ISSUE 182 : Jul/Aug - 2010 - Australian Defence Force Journal

strategic documents signed by the US President that establishes and authorises this presence.Its command arrangements are significant and the 18-page document warrants awareness andunderstanding—particularly given increasing ADF participation in US-led operations.Yet today, while most within the ADF have heard the names of the GCC headquarters, little isknown about the UCP and what it means for how the ADF works with these commands. Thisarticle provides an overview of the UCP’s inception and evolution and how it is applied by thecombatant commands. The GCCs are then considered in the broader context of US foreignrelations. Throughout, points of significance for members of the ADF will be identified.The evolution of the Unified Command PlanIn the wake of World War 2, the resultant distribution of US forces around the world—coupledwith recognition of the need for unified effort between the armed services—generated arequirement for the Pentagon to recast the delineation and command of wartime theatres,principally in Europe and the Western Pacific. In 1946, the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued the firstversion of the UCP 5 , establishing seven geographically-based unified combatant commands. 6While two were for occupation forces (European Command and Far East Command in Japan),the remainder foreshadowed the need to defend and protect the US and its interests againstemerging Soviet power. 7The UCP has been revised and reissued 22 times since 1946. Over the course of these revisions,the original seven relatively small commands have evolved into six that are now contiguousand cover the face of the globe. 8 While a number of historical and geo-strategic circumstanceshave shaped the evolution of the UCP, it is only since the enactment of the Goldwater-NicholsDepartment of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 that the UCP has been driven formallyby directives found in higher policy documents, such as the National Security Strategy, theNational Defense Strategy, the National Military Strategy and the Joint Strategic CapabilitiesPlan. 9With this growing library of US strategic policy documents, the UCP has become a lesserknown document. However, its underlying significance should not be ignored as it representsthe organisational ‘ways’ that the US DoD seeks to achieve national strategic ‘ends’. It isimportant for ADF planners in HQ Joint Operations Command, at least, to have a good senseof these ‘ways’ as they are the framework within which Australian forces can be contributedto US-led operations.The Geographic Combatant Commands todayThe current UCP designates six GCCs:• Northern Command (NORTHCOM)• Southern Command (SOUTHCOM)72