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CRS Report, The Unified Command Plan and Combatant Commands: Background and Issues for Congress (Feickert, 2013), provides brief information on the history, mission, and operational considerations, as well as a brief discussion of current issues associated for each of the Combatant Commands (COCOMs) identified in the Unified Command Plan (UCP).  For some of you, this may be your first exposure to UCP and the concept of unified command.  The UCP is a classified document prepared by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), signed by the President, and reviewed and updated, as necessary, every two years.  It assigns missions; planning, training, and operational responsibilities; and geographic areas of responsibilities to the COCOMs (CRS Report, 2013).

 

The origins of the UCP and COCOMs date back to World War II.  After the war, U.S. leaders, taking advantage of the lessons learned in both the Pacific and European theaters of operation, initiated a series of legislative changes that resulted in the current UCP process and COCOM construct.  The UCP and COCOMs are covered under Title 10, USC (CRS Report, 2013).  That being said, The Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 (P.L. 99-433, October 1, 1986) had a major impact on how the Joint Staff and the COCOMs are organized today.  The law placed “clear responsibility on the commanders of the unified and specified [functional] combatant commands for the accomplishment of missions assigned to those commands…” (P.L. 99-433) and to improve the ability of U.S. Armed Forces to conduct joint (inter-service) and combined (inter-allied) operations; the terms “joint” and “combined” are still used today.  The law greatly strengthened the roles and responsibilities of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and designated him as the principal military adviser to the President and the Secretary of Defense.  It also increased the command authority and responsibilities of the unified combatant commands, as now seen in the UCP.  Additionally, the Act required Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) for officers and that certain officers serve in joint duty assignments before they could be promoted to flag or general officer rank.

 

The UCP provides operational instructions and command and control authorities to the Armed Forces and has a significant impact on how they are organized, trained, and resourced—areas over which Congress has constitutional authority.  Functional COCOMs operate world-wide across geographic boundaries and provide unique capabilities to geographic combatant commands and the Services while Geographic COCOMs operate in clearly delineated areas of operation and have a distinctive regional military focus.  There are currently nine COCOMs and they are discussed in the report (CRS Report, 2013).  For our purposes, the focus is on some background on the UCP and the COCOM construct and the U.S. Northern Command.