Military Review English Edition May-June 2016 | Page 125

ASSIGNING FORCES

Joint training. Another advantage of assigning units
to CCMDs is that joint force commanders would control
joint training. In 2011, when USJFCOM was disestablished, a number of its roles were given to the Joint
Staff. Many tasks and responsibilities transferred easily.
However, those previously associated with command authorities cannot be fulfilled without COCOM authority.
As the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is not in the
military chain of command, and the Joint Staff is prohibited from exercising executive authority by law, the chairman and the staff may not exercise command and control
over any forces. This limits their role in joint training.14
Service-retained forces have no joint commander
responsible for ensuring joint training is resourced and
prioritized. This results in joint training by happenstance
or buddy networks rather than command direction
and oversight. The benefits of giving joint commanders
control over joint training include improved proficiency
of the joint force and better relationships between units
that may deploy together.

Why Services Should Not Be Wary of
Assignment
Assigning forces to CCMDs does not modify or
limit a service secretary’s management of service forces.
COCOM and ADCON are separate authorities,
through the secretary of defense to the CCMD (for
COCOM authority) and through the service secretary
(for ADCON).15 Assignment does not infringe on service authorities as outlined below:
Assignment of a force to a CCMD does not
entail a restationing action.
Services always determine ADCON.
Assignment is not tied to readiness.
Assignment is not an unrestrained authority to employ the force.
Assigning the force does not mean the
secretary of defense will not reallocate to higher
priorities.
Restationing not required. Assignment reflects a
change in command authority. Assignment does not
require a stationing change.
Administrative control determined by the services. Only the service determines which organizations
manage administrative functions for any service unit,
so daily support remains at the service’s discretion.
Most or all units on an installation should be assigned

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MILITARY REVIEW  May-June 2016

to one CCMD so ADCON would go through the
senior mission commander.
Additionally, the services may determine that
some ADCON functions are best controlled by one
organization for the entire force or all forces based
in the continental United States. For example, U.S.
Forces Command performs much of the day-to-day
support for forces based in the United States and
assigned to U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM); it
shares ADCON responsibilities with the Army service
component command for USPACOM and U.S. Army
Pacific Command.
Assignment not tied to readiness. Assignment is
not directly tied to readiness—when the secretary of
defense allocates a force, he or she does so for a specific
period for a specific mission. The force must be trained
and resourced to perform that mission in that specified
period. If a force were assigned to a CCMD, its readiness
levels would rise and fall through the service’s rotational
model like any service unit. The combatant commander
would account for these fluctuations in planning employment of forces.
Authority for employing forces. Assignment is
not an unrestrained authority to employ forces. A joint
commander cannot employ a service unit for operations
without coordinating with the service and ensuring
funding is available. The services develop most of the
DOD budget, including funding for the employment of
forces. This, as well as the secretary of defense’s guidelines
on dwell time (time at home between deployments),
allows the services to constrain employment to supportable levels. Additionally, the authority for the use of force
against a potential enemy rests with the president of the
United States and the secretary of defense.16 This limits a
combatant commander’s use of the force to steady-state
operations. Further restrictions may be defined as part
of the assignment process, such as the recommendations
later in this article.
Reallocation possible. Assignment places no limitations on allocation. The secretary of defense has the authority to transfer forces from one command to another
in accordance with the U.S. Code. In terms of allocation
or assignment, this is not an “either/or” discussion; assigning forces does not mean the secretary of defense will
no longer allocate forces. The joint force will still plan
and budget to allocate forces. There will be unplanned,
unbudgeted allocations due to crises.
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