Global Missile Defense: The Case for a New Operational Command Structure

With the very short timeline for a ballistic missile attack on the United States, unity of effort of all Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) assets under one commander is essential for rapid decision-making and execution. Unfortunately, the current approach to executing the missile defense mission, as outlined in Unified Command Plan 2002 (UCP 02), violates the principle of unity of command. Placing components of the BMDS under the control of different combatant commanders creates unnecessary friction in a process where speed of execution is measured in seconds. This flaw is not significant enough to threaten the basic function of the system, but it does prevent it from operating as efficiently as possible. This paper proposes a single Joint Force Commander (JFC) that has operational control (OPCON) of all elements of the BMDS to mitigate risk by ensuring that all seams are removed from the ICBM kill chain.