Army plans leadership center of excellence

The U.S. Army will establish a Mission Command Center of Excellence at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to prepare leaders for battle command and associated functions, reports Kate Brannen of Defense News.

The Army currently has centers of excellence for key warfighting functions — such as fires, maneuvers and sustainment — but does not have one for battle command, said Lt. Gen. David Valcourt, deputy commanding general of the Army Training and Doctrine Command.

Rather than use the familiar term "battle command," the Army is now using "mission command" to better represent the full spectrum of operations facing soldiers and commanders, Valcourt said.

“Battle command brings to mind major combat operations," he said. "What we’re seeing is much broader than that.”

The centers are tasked with identifying capability gaps and implementing plans and processes to plug the gaps, said Lt. Col. Steven Leonard, director of the Commander’s Initiatives Group at Fort Leavenworth.

The new center will establish a concept and organizational design for Mission Command. It is also expected to coordinate doctrine, training and materiel development for stability operations, security force assistance and counterinsurgency.

The Mission Command construct will take into consideration key operations that cut across warfighting, such as electronic warfare, cybersecurity, intelligence, signals and information operations.

Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen will serve as director of the Mission Command center. Caslen, who commands the 25^th Infantry Division, just finished a 12-month deployment in Iraq.