Coalition Command and Control: Key Considerations

The future security environment will be more complex as more regional powers emerge, each with its own expectation of independent decisionmaking. U. S. strategy, as presented in the National Military Strategy (1992) and other statements, addresses a continuing requirement to be ready for unilateral action. It also outlines the expectation that the United States will continue to lead in efforts supporting global peace and security using forward presence, crisis response, and multinational operations.

After the Gulf War, some political-military analysts and national leaders saw ad hoc coalitions as the wave of the future. Others, seeing the difficulties of planning for an ad hoc operation, disagreed and instead supported a decrease in U. S. security involvement with other nations. World events subsequently showed the necessity of being prepared to work with allies not part of established regional security arrangements. Although not a first choice, the possibility of ad hoc coalition operations is now recognized as an option.

This paper, originally published in 1994 by The Center for Advanced Concepts and Technology of the National Defense University, examines the many factors that influence command and control of coalition operations. The factors considered include the nature of a coalition itself, generally transitory. Previous coalition operations were created out of necessity. Such coalitions generally ended as soon as their immediate purpose was completed, although some evolved to become more structured or permanent alliances.