Mission Statement
“CEFCOM will conduct fully integrated global operations, across the spectrum from humanitarian assistance to combat, in concert with national and international partners to achieve timely and decisive effects in support of Canada’s national interests.”
“Defence starts abroad,” Brigadier-General David Fraser reminded Canadians recently as he began his mission as commander of Task Force Afghanistan.
While the statement may have sounded unremarkable, it marked a significant change. Traditionally, the participation of Canadian forces in global operations has been at the request of others. Fraser and those who follow in his footsteps will depart for missions knowing the Canadian strategic objective – what effect the government wants to achieve and what spectrum of government resources in addition to military will be involved.
“It’s a new vision for the Canadian Forces,” said Major-General Michel Gauthier, tasked with translating that vision into foreign operations as commander of Canadian Expeditionary Force Command (CEFCOM).
“If we’re going to deploy outside of the country, we want a bang for the Canadian buck. We’ve not always done that in the CF. Now, there is much more focus on effects. CEFCOM will take the broad, strategic government objectives and translate those into operational objectives against which we will determine specific capability requirements for a particular mission, and then prepare the forces so that they have what they need to achieve the strategic effect.”
As indicated in its mission statement, the task requires not only a shift in force preparation, but also a change in mindset towards other elements of government such as Foreign Affairs, CIDA and the RCMP, and, increasingly, more international partners.
Gauthier understands the new dynamic well. He commanded the 4th Combat Engineer Regiment in Lahr, Germany as the Cold War era came to a close and a new reckoning with failing states exploded in the Balkans. He led that regiment as part of the UN Protection Force build-up in 1992, for which he received the Meritorious Service Cross, and returned in 1993 as operational commander of Force Engineers. In 2002, he assumed operational command of Joint Task Force South West Asia in support of the campaign against terrorism in Afghanistan.
In many of those missions, the UN or coalition leaders defined his in-theatre objectives. “Canada made a determination of a force package that was affordable and could be generated, and that was the essence of the strategic planning process with respect to operations,” Gauthier said. “Now we want to be clear on what effect we want from a Canadian perspective.”
CEFCOM provides Gauthier with a single focus: responsibility for planning and conducting of all international operations. At his disposal, he has mission-specific task forces, drawing from all elements of the CF that can be tailored to any operation, as well as a Standing Contingency Task Force capable of deploying within 10 days notice anywhere in world. (The SCTF capability is still being developed, but will eventually be transferred to CEFCOM). The command also includes the Disaster Assistance Response Team.
More than any other of the four commands, CEFCOM will shoulder the challenge of incorporating the 3D concept advocated in the International Policy Statement of 2005, ensuring there is synergy between the various Canadian and international partners in theatre to attain security, governance and development.
“I don’t think there will be many operations in the future that will not require a whole-of-government approach to achieve these strategic effects,” Gauthier said. “If we were to approach the mission in Afghanistan exclusively from a security perspective, then I dare say five years from now we would be exactly where we are today. You need to have the other pieces to achieve sustainable results.”
The provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in Kandahar provides a prime example of how the 3D components can be integrated. The team not only involves the various Canadian departments, but also US and British representatives as well as various NGOs in the region.
“It is partnering in an international sense,” Gauthier said. ”Our approach is different from virtually everyone else. We are inherently team players. We look to whomever we can to build our team to positive effect. We’ve had that reputation on operations for a long time. That’s why this 3D concept applies so much more today then it did 10 years ago.”
The broader spectrum of international operations has forced Gauthier to re-think the traditional approach to training: of preparing for the worst case scenario – combat – and then supplementing whatever additional skills might be required for the mission. “The reality is that that may not be the best way to train to be successful in a three-block-war environment.”
To be successful, he said national partners must become involved in pre-mission training. “We need to bring them into the fold so that we know each other before we deploy. The challenge with that is that we have different cultures in each of the organizations. But CEFCOM can be a catalyst for some of this.”
Gauthier admits that while he is intent on ensuring the transformation process succeeds, much of his immediate attention is directed at operations in Afghanistan and, to a lesser extent, in 19 other active theatres around the globe.
“My challenge is to balance my appetite for progress with our actual capacity. I don’t have all the staff I need yet but I have a rock solid foundation to make near-term progress.”