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Published: 1 December 2008
Air & Space Power Journal - Winter 2008

Lt Col Paul D. Berg, USAF, Chief, Professional Journals

Global Vigilance, Reach, and Power

The US AIR Force has long characterized its mission in global terms. Gen Hap Arnold chose Global Mission for the title of his memoirs, published in 1949. An Air Force white paper of 1990, Global Reach—Global Power, articulated a vision of how the service would contribute to national defense in a changing world. Five years later, Global Presence appeared, followed soon thereafter by yet another Air Force publication, Global Engagement.

More recently, “global vigilance” joined the legacy notions of global reach and global power to form a conceptual trio. The Air Force defines global vigilance as “the persistent, world-wide capability to keep an unblinking eye on any entity—to provide warning on capabilities and intentions, as well as identify needs and opportunities”; global reach as “the ability to move, supply, or position assets—with unrivaled velocity and precision—anywhere on the planet”; and global power as “the ability to hold at risk or strike any target, anywhere in the world, and project swift, decisive, precise effects.”¹

At first glance, these three terms appear to coherently encapsulate the service’s diverse mission areas and serve as building blocks of strategy, but they have partially devolved into slogans that Air Force major commands exploit to advocate their programs. Specifically, Air Force Space Command has become associated with global vigilance, Air Mobility Command with global reach, and Air Combat Command with global power. Such interpretations ill suit an Air Force dedicated to integrated air, space, and cyber activities. In effect, something intended to serve as a unifying vision of what the service contributes to national defense has split into narrower, command-centric concepts.²

Defense analysts at the Air Force Research Institute propose redefining the concepts to restore their visionary nature, anchoring global vigilance to the concept of “situational awareness” and making it the foundation of the other two concepts. The new global vigilance not only encompasses data-gathering and assessment activities that enable global power, but also relies on global reach to gather and transmit the resulting information to facilitate situational awareness. Global reach becomes “operational access,” which comes from establishing connectivity throughout the air, space, and cyber domains. Such connectivity depends upon both global vigilance and global power to exercise the requisite degree of control over the relevant domains. The analysts redefine global power as the “ability to create and sustain effects” of all kinds in each of the Air Force’s operational domains, an ability based upon global vigilance and global reach. They also reinforce the existing trio by proposing an underlying “global partnering” foundation that would enable the other three concepts as well as reflect the importance of long-term military cooperation with other nations.3

Whether these reformulated ideas crystallize into a more holistic vision of air, space, and cyber power remains to be seen, but, without question, Airmen will continue to debate these complex topics. Air and Space Power Journal, the professional journal of the Air Force, dedicates this issue to promoting dialogue about global vigilance, reach, and power.

Notes

1. Gen T. Michael Moseley, The Nation’s Guardians: America’s 21st Century Air Force, CSAF White Paper (Washington, DC: Department of the Air Force, Office of the Chief of Staff, 29 December 2007), 1, http://www. af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-080207-048.pdf.

2. I am indebted to a number of colleagues at the Air Force Research Institute who developed this idea while conducting the chief of staff’s Air Force Strategy Study during 2008.

3. Ibid.

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University

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