufficient lead time to refine reposture plans once an order with a specific timetable and force posture in Iraq is issued; and the reposturing of forces will be deliberate and gradual, predicated on a 180-day process for units leaving Iraq and a sustained flow of no more than 2.5 brigades worth of equipment and materiel out of Iraq each month.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA486371
Entities
People
- Cheryl Weissman
- Christopher Turner
- David A. Schmitt
- Gregory Marchand
- Guy A. Lofaro
- John J. Marzullo
- John K Lee
- Katherine Lenane
- Tristan T. To
- William M. Solis
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office