Major Usaf Richard J Hazdra

Air Mobility: the Key to the United States National Security Strategy: Fairchild Paper Major Usaf Richard J Hazdra

Publisher Marketing: Since airlift was first used as a tool of national security during the Berlin airlift, it has grown to deliver passengers, cargo, and fuel to operations worldwide in support of national security. However, Air Mobility Command (AMC) is the single organization that performs for air mobility for the United States. Currently, the UA Air Force has structured AMC for war; yet this command performs operations during times when the United States is at peace. AMC performs missions to support US military operations in hostile environments as well as humanitarian operations in nonhostile environments. The number of operations requiring mobility air forces has been on the rise since the Cold War ended. These steady-state operations seem to overtask mobility air forces. This study centers on the question: Can AMC's force structure, organized for two major theater wars, fulfill that requirement and perform the steady-state operations in today's strategic environment? This study finds that AMC's force structure cannot meet its requirements for two major theater wars and that the current force structure is inefficient in meeting the requirements for steady-state operations. First, this study presents a primer to acclimate the reader to the complex environment and multifaceted requirements of mobility air forces. Second, it examines AMC's current force structure as determined by Department of Defense requirements for war. Third, this study describes the various types of missions that AMC performs on a steady-state basis and evaluates the importance of these operations in fulfilling US national security strategy. Fourth, this study recommends action that the USAF and the DoD should investigate in order to improve their air mobility capabilities in support of the national security strategy. Contributor Bio:  Press, Air University Walter Gary Sharp Sr. serves as a senior associate deputy general counsel for intelligence at the US Department of Defense, where he advises on legal issues related to intelligence, covert action, intelligence and counterintelligence policy, intelligence oversight, information security, information sharing, security classification policy, information operations, and computer network operations. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Sharp served as an associate deputy general counsel for international affairs at the Department of Defense; the director of legal research for international, comparative, and foreign law at the Law Library of Congress; the director of global and functional affairs within the Bureau of Legislative Affairs at the State Department; and a principal information security engineer at The MITRE Corporation. A veteran with 25 years of service, Dr. Sharp retired as a decorated US Marine Corps lieutenant colonel with prior enlisted service. His military assignments include commanding officer of a field artillery battery, senior prosecutor, deputy legal counsel to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and international law adviser for the commanding general of the Unified Task Force in Somalia during Operation Restore Hope. Dr. Sharp's military decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, and his many awards for writing excellence and academic achievement include the Judge Advocate General's School Alumni Association Annual Professional Writing Award and an American Bar Association Award for Professional Merit. Dr. Sharp is the author of numerous articles and three books: UN Peace Operations (1995), CyberSpace and the Use of Force (1999), and Jus Paciarii (1999). He serves as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center where he currently teaches a counterterrorism course, The Law of 24. He has also taught graduate-level seminars on United Nations peace operations and international peace and security. He lectures internationally in universities and other diverse public forums on wide-ranging topics of international law and national security law, such as international peace and security, conflict management, and peacekeeping operations.