Enabling Unity of Effort in Homeland Response Operations

: In this monograph, H Steven Blum and Kerry McIntyre argue that the problem of achieving unity of effort in homeland response is not one of poor planning or inadequate resources, but rather more fundamental. It involves the way in which thousands of participants from dissimilar professional cultures think about their roles and responsibilities for homeland response. To address this problem, Blum and McIntyre propose a broadly construed national doctrine, developed in a dynamic and responsive doctrine-producing system. They cite the example of joint military doctrine, which attained its contemporary robust state and authoritative impact only through changes implemented as a result of the Goldwater-Nichols Act. The joint doctrineproducing system that arose from Goldwater-Nichols remedied many shortcomings, such as enforcing congruity between individual service and joint doctrine, identifying and addressing capability gaps, and incorporating the requirements of field commanders. The authors contend that a dynamic national homeland response doctrine, developed in a truly inclusive national system, would have a similar effect in synergizing national capabilities. They propose a doctrinal system that develops and implements operational concepts, plans, and training programs. The concepts are thoroughly tested in realistic exercises and actual operations. The plans, operations, and training programs are then systematically analyzed to inform and update evolving doctrinal concepts, which ultimately influence the organization, training, and equipping of response elements.