Military Police

SPRING 2016

Military Police contains information about military police functions in maneuver and mobility support, area security, law and order, internment/resettlement, and police intelligence operations.

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MILITARY POLICE 30 skills and develop a planning-based culture. The border patrol planning process enables USBP agents to plan against identifed risks to the border through intel- ligence-driven planning. Rather than applying resources and manpower to risks as conducted during the resource- based strategy, the border patrol planning process enables planners to more effciently use resources in a resource- constrained environment. Like Army planning, the USBP planning process employs a design methodology to defne a complex problem and applies critical and creative thinking to develop courses of action to solve the root cause of the problem. 13 However, USBP has only a few agents who have attended CGSC and who are trained and practiced in the military de- cisionmaking process. While assigned to the USBP, Army fellows fll the education gap, sharing their experiences and guiding the strategic and operational planning process. Like most government agencies, USBP is experiencing a shortage of fnancial resources and manpower. Therefore, USBP cannot spare many agents to attend CGSC to continue broadening the planning experience and education of senior agents. The Leader Training and Development Directorate, USBP, began developing the USBP Basic Planner's Course as a solution. This course was designed by USBP agents ex- perienced with the military decisionmaking process, retired military offcers, and Army fellows. The USBP Basic Plan- ner's Course covers the border patrol planning process. The end state of this course is to be the model for future Depart- ment of Homeland Defense joint planning and will be offered to all Department of Homeland Defense agencies. The USBP has already experienced the whole-of-govern- ment approach to securing the Nation's borders through in- teragency and joint task forces. The Border Patrol Special Coordination Center, located at Fort Bliss, Texas, serves as a liaison between DOD and the USBP, through Joint Task Force North, to synchronize efforts for border security. 14 In 2010, the Department of Homeland Defense requested DOD support along the borders of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Army National Guard troops were ini- tially used as entry identifcation teams, criminal analysts, and aerial support. However, since 2012, the support has pri- marily been aerial. 15 DOD support has expanded the USBP ability to interdict illegal entry into the United States. In addition to troop support, DOD provides assistance to USBP through the DOD Technology Reutilization Program. Under this program, USBP acquires equipment for USBP agent use until USBP can obtain the equipment through the acquisition process. USBP has received more than 900 pieces of equipment for use along the border. 16 Coordination between USBP and DOD is not a one-way street. During operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, USBP agents were deployed to support coalition operations along the borders of those countries. USBP agents provided expert guidance on detecting and deterring illegal entry into Iraq and Afghanistan along a vast, sparsely populated border re- gion. Many of the techniques demonstrated by U.S. agents were learned through their experience along the southwest border of the United States and through partnerships with foreign countries such as Israel. In support of the President's National Security Strategy, USBP conducts operations to combat transnational orga- nized crime within an interagency environment. These op- erations employ a whole-of-government approach, creating a collaborative operating environment for multiple agencies to coordinate agency-specifc capabilities in a unifed effort. 17 The USBP wants its planning process to become the com- mon planning tool across multiple agencies within DHS and a planning process that is identical to its DOD partners. The South Texas Campaign is an example of a situation in which lessons learned from DOD were applied to coordi- nate intelligence, investigation, and interdiction through a unifed command. 18 The South Texas Unifed Command was designed to identify criminal targets, which were shared among the unifed command members for discussion and evaluation. Members included federal, state, and local law enforcement offcers. Once the targets were voted on by the unifed command members, each member agreed to dedicate resources and efforts toward degrading the identifed target. The center of gravity of each target was analyzed along with the ends, ways, and means of the criminal organization to best target illegal activity. 19 In an attempt to synchronize and focus the efforts of the DHS, the Southern Border Campaign Plan was established. The department-wide plan is designed to employ the com- bined efforts of the entire DHS to enforce lawful trade, com- merce, and travel and to reduce transnational crime across the border. 20 Currently, each agency operates independently of the others and works together through requests and in- formation sharing. Under the Southern Border Campaign Plan, three joint task forces will be developed and com- manded by a senior offcial of the Department of Homeland Defense. Under the joint commander, he or she will have operational control over assigned assets from Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the U.S. Coast Guard. 21 Therefore, the operations of separate agencies are combined into a single line of effort. Conclusion The USBP currently partners with DOD, other federal agencies, and state and local law enforcement organizations. Before the USBP effort to establish joint task forces and develop strategic and operational campaign plans, much of the whole-of-government approach was conducted by es- tablishing connections and cooperation with other agencies. The USBP, through the development of strategic partner- ships and joint task forces, has shown its partner agencies the benefts of joint cooperation and how each agency can mutually beneft when resources are combined and focused toward a common interest. (Continued on page 33)

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