Sec. 924. Pilot program on organization of subordinate commands of a unified combatant command as joint task forces
1,163 words·~5 min read·
/bill/114/s/2943/es/section-924·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
The Secretary of Defense shall carry out a pilot program on organizing the subordinate commands of a unified combatant command in the form of joint task forces. The Secretary shall carry out the pilot program in at least one unified combatant command designated by the Secretary for purposes of this section. In carrying out the pilot program, the Secretary shall develop, for each combatant command participating in the pilot program, a plan to— disestablish, and prohibit the reestablishment of, any subordinate command of such combatant command that is organized by a service of the Armed Forces; identify the major missions and contingencies in the area of responsibility of such combatant command that would require a military response; establish subordinate commands for such combatant command in the form of joint task forces, as described in subsection (d); select a commander of an appropriate grade to lead each joint task force so established based on the scale and complexity of the mission that such task force must perform; and describe any additional authorities, specialized training, or other organizational elements that such joint task forces may require to meet the objectives of the plan.
The objectives of each plan under this subsection shall be— to provide for a greater emphasis on operational military missions; to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the combatant command concerned in performing the missions of the combatant command through better integration of functional components and capabilities, both from within the combatant command and across the Department of Defense; to create more flexible and responsive subordinate commands that can be established, grown, reduced, altered, or disestablished based on the changing nature of threats and contingencies in the area of responsibility of the combatant command concerned; to devolve responsibility and initiative, to the greatest extent practicable, to lower levels in the combatant command concerned, eliminating unnecessary layers of management and headquarters staff, and reducing the cost and time to perform mission critical tasks; to enhance the ability of the combatant command concerned to execute global defense strategies and address threats that span multiple regions, functions, and domains, involve different durations of time, and lack clearly defined phases of conflict; and to enable the commander of the combatant command concerned to integrate the activities of the combatant command across wider spans of control with fewer personnel and resources, and to focus more consistently on the strategic missions of the combatant command, including coordination with other combatant commands and engagement with key foreign partners.
The problems that each plan under this subsection shall seek to overcome are— deficiencies in the current organization of the unified combatant commands that have led senior leaders over many years to rely increasingly on the establishment of ad hoc joint task forces to meet critical emergent requirements for the combatant commands; dramatic growth in the size of staffs of the unified combatant commands that inhibit an effective and efficient performance of missions, lead to duplication of effort, and draw limited vital resources away from operational units and toward bureaucratic staffing functions; hierarchal, time-intensive, and resource-intensive planning and decision-making processes that are required to compensate for, and attempt to achieve integration among, functional command structures oriented around separate Armed Forces; antiquated approaches to persistent, trans-regional, cross-functional, and multi-domain threats that cannot be addressed through discrete and isolated operational plans based on a clear commencement of hostilities leading to combat operations; and misaligned priorities that result in unified combatant commands being overly focused on mission support activities (such as intelligence analysis and regional theater engagement) and insufficiently focused on the operational missions of the combatant commands.
Each plan under this subsection shall be prepared in consultation with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the commander of the combatant command concerned. Any plan to be developed under this subsection shall be completed by not later than March 1, 2017. Upon completion of the development of a plan under this subsection, the Secretary shall submit such plan to the congressional defense committees. The Secretary shall commence implementation of each plan developed under this subsection for purposes of the pilot program by not later than September 1, 2017.
Each joint task force established for purposes of the pilot program pursuant to a plan under subsection
(c)shall be— established and organized as a cross-functional team with the primary purpose of performing an identified mission or providing essential support and enabling capabilities to task forces performing such missions; assigned the necessary number and mixture of Armed Forces personnel and related capabilities to perform the mission of such task force; organized and sized in a manner that best reflects the scope, scale, complexity, and priority of the mission that such task force is required to perform or support; comprised of representatives from each functional component from across the Department of Defense that is relevant to the performance of the mission of such task force, including the Armed Forces, other unified combatant commands, other joint task forces that are subordinate to the same or another unified combatant command, defense intelligence agencies, other combat support agencies, and acquisition offices; and commanded by a military officer of appropriate grade who would be selected as prescribed by section 164(e) of title 10, United States Code, and overseen by the commander of the combatant command as prescribed by section 164(d) of such title were such joint task force the subordinate command of a unified combatant command. The purpose of each joint task force established pursuant to this subsection shall be to achieve the operational military mission of such task force, including by— integrating all the functional components within such task force into joint efforts; producing integrated operational plans, consistent with the orders of the commander of the combatant command concerned and the defense strategy of the Department of Defense; recommending to the commander of the combatant command concerned any additional resources and capabilities that the commander of such joint task force determines necessary to achieve the mission of such task force; providing better alignment and unity of effort with other joint task forces within the combatant command concerned or other unified combatant commands that are performing related missions or addressing similar threats; conducting engagements with foreign partners from the area of responsibility of such task force that are necessary to achieving the military mission of such task force; and experimenting with new operational concepts and developmental capabilities that the commander of such task force considers essential to the mission of such task force. Not later than September 1, 2018, the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report that includes, for each plan developed under subsection
(c)for purposes of the pilot program, the following: A description of such plan. An assessment of the positive and negative effects of such plan. A description of key factors that contributed to the success or failure of such plan. Recommendations on whether, and in what manner, to apply such plan to unified combatant commands not covered by the pilot program.