Now that all four Services will have representation in the AirSea Battle Office, one is forced to consider the possibiilty that this new organization potentially overlaps with one already in existence. To that end, I offer the Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense Office (JIAMDO), formerly known as the Joint Theater Air and Missile Defense Organzation (JTAMDO). By way of full disclosure, I worked at JTAMDO for three years from 2001-2004.
Staffed by officers from the four services (with heavy emphasis on those elements of the Joint force most in play in AirSea Battle, including air and missile defense, electronic warfare and attack operations), JIAMDO already provides a Joint venue for the coordination and integration of DOTMLP-F. Additionally, JIAMDO is the primary Joint organization responsible for interoperability/management of data links and networks that are critical to the kinds of things ASB seeks to do. Never a big favorite of the Services, JTAMDO/JIAMDO played the role of honest broker in reviewing Service plans, wielding Joint authority to attempt to ensure IAMD was "organized, trained and equipped" as an ensemble. Additionally, JIAMDO/JTAMDO stewards a number of highly classified capabilities also likely to be important in an A2AD environment.
What doesn't JIAMDO have? It doesn't work all aspects of A2AD (anti-surface, anti-submarine in particular). But rather than build an organization whose work is largely done by another already in existence, why not "subsume" JIAMDO as the nucleus of the ASBO and supplement it with SME's from the capability areas not already covered? I'm sure there are enormously important bureaucratic reasons why this is downright impossible, but in an era of constrained resources, should we be starting up an office from the get-go that overlaps another's AOR?
Bryan McGrath
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