Military officers and a State Department faculty member at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, VA, discuss the difficulties of interagency coordination in American foreign policy and national security operations and highlight the very basic problem of the differing regional frameworks and corresponding bureaucracies into which the State and Defense Departments and the CIA organize the world. They propose a common frame of reference based on geopolitical and other important factors, and steps for moving toward it, beginning with Sub-Saharan Africa. Ed .
To enable increased interagency cooperation and synergy, U.S. governmental agencies must align regional areas of responsibility based on a common geopolitical, demographic, economic, infrastructural, and environmental frame of reference in order to enhance the flow of information and increase the unity of effort. Subsequent to the release of the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense (DOD) Reorganization Act of 1986 and mission execution during Operation DESERT STORM, the U.S. government successfully addressed problems inherent in joint military operations. Unfortunately, September 11, 2001, highlighted the need for an interagency transformation of the same magnitude that the joint military world went through ten years earlier. Interagency initiatives, although founded on laudable principles, will remain ineffective unless the entire interagency community realigns its regions to one common operating picture. While the recommended realignment will not in itself solve the interagency problem set, it will provide a solid foundation, that first step, to support current and future improvement initiatives.
This essay will first provide a background on how different agencies, representing different aspects of the national instruments of power Diplomacy, Information, Military, Economic (DIME) currently divide the globe. The argument will then be built defending the need for common divisions, and finally, a methodology and recommended implementation plan will be proposed.
Within the executive branch, the Department of State (DOS) is the lead U.S. foreign affairs agency responsible for advancing American objectives and interests by developing and implementing the administration's foreign policy. Since NSPD-44 created the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, DOS additionally has the primary role in establishing policy, priorities, and goals for post conflict efforts.2 To accomplish its mission, DOS maintains diplomatic and consular posts around the world, with six regional bureaus to coordinate their efforts. The Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (EUR) encompasses Europe and Russia. The Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA) is responsible for North Africa and the Middle East. The Bureau of African Affairs (AF) deals with sub-Saharan countries. The Bureau of South and Central Asia (SCA) includes the countries falling geographically between Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka to include India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP) covers the Pacific Rim countries from China to New Zealand, and The Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs (WHA) is responsible for Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Canada (Map 1). The Assistant Secretaries of each geographic bureau advise the State Department's Under Secretary and guide the diplomatic efforts within their respective region.3 DOS also has functional bureaus that effect transnational operations.
Map 1. DOS Regional Bureaus.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), now a member of the U.S. Directorate of National Intelligence, is a key provider of international information collection, analysis, and distribution. Within the CIA, the Directorate of Intelligence is responsible for studying the political, economic, leadership, societal, and military developments of each country around the world. Like DOS, CIA uses a regional structure to divide its priority international/country operations into regions; however, it only uses three regionally-oriented offices covering the non- U.S. portions of the globe. The Office of Russian and European Analysis (OREA) provides intelligence support on Europe, Russia, and the Balkan countries. The Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis (NESA) provides analytical support on Middle Eastern and North African countries, plus the South Asian countries of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Finally, The Office of Asian Pacific, Latin America, and African Analysis (APLAA) covers the remainder of the non-U.S. portions of the globe (Map 2).4
Map 2. CIA Regional Offices.
The U.S. DOD, America's military instrument of power, is divided into Unified Combatant Commands (COCOM) to provide unity of effort. A COCOM has a broad, continuing mission under a single commander and is composed of forces from two or more military departments organized on a geographic or functional basis. Each regional combatant commander is assigned an AOR by the Unified Command Plan (UCP), where they are responsible for all operations within their designated areas. There are five geographically designated combatant commands. U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is responsible for the United States, Canada, and portions of the Caribbean and Latin America. U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) encompasses Europe, Russia, and Africa except for the Horn. U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) covers the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, and the countries between Pakistan and Kazakhstan. U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) is made up of China, India, Antarctica, and all the Pacific Rim countries to include Hawaii and Alaska (Alaska is also part of USNORTHCOM). Finally, U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) is responsible for South America and the remainder of the Caribbean and Latin America (Map 3).5 DOD is currently standing up a sixth geographic command, U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM), to focus efforts in this troubled area. This Unified Combatant Command would cover all of Africa, except for Egypt. Our proposal would leave the Muslim North African countries and the Horn of Africa in USCENTCOM.6
Map 3. Unified Combatant Commands.
While existing regional divisions may meet individual agency needs, lack of uniformity results in failed coordination. Duplication of effort in a time when budgets, and therefore resources, are shrinking severely hinders efficient and timely work. Under the current structure, this duplication regularly occurs as is evidenced by the ongoing Operation Iraqi Freedom reconstruction where both DOS and DOD worked on separate postwar plans in different locations, with little to no coordination. In another example, an article in the Washington Post highlighted the fact that, In the lead up to the Turin, Italy, Olympics, eight of the sixteen intelligence agencies produced assessments to the games. The finished intelligence products, a CT official said, all concluded exactly the same thing that the threat was minimal.8 Another shortfall is highlighted when looking at regional engagement planning. Currently, each agency authors its own plan with little coordination. Other agencies applying instruments of power are rarely consulted because the different regional boundaries result in different controlling problem sets. For example, when DOS Bureau of Near East Affairs drafts a regional plan, in order to coordinate it with DOD it would have to engage with both CENTCOM (for the Middle Eastern nations) and EUCOM (for the North African nations) for their inputs. Not only is this burdensome, but neither CENTCOM nor EUCOM has the same overall picture as State NEA because they each only have a piece of the problem set.
Effective regional engagement is built from a common understanding of a myriad of complex factors that thread through country borders, and intermingle across the entire region. One country can impact all those around it, so it follows that if the countries within regions differ, the problem sets will differ as well.
Finally, for each of the instruments of power, there is more than one agency that plays a role. If those agencies do not have a common focus, how can they possibly coordinate effectively? Digging into the information instrument of power and using the intelligence aspect of information, this point quickly emerges. There are 16 different agencies in the intelligence community. CIA, DOD, and DOS all have primary roles in this arena, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Treasury, Energy, etc. Each looks at a given problem set from a community-centric perspective; however, a complete picture can require information from multiple agency sources. If the CIA agent following intelligence threads in his area of responsibility needs to coordinate with DOD or DOS, he may be required to contact multiple commands and/or bureaus. The single most important concept within intelligence is to eliminate the gaps and seams in information collection, but with the multiple regional boundaries in play, multiplied by the number of agencies involved, seams are actually increased, leading to intelligence failures.
The problems previously discussed were all highlighted in the 9/11 Commission Report, used today as the driving force behind interagency reform. To set the proper foundation for effective change, agencies need a common view of the world.
By adopting common regional divisions, interagency barriers will be broken down and synergy at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels will be facilitated. If everyone involved in implementing U.S. policy overseas divided the globe the same way, an interagency team would likely evolve out of a natural progression of events. Habitual relationships will form between staffs that are attending the same meetings and conferences; familiar faces will cross paths when working the same hot issues. In a world where name and face recognition go a long way towards establishing credibility, traditional interagency barriers will break down simply because, I know him, I've worked with him before and he's a good guy. As different staffs with different missions begin to intermingle because of these established relationships, their interaction will lead to an understanding of where other agencies fit into U.S. policy execution, where their strengths are, and when to draw on their expertise. With this solid foundation laid, duplication of effort will lessen and communication will flow more smoothly simply because staffs know where to go for what. Regional coordination will not cross bureau or command boundaries (although functional bureaus and commands will) and seams will begin to disappear.
At this point, the U.S. government will be ready to properly and successfully implement all the transformation initiatives that are currently floundering because of poor interagency infrastructure. The key to successful transformation is the proper division of the world.
Geopolitics, demographics, economics, technological development, and environmental factors give social and political scientists insight into underlying causes of national, regional, and global conflict. Analyzing the existing distribution of power, and forecasting the future evolution of that distribution of power among nation-states, gives a part of the geopolitical picture. But to fully explore this topic, non-state actors at the inter- and intra-state level must be considered. This will provide insight into who the regional power players are, what their agendas are, and how they wield their power over others. Studying demographics provides deep insight into the social and cultural issues that shape politics and policies, and can ultimately lead to conflict when not understood.
In particular, tribal boundaries, religious boundaries, fertility rates, urbanization trends and cross border refugee trends all lead to strains on national and regional stability if negative trends are not countered by the national or international community. While demographic and economic variables overlap quite a bit, it is also critical to understand other economic factors such as: level of infrastructure, natural resources, foreign direct investment, and stability of local currencies. A related topic, technological development, provides insight into the ability of a nation or region to merge with the global economy, in particular the infusion of information technology (currently), biotechnology (in the near future), and alternative energies (in the more distant future). Finally, environmental factors such as fresh water scarcity, soil depletion, and deforestation play a role not just as indicators of future roadblocks to prosperity but also as indicators of industrial and agricultural development, by suggesting how those roadblocks are being remedied.9 Once these factors are laid out, and the results applied across the globe, groupings of common results begin to emerge.
Based on the recommended analysis, USG agencies should divide the globe into six somewhat homogenous groupings: Western Region, Orthodox Region, North Africa & Near East Region, Far East Region, Latin Region, and the Sub-Saharan Region.10
Map 4. Recommended Regions.
The make-up of the regions, and the driving variables that define them, are as follows:
Perhaps the hardest step in this recommended restructuring is the process to implement change. Although regional alignment is critical to solving interagency coordination problems, large sweeping changes will meet with staunch resistance, and only a methodical effort to evolve can assure success in this endeavor. Currently, DOD is standing up USAFRICOM, a new major command responsible for the continent of Africa (minus Egypt). If the recommendations of this paper were implemented, however, step one would create an Africa Command (AFCOM) made up of sub-Saharan African nations, with the North African Muslim countries shifting in responsibility to CENTCOM (as depicted in Map 4). Step two would require the CIA to break an Office of African Analysis out of their current Office of Asian Pacific, Latin America, and African Analysis. Since DOS's Bureau of African Affairs is already aligned with a sub-Saharan responsibility, a common regional view across the instruments of power would be achieved. Sub-Saharan Africa would then serve as the implementation template of the common regional framework plan, sowing the seeds for future interagency success.
1. Ambassador William Bellamy, Introductory remarks at the Interagency Coordination Symposium, Washington, D.C.: National Defense University, September 12, 2006.