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The Best Man for the Job? Combatant Commanders and the Politics of Jointness

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The Best Man for the Job? Combatant Commanders and the Politics of Jointness Chairman and Admiral Samuel J. Locklear, USN, commander, U.S. Pacific Command, talk before departing Camp Smith, Hawaii (DOD/D. Myles Cullen) The Best Man for the Job? Combatant Commanders and the Politics of Jointness by R. Russell Rumbaugh batant commanders no longer come This consistent balance strongly suggests he U.S. military today fights solely from a single Service as they once that Service-based prerogatives still play a jointly. A joint commander— did. In fact, the combatant command- role in selecting who commands even the T reporting to the Secretary of ers and their control of operations are operational commands. If inter-Service Defense—commands all Service com- often considered the greatest expression politics pervades even the selection of ponents during military operations. of jointness. combatant commanders, how much And as a key sign of this jointness, com- Yet the historical record suggests more might it affect those parts of the combatant commanders are not as joint military commonly acknowledged as less as thought; a review of all combatant joint—especially acquisition? commanders by Service shows that each Such visible evidence of inter-Service R. Russell Rumbaugh is Director, Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense, and Senior Associate military branch has been represented politics belies the more hopeful claims at The Stimson Center, Washington, DC. roughly equally for the past 30 years. for jointness, underlining that jointness JFQ 75, 4th Quarter 2014 Rumbaugh 91 is not a synonym for a unified military to Pershing’s Chief of Staff General James longer represent their parent Service but but rather a description of a loose col- Harbord, as quoted by Kenneth Allard: the national interest. They are the best laboration among the Services. The U.S. expression of how joint the U.S. military military must stop using jointness as a General Pershing commanded the AEF has become. euphemism and accept a loss of Service directly under the President and Secretary prerogative to ensure more effective of War, as the President’s alter ego. No The Combatant Commands defense administration and, more impor- military power or person was interposed be- and the Services tantly, a more effective fighting force. tween them. No successful war has ever Sitting at the pinnacle of operational been fought commanded by a staff officer command and exemplifying military The Combatant Commands in a distant capital. The organization jointness, combatant commanders are and Jointness effected in our War Department . scru- assumed to be chosen solely based on Combatant commanders sit at the pulously preserves the historic principle that who is the best person for the job, pinnacle of operational command in the line of authority runs directly from the regardless of what Service the com- the U.S. military system. Though the highest in the land to the highest in the field. mander comes from. Yet the consistent U.S. military is organized, trained, and proportionality by Service of combatant equipped by the four Services—the Allard notes, however, that “that prin- commanders suggests that the Service Army, Marines, Navy, and Air Force—it ciple was not as clear to some people as they come from, and not only merit, is used by the combatant commanders. it apparently was to General Harbord.”1 matters in selection. That is, when forces are tasked to a In World War II, the Joint Chiefs of All the men (it has been only men so mission, they come under the charge of Staff (JCS) arose as the body to adjudi- far) who have served in these positions the combatant commander who plans cate between the needs and desires of the have been accomplished people who have and executes operations using forces theater commanders—though one of the achieved a great deal in their careers, from all the Services together. Combat- four chiefs was Admiral William Leahy as one would expect. But considering ant commands are divided between who was Chief of Staff to President these people individually ignores that geographic and functional commands. Roosevelt, not one of the Services. After the pool from which commanders are For the geographic commands, the U.S. the war, the JCS was enshrined statuto- pulled only includes accomplished people military divides the entire world into rily, creating blurry responsibility for the with significant achievements; thus, six commands that oversee all forces Service chiefs who were in charge of both such achievements may not tell us much conducting missions in those regions: the overall welfare of their Services and about how or why each officer is selected. European, Pacific, Central, African, U.S. military operations. Acknowledging each officer as individu- Northern, and Southern. The func- President Dwight Eisenhower set out ally accomplished does not explain the tional commands are Transportation, in to clarify this confusion in 1958 when his continuity over time. charge of getting troops and equipment reorganization plan explicitly made the In the rare times when combatant around the world; Strategic, responsible chain of command direct from President commanders and their selection are for operating all U.S. nuclear forces; to Secretary of Defense to combatant considered systematically rather than and Special Operations, not surprisingly, commanders, cutting out the Service individually, it is usually from a Service- in charge of all special operations forces. chiefs. But this clarity existed only in centric perspective that bemoans an During operations, the combatant com- theory because, in practice, the Service underrepresentation by one Service mander is responsible for effectively chains continued to exercise significant or another. For instance, a 2008 Air using and integrating forces from all influence over the Service component Force Magazine article titled “Why Services. But when not tasked to a commands overseen by each combat- Airmen Don’t Command” purported mission, these forces all belong to an ant command. The Goldwater-Nichols to chronicle that Air Force officers are administrative command, which reports Department of Defense Reorganization underrepresented in regional combatant through the chain of each distinct Act of 1986 explicitly acknowledged this commands.2 Another example is a 2007 Service. subversion of Presidential and legislative article in which “Retired Army Maj. Gen. In the past, that administrative intent and succeeded in ending it. Robert Scales, former head of the Army chain owned by the Services tended Supporters of jointness rightly point War College who holds a Ph.D. in his- to overshadow the operational chain. to Goldwater-Nichols as a watershed tory from Duke University, said he could Even in World War I, General John moment in empowering the combatant find no prior period when the Army was Pershing, commander of the American commanders and true joint operations. so engaged overseas and so underrepre- Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France, Since then, most agree U.S. military sented at top levels.”3 jockeyed with General Peyton March, the operations have more effectively drawn These arguments not only miss but Chief of Staff of the Army in Washington, on forces from all Services and wielded also obscure the most important aspect over what each had responsibility for and them as a powerful force that cuts across of who has commanded combatant what the reporting chain was. According all domains. Combatant commanders no 92 Commentary / Commanders and the Politics of Jointness JFQ 75, 4th Quarter 2014 Chart. Combatant Commanders by Service Traditional Era Year 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 USEUCOM A A A A A A A A A A F F F F F F A A A A A A A USPACOM N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N USSTRATCOM/SAC F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F USSOUTHCOM/CARIBCOM A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A USJFCOM/ACOM/LANTCOM N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N USNORTHCOM/SPACECOM/ F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F ADCOM/CONAD USSOCOM/REDCOM/STRICOM A A A A A A A A USCENTCOM (FECOM) A A A A A A A A A A A USTRANSCOM (NECOM) F F F F F F USAFRICOM (ALCOM) F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F Chart. Combatant Commanders by Service (continued) Traditional Era (continued) Rise of the Marines Year 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 USEUCOM A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A USPACOM N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N USSTRATCOM/SAC F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F USSOUTHCOM/CARIBCOM A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A USJFCOM/ACOM/LANTCOM N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N USNORTHCOM/SPACECOM/ F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F ADCOM/CONAD USSOCOM/REDCOM/STRICOM A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A USCENTCOM (FECOM) A A A M M M A A A M USTRANSCOM (NECOM) F F F F F USAFRICOM (ALCOM) F F F F F F Chart.
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