Derek J Vander Schaaf

Review of Unified and Specified Command Headquarters Derek J Vander Schaaf

Publisher Marketing: At the request of the Secretary of Defense, a review was conducted of the Joint Staff, the Unified and Specified Command Headquarters and headquarters support activities, to include component commands. The primary objective of the review was to find ways to reduce manpower levels and overhead costs, paying particular attention to overlapping responsibilities, duplication of functions and excess layer of organization echelons. Although the request was to review all Unified and Specified Commands, the Study Team paid particular attention to more well established commands, because some time is necessary to reach a mature level of organization. The Study Team devoted considerably less time to the Transportation Command, the Special Operations Command and did not visit or review activities at Southern Command. The Study Team had a short period to analyze the staffing requirements of the Unified and Specified Commands. We began by reviewing all recent studies of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), as well as the Unified and Specified Commands. Next, the Study Team visited and obtained missions, functions, personnel, and budgetary briefings from the Joint Staff, all of the major Unified and Specified Commands, Component Commands, Subunified Commands, and other pertinent organizations. During the course of the review, previous manpower studies for a Unified, Specified or Service component command headquarters were also analyzed and considered. In addition, contracts for support services and studies were briefly examined. The review disclosed significant areas of overlapping responsibilities, duplication of functions, layering and opportunities for saving manpower. Several recommendations were made in this report.