USJFCOM disestablishment - Detailed or derailed plans moving forward?

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January 07, 2011

Pres. Barack Obama?s Jan. 6 approval of USJFCOM?s demise prompted USJFCOM commanding Gen. Ray Odierno to issue today?s statement about USJFCOM?s disestablishment.

The jaw-dropping defense spending cuts recommended by SECDEF Robert Gates in 2009 (the F-22, C-17, and vehicle component of FCS) were only the beginning. In 2010, Gates proposed another jaw-dropper when he recommended that U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) be closed at a TBD date. The result was a nebulous future for USJFCOM’s reportedly 5,000 Norfolk, VA employees and the warfighters USJFCOM prepares for battle, among others.

Accordingly, Pres. Barack Obama’s Jan. 6 approval of USJFCOM’s demise prompted USJFCOM commanding Gen. Ray Odierno to issue today’s statement about USJFCOM’s disestablishment, asserting that “roughly 50 percent of the capabilities under JFCOM will be kept and assigned to other organizations.”

And the displaced workers are on the government’s radar, he assures: “U.S. Joint Forces Command has an exceptionally skilled and capable workforce that will continue to make contributions to the joint warfighter. We will do everything we can to assist the workforce going forward.”

And that’s not all. A final plan is still unfolding in the effort to unravel USJFCOM. “We continue to work closely with the Pentagon, the Virginia delegation, and the governor’s office in our detailed planning effort. … And we will continue to work together towards a final plan in the near future,” emphasizes Odierno.

Considering USJFCOM’s mission to provide a blueprint for the warfighter’s success for today, tomorrow, and the future, it is uncertain what effect the combatant command’s disband will have on the soldier in the field or at home preparing for deployment. It’s also unclear whether USJFCOM’s TTA (Technology Transfer Authority), hastening technology R&D processes and technology deployment to the warfighter, will be transferred to one of the DoD’s nine remaining combatant commands or be extinguished.

USJFCOM oversaw more than 1 million personnel, comprising reserve and active Armed Forces branch members, contract employees, and civil servants.