C201 ELOs Flashcards
Discuss the roles, responsibilities, and authorities of combatant commanders
(1) Detect, deter, and prevent attacks against the US, its territories and bases and employ appropriate force should deterrence fail.
(2) Carry out assigned missions and tasks;
(3) Direct coordination among subordinate commands.
(4) Carry out force protection and personnel recovery responsibilities for command assigned, attached units, forces, and assets.
(5) Plan, conduct and assess security cooperation activities.
(6) Plan and, as appropriate, conduct evacuation and protection of US citizens and other designated persons.
(7) Provide the single point of contact on military matters within the AOR.
What are the three levels of war?
Strategic, Operational and Tactical
What additional responsibilities does the NORTHCOM Commander have than other Geographic Combatant Commanders?
(1) Provide support to civil authorities
(2) Provide Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear (CBRN) consequence management to the US and allied partners within the US territories, protectorates, and the NORTHCOM area of responsibility.
(3) Is also Commander of US element NORAD
(4) Synchronizing DOD efforts in the US government response to pandemic influenza and infectious disease.
What is the key role of Combatant Commanders? (one phrase)
Combatant Commanders deter war through military engagement and security cooperation.
What is the combatant commander’s place within the three levels of war?
a. Strategic: CCDRs advise the CJCS and SECDEF in their shaping of the National Security Strategy. CCDRs, their roles, and their boundaries are codified in the Unified Command Plan
b. Operational: CCDRs reside within the operational level of war. They bridge the Strategic and Tactical levels of war by advising strategic policymakers (CJCS) and communicating to ASCC on plans, progress, and resourcing necessary to execute their assigned operations.
c. Tactical: CCDR’s command and control operations within their geographic boundaries.
What is Operational Art?
The cognitive approach by commanders and staff to develop strategies, campaigns, and operations that organize and employ military forces by linking ends, ways, and means. Operational Art is supported by their collective skill, knowledge, experience, creativity, and judgment.
Discuss the combatant commander’s use of operational art to link the objectives of strategy to tactical actions
CCDRs and their staff utilize operational art to link strategic ends as specified in the national-level strategic guidance (NSS, NDS, NMS) to tactical actions by building Theater Campaign Plans; Theater Strategies; Contingency Plans; Campaign Support Plans. These plans operationalize the national strategy and generate theater capability requirements.
What are the dynamics of Civil-Military relations
a. The essence of civil-military relations is the subordination of the military to civilian leadership
b. CCDR’s must maintain productive civil-military relations both domestically and within the international sphere within which they operate.
i. CCDR’s communicate with Service Chiefs, the CJCS and SECDEF
ii. CCDR’s must also influence and coordinate activities with interagency elements that operate within a GCC’s boundaries to achieve the same strategic end state.
c. GCCs and FCCs’ perspectives must include National and Multinational political leadership; adjacent GCCs and FCCs; and their subordinate commands, components, and JTFs.
d. The military is controlled by the military. It is our responsibility to educate our civilian leaders and provide them the best military advice possible.
Explain Just War framework (jus ad bellum, jus in bello)
The Just War framework provides a model to ensure that actions and decisions are grounded on fundamental moral principles.
Jus ad Bellum provides criteria to evaluate whether a conflict is morally justified. This criterion applies to Congress and our senior civilian leadership.
Jus in Bello provides criteria for evaluating the morality of how a war is tactically conducted.
Discuss Just War considerations for ends, ways, and means
a. Means and Ways: in practice, military leaders must choose weapons, tactics, and plans that abide by the standards of discrimination and proportionality – through those choices, leaders place Soldiers at risk. Criteria for evaluating choices in the conduct of war pertain to Jus in Bello.
b. Ends: Jus ad Bellum provides criteria to evaluate the morality of the ends of war. The morality of the ends of war further guides the conduct by informing Jus in Bello (proportionality and discrimination are informed by just intent, which limits the war aims within the context of a just cause).
Discuss Just War considerations during operational design and the conduct of joint planning
–not the best answer for operational design–
Strategic military leaders conducting joint planning must be able to justify military action to the media and the populace. They also justify the use of force within joint operations (e.g., ROE, treatment of POWs, treatment of protected persons).
US Policy, national and universal values, and political prudence all require strategic military leaders to plan and conduct military operations within the Just War framework.
What are unified commands?
i. They are established when a broad continuing mission exists requiring the forces of two or more MILDEPS and requiring a single strategic direction (single Commander).
ii. The necessity to use limited logistic means
iii. The mission exists in a large geographic or functional area requiring single responsibility for coordination.
iv. Two types: geographic and functional
What is a specified command?
A specified command is a command that has a broad continuing mission and is established by POTUS through the SECDEF. Typically are composed of forces from one military department, but may include units and staff from other MILDEPs. – Give an example –
What are the differences between geographic and functional combatant commands?
GCCs are assigned a geographic area of responsibility (AOR) by the POTUS with the advice of the SECDEF per the UCP. GCCs are responsible for planning and executing missions within their AOR.
FCCs have transregional responsibilities and are normally supporting CCDRs to the GCC’s activities in multiple AORs. FCCs may conduct operations as directed by the POTUS or SECDEF in coordination with the related GCC(s).
From where do Combatant Commanders (CCDR) get their guidance?
a. National Defense Strategy
b. National Military Strategy
c. Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan – the JSCP tasks CCDR’s to prepare joint contingency plans in four increasing levels of detail: commander’s estimate; basic plan; concept plan; or operational plan.
