Bullock, Harold E. Peace By Committee Command and Control Issues in Multinational Peace Enforcement Operations School Of Advanced Airpower Studies, Air University, Maxwell AFB AL, Feb 1995.
The United States has been involved in peace enforcement operations for many years. In that time we have learned some lessons. Unfortunately, we continue to repeat many of the same mistakes. Sometimes we have forgotten hard-learned lessons, and sometimes we never learned from our earlier experiences. The Dominican Republic deployment of 1965-66 and recent experiences under the Unified Task Force, Somalia (UNITAF) and United Nations Operations, Somalia II (UNOSOM 11) are representative peace enforcement operations. This paper examines which lessons we learned from these operations, which lessons we learned and lost, and which lessons we seemingly ignored. Focusing on command and control, the issues can be loosely grouped into categories of force and command structure, political impacts, and interoperability. In force and command structure, the U.S. has not come to grips with the difficulties of operating in a multinational coalition under international (e.g., United Nations) control. The problems of dual lines of control and Byzantine command structures plagued both the Dominican and Somalia operations. The ability to integrate humanitarian relief and nation-building forces effectively into the overall structure has deteriorated rather than improved. Stand-by, earmarked forces, combined exercises (including nonmilitary agencies), and stronger civil-military integration cells could help mitigate difficulties, but they need to be pursued more vigorously.