Finishing Together: Coalition End-State Development Since 1990

摘要

Since the end of the Cold War multinational structures have dominated operational level command and control during crisis response. A key factor in the effective execution of these operations was the development of consensus among the national desired end states for each contributing nation. Lessons learned from the attempts to find end state consensus for operations in Haiti, Somalia, Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor can aide significantly in the development of coming C2 arrangements, transition operations, future training opportunities and developing C2 doctrine. This paper also looks at the strategic interoperability issues and policy dilemmas among different nations participating in recent operations and the methods those nations have used to cope with such C2 challenges. It offers an assessment of the level of consensus attained by multinational force commanders in their search for military end states. Several useful techniques provide a clear foundation for future improvement in this vital arena.