Grunwald, Jr Major, Usaf

Transforming Air Force Isr for the Long War and Beyond: Wright Flyer Paper No. 36 Grunwald, Jr Major, Usaf

Publisher Marketing: The Air Force, and more specifically the joint/combined force air component commander (J/CFACC), firmly believes airpower must operate under the twin tenets of centralized control and decentralized execution to be effective. The Cold War ushered in an era of centralized execution of airborne strategic intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations that bled into theater-level ISR execution in the 1990s and through Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. This execution construct, coupled with ISR reachback exploitation, has created a perception that theater-level ISR operations are not responsive to tactical situations. Physical distances between the operational environment, combined air operations center (CAOC), and exploitation units have fostered distrust and removed critical insight and ISR expertise from tactical level planning and execution. To maintain ISR relevancy at the tactical level, the J/CFACC must change its tactical ISR organization and execution methodology. This paper draws on well-established close air support (CAS) doctrine and organizational models to build new ISR organizational and execution constructs to bridge the gap between theater-level ISR assets and tactical operations. These models bind ISR asset, exploiter, CAOC, and the supported unit through face-to-face interactions and standardized processes that apply across any theater of operations or combatant command. Contributor Bio:  Air University Press 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.