United States Strategic Command

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United States Strategic Command
US Strategic Command Emblem.svg
Official Emblem of United States Strategic Command.
Active1 June 1992 to present
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States of America
Type Functional Combatant Command
RoleStrategic deterrence, global strike, integrated missile defense, global C4ISR
Size150,000 personnel

14 Ballistic Missile Submarines

400 ICBMs

154 bombers
Part of US Department of Defense seal.svg Department of Defense
Headquarters Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, U.S.
Nickname(s)STRATCOM, USSTRATCOM
Motto(s)Peace is our Profession ...
Website www.stratcom.mil
Commanders
Commander Gen Anthony J. Cotton, USAF
Deputy Commander VADM Richard A. Correll, USN
Command Senior Enlisted Leader SgtMaj Howard L. Kreamer, USMC
Insignia
pre-2002 seal Seal of United States Strategic Command (Old).gif

The United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. Headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, USSTRATCOM is responsible for strategic nuclear deterrence, global strike, and operating the Defense Department's Global Information Grid. It also provides a host of capabilities to support the other combatant commands, including integrated missile defense; and global command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR). This command exists to give "national leadership a unified resource for greater understanding of specific threats around the world and the means to respond to those threats rapidly". [1] [2]

Contents

Mission statement

USSTRATCOM employs nuclear, cyber, global strike, joint electronic warfare, missile defense, and intelligence capabilities to deter aggression, decisively and accurately respond if deterrence fails, assure allies, shape adversary behavior, defeat terror, and define the force of the future. [3]

Priorities

Commander's intent

Headquarters organizational structure

A Minuteman III ICBM in its missile silo Minuteman III in silo 1989.jpg
A Minuteman III ICBM in its missile silo
USS West Virginia, an Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarine US Navy 090630-N-1841C-015 Ohio class ballistic missile submarine USS West Virginia (SSBN 736) transits the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway as it returns to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga. from a patrol mission.jpg
USS West Virginia, an Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarine
B-52 and B-2 bombers flying in formation B-52 and B-2.jpg
B-52 and B-2 bombers flying in formation

Organizational structure

Component Commands

EmblemCommandAcronymCommanderEstablishedHeadquartersSubordinate Commands
Seal of the Commander of the United States Fleet Forces Command.svg USFF Admiral Daryl L. Caudle 1 January 1906 Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads, Virginia
Air Force Global Strike Command.svg AFGSC General Thomas A. Bussiere 15 December 1944 Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana
MARFORSTRAT Lt General Matthew G. Glavy 1 October 2003 Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska

Command posts

The Global Operations Center, or GOC, is the nerve center for USSTRATCOM. The GOC is responsible for the global situational awareness of the commander, USSTRATCOM, and is the mechanism by which he exercises operational command and control of the Nation's global strategic forces. [1]

Gen. Curtis E. LeMay Building, U.S. Strategic Command Headquarters USSTRATCOM hq.jpg
Gen. Curtis E. LeMay Building, U.S. Strategic Command Headquarters
E-6B Mercury, USSTRATCOM ABNCP E-6B Mercury flies over Solomons Island in November 2014.JPG
E-6B Mercury, USSTRATCOM ABNCP

The Alternate Processing and Correlation Center in the USSTRATCOM Underground Command Complex at Offutt AFB provides an alternate missile warning correlation center to the Cheyenne Mountain Missile Warning Center. It is the prime source of missile warning data for USSTRATCOM for force survival and force management. The facility consists of the integration of the SCIS, CSSR, and CCPDS-R systems and also upgrade equipment and communications links.

USSTRATCOM Airborne Command Post crew members responding to their aircraft during an alert response exercise 625th STOS maintains strategic watch 141003-F-AJ823-045.jpg
USSTRATCOM Airborne Command Post crew members responding to their aircraft during an alert response exercise

U.S. Strategic Command's Airborne Command Post (ABNCP), also called "Looking Glass", allows USSTRATCOM the ability to command, control, and communicate with its nuclear forces should ground-based command centers become inoperable. [7]

History

USSTRATCOM was originally formed in 1992, as a successor to Strategic Air Command [8] in response to the end of the Cold War and a new vision of nuclear warfare in U.S. defense policy. [9] [10] Department of Defense changes in command structure due to the Goldwater–Nichols Act of 1986, led to a single command responsible for all strategic nuclear weapons. As a result, USSTRATCOM's principal mission was to deter military attack, and if deterrence failed, to counter with nuclear weapons. [11]

Throughout its history, it has drawn from important contributions from many different organizations stretching back to World War II. Providing national leadership with a single command responsible for all strategic nuclear forces, General George Butler, in establishing the new command, borrowed from the work of General Curtis LeMay, an early commander of Strategic Air Command. LeMay was a very vocal advocate for a strong national defense, particularly as regards nuclear weapons. [10]

Being a Unified Command, another major concern for Gen. Butler was interservice rivalry, having soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines in one command. [10] There had been decades of rivalry between the branches of the U.S. military regarding control of nuclear weapons. Even though a compromise had established the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff, there were systemic and institutional problems that could not be overcome.

USSTRATCOM was re-structured 1 October 2002 by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. [9] It was now to merge with the United States Space Command and assume all duties for full-spectrum global strike, operational space support, integrated missile defense, and global Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) and specialized planning. [8] Its duties now include intelligence and cyber support as well as monitoring orbiting satellites and space debris.

In February 2008, USSTRATCOM succeeded in destroying a satellite, USA193, about to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. [12]

USSTRATCOM also supported United States Africa Command's 2011 military intervention in Libya in a variety of ways, including long-range conventional strikes and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). [13]

An intention by the U.S. Air Force to create a 'cyber command' was announced in October 2006. [14] On 21 May 2010, part of USSTRATCOM's responsibility regarding cyber-warfare operations was spun off into a 10th Unified Command, the United States Cyber Command. As a result, USSTRATCOM's Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations (JTF-GNO) and Joint Functional Component Command – Network Warfare (JFCC-NW) were disestablished.

List of combatant commanders

No.CommanderTermService branch
PortraitNameTook officeLeft officeTerm length
1
GEN George L Butler.jpg
Butler, George L.General
George L. Butler
(born 1939)
1 June 199214 February 19941 year, 258 days Mark of the United States Air Force.svg
U.S. Air Force
2
Henry G Chiles.jpg
Chiles, Henry G. Jr.Admiral
Henry G. Chiles Jr.
(born 1938)
14 February 199421 February 19962 years, 7 days Emblem of the United States Navy.svg
U.S. Navy
3
Eugene E Habiger.jpg
Habiger, Eugene E.General
Eugene E. Habiger
(1939–2022)
21 February 19961 August 19982 years, 161 days Mark of the United States Air Force.svg
U.S. Air Force
4
Adm. Richard W. Mies STRATCOM.gif
Mies, Richard W.Admiral
Richard W. Mies
(born 1944)
1 August 199830 November 20013 years, 121 days Emblem of the United States Navy.svg
U.S. Navy
5
James o ellis.jpg
Ellis, James O. Jr.Admiral
James O. Ellis Jr.
(born 1947)
30 November 20019 July 20042 years, 222 days Emblem of the United States Navy.svg
U.S. Navy
-
LtGen James E. Cartwright.jpg
Cartwright, James E.Lieutenant General
James E. Cartwright
(born 1949)
Acting
9 July 20041 September 200454 days Emblem of the United States Marine Corps.svg
U.S. Marine Corps
6
James E. Cartwright.jpg
Cartwright, James E.General
James E. Cartwright
(born 1949)
1 September 200410 August 20072 years, 343 days Emblem of the United States Marine Corps.svg
U.S. Marine Corps
-
C. Robert Kehler 2007.jpg
Kehler, C. RobertLieutenant General
C. Robert Kehler
(born 1952)
Acting
10 August 20073 October 200754 days Mark of the United States Air Force.svg
U.S. Air Force
7
Kevin P. Chilton.jpg
Chilton, Kevin P.General
Kevin P. Chilton
(born 1954)
3 October 200728 January 20113 years, 117 days Mark of the United States Air Force.svg
U.S. Air Force
8
Kehler 2013.jpg
Kehler, C. RobertGeneral
C. Robert Kehler
(born 1952)
28 January 201115 November 20132 years, 291 days Mark of the United States Air Force.svg
U.S. Air Force
9
Admiral Cecil D. Haney STRATCOM.jpg
Haney, Cecil D.Admiral
Cecil D. Haney
(born 1955)
15 November 20133 November 20162 years, 354 days Emblem of the United States Navy.svg
U.S. Navy
10
Gen John E. Hyten (2).jpg
Hyten, John E.General
John E. Hyten
(born 1959)
3 November 201618 November 20193 years, 15 days Mark of the United States Air Force.svg
U.S. Air Force
11
Chas Richard STRATCOM 2019.jpg
Richard, Charles A.Admiral
Charles A. Richard
(born 1959)
18 November 20199 December 20223 years, 21 days Emblem of the United States Navy.svg
U.S. Navy
12
Gen Anthony J. Cotton (2).jpg
Cotton, Anthony J.General
Anthony J. Cotton
9 December 2022Incumbent1 year, 314 days Mark of the United States Air Force.svg
U.S. Air Force

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. 1 2 "About". www.stratcom.mil.
  2. "History". www.stratcom.mil.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Command Snapshot". www.stratcom.mil.
  4. "US Navy Fleet Forces Command".
  5. "AFGSC Units".
  6. "U.S. Marine Corps Forces, U.S. Strategic Command". U.S. Marines. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  7. "E-6B Airborne Command Post (ABNCP)". stratcom.mil.
  8. 1 2 W. Spencer Johnson (2002). "New Challenges for the Unified Command Plan" (PDF). www.dtic.mil. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 October 2005. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  9. 1 2 "USSTRATCOM Celebrates 15 Years". www.stratcom.mil. USSTRATCOM Public Affairs. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  10. 1 2 3 Rita Clark (LtCol, USAFR); Dr. Vincent Giroux, Jr.; Dr. Todd White (15 August 2013). History of the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) – Nuclear Weapons, Cold War Strategy, Service Rivalries, Arms Control. Progressive Management. ISBN   978-1-30-101083-7.
  11. "History". US Strategic Command. January 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018. In addition to the dramatic changes in the global landscape associated with the end of the Cold War, changes in the structure of the DoD stemming from the 1986 "Goldwater-Nichols Act" led national leaders to favor a single command responsible for all strategic nuclear forces. The new command's principal mission was to deter military attack, especially nuclear attack, on the United States and its allies and, if deterrence failed, to employ nuclear forces.
  12. U.S. Strategic Command Public Affairs (1 February 2010). "USSTRATCOM Comments on Space Debris Article". www.stratcom.mil. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  13. "History". US Strategic Command. January 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018. In 2011, it supported U.S. Africa Command's operations against Libya in a variety of ways, including long-range conventional strikes and ISR.
  14. John C.K. Daly (9 October 2006). "US Air Force Prepares For Cyber Warfare". Space Daily. Retrieved 30 July 2018.