Overloaded

Mission proliferation and headquarters downsizing have taken a significant toll on the ability of US Strategic Command to maintain sufficient focus on nuclear deterrence, according to the DOD task force on nuclear weapons management. (See above) In fact, STRATCOM is currently “overloaded” with responsibilities, task force chair James Schlesinger told reporters during a Pentagon briefing yesterday. While STRATCOM has recently established a one-star position focused exclusively on the nuclear mission, more needs to be done, the task force said. In addition to the nuclear deterrence mission, the command’s current portfolio includes combating weapons of mass destruction, global network operations, global strike, integrated missile defense, intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance, joint information operations, network warfare, and space. The task force recommends that these responsibilities be reduced, “limiting them primarily to the deterrence, global strike, and space missions.” At the same time, STRATCOM should retain its role as the primary joint enabler for IMD and combating WMD, the task force said. “It is not that STRATCOM is not a very capable combatant command,” retired Adm. Edmund Giambastiani, task force member, said at the briefing. He continued, “The problem is that it has proliferated the number of missions … over the last number of years.”