USSTRATCOM Has Made Progress in Implementing New Missions, but Efforts Are Incomplete

USSTRATCOM has made progress in implementing its new missions and  has taken a number of positive actions in each of its mission areas to  prepare or update concepts of operations, plans, guidance, and policy;  identify resources needed for mission planning and execution; and  establish an organization to more effectively manage its responsibilities  and provide the range of capabilities across its mission areas. However, further  steps are needed to build on this progress in order to achieve the broad  goals envisioned by the President and Secretary of Defense in creating the  command. While the command has taken initial steps to include its new  missions in its exercise program, USSTRATCOM has not yet fully  developed a robust exercise program that integrates exercise support  available from the U.S. Joint Forces Command, which can provide  planning, training, and exercise tools. In addition, while USSTRATCOM’s  leadership has provided general guidance to its mission organizations, it  has not provided specific information or identified consistent  requirements for achieving full operating capability and most of the  command’s new mission organizations have not established clear criteria  for determining when they have reached this milestone. Also, while the  command has adopted some key management principles, the command  has not yet developed strategic goals and outcome-oriented performance  measures and criteria for assessing results across the command and in  each of its mission areas. USSTRATCOM Lacks Specific Service Component Guidance and a Commandwide Outreach Strategy

USSTRATCOM has not clarified the roles and responsibilities of its service  component organizations and lacks a commandwide outreach strategy for  enhancing its relations with other DOD organizations. USSTRATCOM Lacks a Coordinated, External Outreach Strategy

While USSTRATCOM routinely conducts outreach with other combatant  commands and organizations, it lacks a common approach across the  command because it has not developed a comprehensive, commandwide  outreach strategy to effectively manage these activities. In our prior work in identifying key practices adopted by organizations  undergoing successful transformations, we found that it is essential for  organizations to adopt a comprehensive communication strategy that  reaches out to customers and stakeholders and seeks to genuinely engage  them in the organization’s transformation. Conclusions

USSTRATCOM has been assigned a new role in providing the President  and the Secretary of Defense with an expanded set of military options to  more effectively respond to emerging global, transregional, and  asymmetric threats to U.S. national security, including those involving  weapons of mass destruction. While broad guidance is provided in the Joint Staff’s  Unified Action Armed Forces publication on the relationships and  authorities of the military services in supporting combatant commanders  and by USSTRATCOM in various documents, we continue to believe that  additional guidance from the Commander, U.S. Strategic Command, to the  command’s service components is needed to provide clear and specific  information about their responsibilities, requirements, relationships, and  expectations for supporting the command’s headquarters and subordinate  mission organizations, particularly since the components have expressed a  desire for further guidance from the command. We then  compared USSTRATCOM’s approach against these examples of success  that we had identified in other organizations to determine the extent to  which USSTRATCOM had these elements in place. To assess the extent to which USSTRATCOM has made progress defining  organizational responsibilities and establishing relationships with other  DOD commands and organizations, we obtained and reviewed relevant  documents and spoke with various officials involved in implementing and  advocating for the command’s new missions about its roles and related  plans and actions.
Why GAO Did This Study

In 2002, the President and Secretary of Defense called for the creation of the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) to anticipate and counter global threats. Currently, USSTRATCOM has responsibility for seven mission areas including nuclear deterrence and integrated missile defense. GAO was asked to determine the extent to which USSTRATCOM has made progress in (1) implementing its new missions and assessing mission results and (2) defining organizational responsibilities and establishing relationships with other Department of Defense (DOD) commands and organizations. To assess progress, GAO compared USSTRATCOM's efforts with lessons learned in implementing successful organizational transformations.

What GAO Found

Since its establishment in 2002, USSTRATCOM has made progress in implementing its new missions by taking a wide range of actions such as developing concepts of operations for its new missions, establishing processes and procedures, and identifying and obtaining personnel and resources needed to begin operations. However, further steps are needed to build on this progress in order to achieve the broad goals envisioned by the President and Secretary of Defense in creating the command. While the command's leadership recognizes the need to build on progress to date and has some additional actions underway to expand and enhance capabilities in its seven mission areas, GAO identified several areas in which more specific actions are needed to help the command achieve its vision. Specifically, the command has taken initial steps to include its new missions in its exercise program but has not yet fully developed a robust exercise program that integrates exercise support available from the U.S. Joint Forces Command, which can provide USSTRATCOM with several planning, training, and evaluation tools. In addition, most of USSTRATCOM's new mission organizations have not established clear criteria for determining when they will reach full operating capability. Furthermore, USSTRATCOM has not developed performance measures and criteria for assessing results across the command and in each of its mission areas. GAO's prior work examining organizational change and defense transformation shows that each of these tools is important for transforming organizations to increase their likelihood of success, particularly when multiple organizations are involved in mission execution. Developing plans in each of these areas should help the command demonstrate it can provide added value to the combatant commanders and give the President an expanded set of military options for responding to future threats--two key DOD goals. USSTRATCOM has also made progress in establishing an overall organizational framework and identifying subordinate mission organizations that have responsibility for the daily management of operations. However, it has not fully clarified roles and expectations of its service component organizations and had not developed a commandwide approach for enhancing outreach to other DOD organizations. While USSTRATCOM has provided some guidance to its service component organizations, because this guidance has not been specific or well documented, the Army, Navy, and Air Force do not fully understand their expectations in providing support to the command. In addition, while USSTRATCOM conducts some outreach with other combatant commands and organizations, it lacks a commandwide approach to effectively manage outreach activities. GAO has previously found that it is essential for organizations to develop a comprehensive communication strategy that seeks to engage customers and stakeholders. Providing additional guidance and developing a communications strategy should help USSTRATCOM's service component organizations to better understand their roles and enable the command to build effective relationships with other commands.