BLACKFIVE

Joint Marines:

BlackFive has some thoughts on the selection of Marine General Peter Pace as the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As B-5 points out, this is the first time that a Marine has held the post in the nation's history.

What's interesting is that there is also a Marine, General James E. Cartwright, as commander of the United States Strategic Command (CDRUSSTRATCOM).

STRATCOM is an oddity in the military structure. The military divides the world into "combatant commands," which is to say, regions of influence: the Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) roughly includes Latin America; the Northern Command (NORTHCOM) the North American region; The European Command (EUCOM) takes in much of Europe and Africa; the Central Command (CENTCOM) holds most of the trouble spots we think of as "the Middle East," including Iraq and Afghanistan; and the rest of the world falls in the Pacific Command (PACOM). These commands have areas of responsibility, and forces are placed under their command structures in order to pursue the missions that the government chooses for them.

There are two other commands, which do not have territory to control. STRATCOM is one of these. The other is the Special Operations Command (SOCOM), whose function is largely self-explanatory.

STRATCOM is normally thought of as the "nuclear" command, and it does handle that function. That was where the term "strategic" came from -- nuclear weapons are the only weapons which cannot be used tactically. Their power is such that not only their use, but their development and even how and where they are deployed must be considered at the highest level of military thinking.

In addition to that function, however, STRATCOM has been tasked with several similar functions -- military functions that have to be thought about at the highest level, so that they can be implemented with an eye toward the grand, worldwide strategy of the United States. One of these areas is "Strategic Communications," which we've talked about a bit here from time to time. Another is electronic warfare: protecting America's ability to communicate worldwide, to defend our electronic structures against worldwide threats, and to deploy against the electronic structures of enemy nations or groups.

It seems to me that the Marines' culture is particularly suited to the challenges of the moment -- the business of adapting the military's role to Fourth Generation challenges, with their blurring of lines. US Marines invented "small wars" thinking, after all, which is the template for a lot of the current thinking on how to fight Fourth Generation wars. The Marine culture is also highly adaptive, which may be of use in shifting the focus of so large an organization as the US military.

By placing the Pentagon and the Strategic Command under the guidance of Marines, the military has chosen to test that proposition. We will see how it fares under the friction of war. I think we can all wish it well.