PROGRAM | Disaster Science and Management

By: Ryan Burke Chair: Sue McNeil

ABSTRACT

The role of the military during civil support operations has significant strategic implications for U.S. homeland defense, national security, and emergency response efforts. In a large scale incident response scenario requiring combined military support from the National Guard and federal Armed Forces, management of these assets continues to challenge all involved. This issue of coordination is uniquely situated between individual states’ interests and those of the federal government. There are issues of constitutionality, legality, policy, financial considerations, and even politics that influence the use of military forces – both state and federal – in civil support scenarios. Despite the issues, military forces are frequently involved in many of the most severe domestic response missions, often in a very public manner. As such, military force allocation and management has evolved into a major topic of conversation among policy makers, academics, emergency managers, and military strategists alike. In this context, there is a philosophical conflict between federalism and state sovereignty during military civil support missions that continues to present itself as an impediment to success. Balancing these institutionally divergent approaches to achieve a unified, efficient, coordinated and effective military response continues to prove problematic.

While National Guard forces regularly support civil authorities, extreme incidents like Sandy, Katrina, and the 9/11 terror attacks often require extensive federal military support in order to save lives, prevent suffering, and mitigate property damage. Effectively integrating federal military and state National Guard forces to achieve a coordinated, collaborative, and unified response has been a repeated and complex problem during past domestic civil support operations. In the years following Hurricane Katrina with coordination issues at the center of the debate, state governors continued negotiations with the Department of Defense to link more effectively the National Guard – or Title 32 forces when federally funded and under state governor control – with Active Component and Reserve Component – or Title 10 – forces. Establishing a mutually beneficial command and coordination mechanism linking state and federal forces would, in theory, improve military civil support missions by reducing the redundancies and closing operational gaps noted in past operations like Hurricane Katrina. The accepted solution to this challenge, known as a dual status commander, legally authorizes a single military commander to serve in two duty statuses – state and federal – simultaneously while executing the duties of these statuses in distinctly separate capacities.

The dual status commander can, in effect, serve as the necessary link between federal and state military forces. This commander serves both as an information conduit and a resource employer; a single representative of both state and federal chains of command through which all tactical decisions must travel. This unique command mechanism has been used successfully during pre-planned special security events throughout the United States. With this knowledge and with the consent of state governors, Section 515 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) specified that during the simultaneous employment of the federal Armed Forces and state National Guard forces, the dual status commander arrangement would be the “usual and customary command and control arrangement, including for missions involving a major disaster or emergency.”

Used for the first time in an unplanned capacity during the response to Hurricane Sandy in New York, the dual status commander concept demonstrated promise compared to past events. However, there are numerous gaps in the available dual status commander guidance leading to increased complexity and confusion during contingency operations in the homeland. This dissertation uses a case study approach to examine the dual status commander arrangement used in New York under Joint Task Force Sandy during the storm response. Using the data and information collected for the case study as a basis for continued analysis, a process improvement approach called maturity modeling is used to create a comprehensive list of operational best practices – or essential task considerations – that can be used to improve future mission performance and decision making. This process model, referred to as the Dual Status Commander Capability Maturity Model (DSC2M2) identifies goals, practices, and key requirements of successful dual status commander operations as seen by those involved in the planning, preparation, and execution of these critical operations. Building on this and the analysis presented during the Hurricane Sandy case study, the dissertation also includes fifteen strategy and policy-specific recommendations intended to help improve future unplanned domestic response operations.

The intent of the research is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the Hurricane Sandy military response operation under the dual status commander arrangement. The operational maturity model and associated strategy and policy recommendations offer military and defense officials a unique and comprehensive analysis of the response effort as well as a tool to assist decision making during future challenges of a similar scope. The model and recommendations provide a unique way to examine the dual status commander arrangement and develop a structure for improving our understanding of and ability to execute such complex missions in the future. In addition to contributing knowledge to the early stages of Hurricane Sandy research, this work adds to the limited body of knowledge focused on dual status commanders. The process model and recommendations also contribute to the evolving dual status commander discussions and provide a practical tool and base of analysis for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of this critical military mission capability well into the future.

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