Control of Command: Civilian Control and the US Operational Military

The United States military is not monolithic. The 1986 Defense Reorganization Act, commonly referred to as Goldwater-Nichols, institutionally bifurcated the US military into an administrative branch, responsible for the organizing, training and equipping of the armed service and an operational branch, specifically responsible for executing US warfighting functions. The US civ-mil lexicon is replete with theories which provide explanations of how civilians exercise control over a singular US military. This project acknowledges the impact of Goldwater-Nichols and takes seriously the reality there is not one, but two US militaries civilians must exercise control over. In this project, I develop and test a theory of civilian control of the operational military, which explains variation in the level of civilian control based on the organizational makeup and the critical task ordered to perform. My theory argues that four variations of civilian control are observable through identifying the organizational makeup and critical task. First, if the organizational makeup is civilianized and the task is transparent, then civilian control will be strong. Next, if the organizational makeup if civilianized and the task is opaque, then there is civ-mil tension, with tension favoring the civilians. Third, if the organizational makeup is militarized and the task is transparent, then there is civ-mil tension, with tension favoring the military. Finally, if the organizational makeup is militarized and the task is opaque, then civilian control will be weak. In order to test my theory, I examined two case studies, The Balkans and Plan Colombia. These cases involved three US operational military organizations, known as Combatant Commands. Goldwater-Nichols elevated the authority of these warfighting organizations and they comprise the US operational military. The three Combatant Commands I examined included US European Command, US Special Operations Command and US Southern Command. Using process tracing, I identified all four variations of civilian control of the operational military were explained through different combinations of the organizational makeup of the Command and the critical task the Command was order to carry out.