Events of the past decade provide compelling evidence that the national security environment continues to evolve at a rapid pace and in unpredictable directions. Further, it is clear that meeting the demands of the evolving environment calls for new levels of adaptable military capabilities that, in turn, demand joint forces that are responsive and effective across a range of operations from small scale operations through major theater conflict. In the two most recent major contingencies - Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) - we have seen new levels of understanding of the need for truly integrated joint capabilities and new levels of innovation in leveraging existing capabilities to achieve the needed level of effectiveness. Lessons Learned activities have verified important shifts in focus leading to a series of emerging concepts for more effectively integrating capabilities.

Attached is the Phase I report of the DSB Task Force on Enabling Joint Force Capabilities. For the current effort, the Task Force was charged with recommending ways to enhance the capabilities of our joint forces as quickly as the component forces can respond. The central theme of the task force is the challenge of ensuring that our forces are structured, equipped, and trained to come together quickly for effective joint force operations. Given the magnitude of this challenge, we divided our effort into two phases: Phase I concentrates on the following main points: 1. Helping identify specific characteristics and examples of organizations that could be capable of accepting responsibility and accountability for delivering the capability with needed responsiveness, and 2. Reviewing and understanding the current state of assigned responsibilities and accountability for joint capabilities to quickly bring combat forces together and focus them on joint objectives across a wide spectrum of possible contingencies. Phase II will concentrate on recommending further steps to strengthen the joint structure ability to quickly respond with effective joint force operations with integrated Service- and Agency-provided force capabilities.

Events of the past decade provide compelling evidence that the national security environment continues to evolve at a rapid pace and in unpredictable directions. Further, it is clear that meeting the demands of the evolving environment calls for new levels of adaptable military capabilities that, in turn, demand joint forces that are responsive and effective across a range of operations from small scale operations through major theater conflict. In the two most recent major contingencies - Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) - we have seen new levels of understanding of the need for truly integrated joint capabilities and new levels of innovation in leveraging existing capabilities to achieve the needed level of effectiveness. Lessons Learned activities have verified important shifts in focus leading to a series of emerging concepts for more effectively integrating capabilities.

In the terms of reference, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics directed the task force "to conduct a comprehensive study of the ends and means of precision compellence, or the nuanced use of force, in concert with coalition partners, to achieve political, economic and moral change in countries affecting US interests." Real-world events have since underscored the need for such a study; indeed, the U.S. military applied key elements of a measured, nuanced approach in both the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns. We are pleased to note this evolution in operations and a parallel evolution in the thinking of the combatant commands and Services. Because of this evolution, it is no longer as necessary as it once was to sell the fundamental objectives of what we term here the discriminate use of force (DUF). The notion of using military force in discriminate fashion goes back at least to the teachings of Sun Tzu. In the past, however, the military tools available to political and military leaders rarely supported such an approach. As recent events have shown, this situation is changing. New precision and non-lethal weapons and emerging capabilities such as information dominance now enable the discriminate use of force. These emerging capabilities exist within a political context that requires the use of discriminate force. Moreover, destructive power alone is not sufficient to reach many U.S. goals, and it must be properly applied. Efficiency is one motivation. More significant is the need for discriminate use, particularly when multiple strategic and operational objectives are in tension.