Shielding Achilles' heel: challenges facing Northern Command in the maritime domain

This thesis examines the role U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) is performing in the maritime domain as the new Unified Command responsible for homeland defense. NORTHCOM does not currently have a permanent maritime component assigned for missions. Instead, it relies on contingency planning for future events and theoretically acts as a coordinating bridge between the Navy and Coast Guard for Maritime Homeland Defense/ Security issues. The primary objective of this research is to answer the question: Can NORTHCOM effectively execute maritime homeland defense and support homeland security without having permanently assigned maritime forces?" Secondly, this thesis seeks to scrutinize the seam in transition from Maritime Homeland Security to Maritime Homeland Defense and explicate potential mission priority, service capability, geographic, and cultural mismatches which could potentially stymie command and control in the transition from a HLS to HLD posture in the event of a seaborne terrorist attack.

Department dc:contributor.department

National Security Affairs (NSA)

Grantor dc:publisher

Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Urbizu, Carlos

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Brown, Richard M.

Statement dc:rights

• This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10945/1621

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:calhoun.nps.edu:10945/1621