By Ann Roosevelt
U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) is providing critical command and control capabilities for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Joint Command (IJC) in Afghanistan until it can be fully resourced, a command official said.
The Joint Enabling Capabilities Command (JECC) is providing these operational-level capabilities, Rear Adm. Ted Carter, JECC commander, said in a recent roundtable.
“The JECC capabilities in the areas of operations, plans and technology management were specifically requested by Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez to act as a bridging mechanism…during this transition period–the IJC standup until the IJC reaches full operational capability,” he said.
The JECC team has been providing support in four areas, with the main focus on developing the IJC campaign operation order, which has been directly coordinated with the Afghan military.
“Plans has established the bureaus, boards, centers and cells, working group process, standard operating procedures and the overall IJC battle rhythm, which synchronizes current and future operations and directly supports the commanders’ decision cycle and allows for informed decisions,” he said.
The operations group is monitoring all these operations throughout the regional commands and is helping develop solutions for command and control of operations that cross regional command boundaries.
The knowledge management group is developing a plan that incorporates all ISAF members. It is also constructing a portal that enables the sharing of information among the decision makers at all levels.
Training, not one of the JECC’s primary capabilities, allowsJECC personnel to work closely with the JFCOM Joint Warfighting Center as well as the NATO Joint Force Training Center to develop a long-term training plan for integration and sustainment of the IJC.
“Specifically, the JECC is helping set up a mechanism that IJC can use to quickly feed command guidance and lessons learned back to the NATO training institutions, so they are incorporated into the home-station training program prior to their deployment,” Carter said.
The JECC steps in to swiftly provide high demand, low-density critical command and control capabilities for combatant commanders and new joint task force headquarters until resources catch up.
“We do not view ourselves as a permanent manning solution, rather a bridging solution until the joint manning requirements can be met by the service component or the combatant commanders,” said Carter, who took command in July.
“Nominally the JECC support or deployment does not exceed 120 days,” Carter said. Rapid deployment is key: “As we advertise here at our command, speed plus capability does equal efficiency and effectiveness.”
Currently JECC has seven unique capabilities considered critical to effective command and control, he said: operations; plans; knowledge management; logistics; communications; intelligence, and public affairs.
Subordinate JECC units deploy: The Joint Communications Support Element; the Joint Public Affairs Support Element; the Intelligence Quick Reaction Team; and The Joint Deployable Teams that combine operations, plans, knowledge management and logistics. The whole team can go or the teams can be broken up and individuals deployed.
JECC is an operational arm of JFCOM, officially created Oct. 1, 2008. The change came internally to pull together existing capabilities for greater effectiveness and efficiency and to make them available on short notice. Given command authority, JECC can better execute its responsibilities as an alert posture force ready to deploy on very short notice, Carter said. Finally, it is better aligned to take advantage of joint training.
JECC moved from Norfolk, Va., to Suffolk, allowing more room to grow, as well as better partner with the Joint Warfighting Center and Joint Trainers.
JECC is able to tailor what a joint task force commander wants, including accessing other capabilities resident at JFCOM but not part of JECC.
“We wait for the JTF Commander to specifically outline what gaps that person may need, and know what our menu of capabilities offer, and let them tell us what they need and help us tailor that force to them for the period of time that they think they may need as a bridging mechanism until the other planned force arrives as the permanent manning solution,” Carter said.
Carter said the command is always examining new capabilities and some varying levels of maturity. For example, there is the Comprehensive Approach, an ability for JECC to work and synchronize with its interagency partners at the operational command and control level. Another, less mature capability is one that would aid work within cyber planning.
“We’re actively pursuing both capabilities,” Carter said. “We know that there’s a need for them. We just haven’t been able to completely define how to source and build those out just yet.”