Enhancing Army Joint Force Headquarters Capabilities

The U.S. military is frequently called on to respond to domestic or international crises. Typically, it uses joint task forces JTFs as the organizational structure to oversee the forces employed in these crises. The use of JTFs has been common over the past four decades but their use has increased over the past decade and the range of situations they have been called on to deal with has widened. Recent, well-known examples include operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and, domestically, the response to Hurricane Katrina. In spite of this long-term and growing use, senior policymakers in the Department of Defense DoD and the U.S. Army have expressed concern over shortcomings associated with using JTFs to provide the command and control in operations. Specific concerns included the amount of time it takes to establish these headquarters, the ability to staff them appropriately, and their ability to coordinate the efforts of their forces with those of other Services, U.S. government agencies, and forces from other countries. Given recent history and an uncertain future, military leaders understand that the demand for JTFs is likely to continue, the notice to supply them will be short, and the range of tasks they might be asked to accomplish will be wide.