Rapid crisis management and force integration in Joint Task Force Haiti

Joint Task Force Haiti Case Study is a prolonged exercise in the rapid organization of crisis management. It involved many different entities (both from governmental and non-governmental sources) to quickly respond to the devastating earthquake of 7.0 magnitude that occurred in Haiti on January 10, 2010. The U.S. forces were primarily led by USSOUTHCOM, which faced a number of challenges in organizing relief efforts. Despite being undermanned and forced into a situation in which it was responsible for integrating a number of new members from different organizations into its forces, it was able to produce a plethora of positive results to ultimately successfully aid the flailing country during this arduous time. As such, it was able to shed a fair amount of insight into rapid crisis management that yielded several notable lessons learned.

Perhaps the most valuable lesson learned in this process was how to best integrate the number of disparate forces that had to join the ranks of U.S. SOUTHCOM in order for it to help Haiti. The most critical of the didactic value that U.S. SOUTHCOM revealed during this time was that it is possible to utilize the manpower of virtually any number of forces. The organization readily demonstrated this fact by successfully aggregating forces from USNORTHCOM, USPACOM, USJFCOM, USEUCOM, USTRANSCOM, and the Service. It would have been easy to yield to this disadvantageous situation and merely claim that there were not enough members of SOUTHCOM, and that the available augmentation forces were not homogeneous with that of the available USSOUTHCOM troops. However, the leaders of USSOUTHCOM were able to make this situation work, proving that rapid organization and assimilation of forces is possible. Similarly, it is worth noting that the primary function of USSOUTHCOM was to provide combat-ready support, yet it was still able to function as the primary entity to help provide relief to Haiti in the American government\'s initial response to this crisis.

The Joint Task Force Haiti Case Study, in addition to the early efforts of USSOUTHCOM, also provides a good amount of insight into how to gain situational awareness in extremely difficult situations. The many troubles that USSOUTHCOM endured in this respect were predicated on the impact of the initial disaster of the earthquake. Conventional communication channels were disrupted and non-functional. However, the aforementioned unit was still able to ascertain the full extent of the damage and to gain awareness of the scope of the situation it faced by utilizing unconventional channels. It made a point of scrutinizing media coverage of the situation in Haiti in the first couple of days in which conventional military communication was not possible. Additionally, it was able to make use of social media as well. By tapping into these channels, USSOUTHCOM proved that it is possible to attain situational awareness even in the worst of conditions. As such, it provided a valuable lesson into the depths of effort required to mitigate a crisis in circumstances that are far from ideal.

Another extremely important lesson learned from this particular case study is how to effectively stand up a joint task force. Once again, USSOUTHCOM\'s involvement in Haiti proved essential to illustrating how to do so during exacting circumstances. A critical component of doing so effectively was utilizing leadership that would prove most efficacious. The U.S. was able to achieve this objective by selecting LTG Keen for this job. Keen was ultimately selected because he was part of the USSOUTHCOM force and had a relationship with several of the people in Haiti -- which was fueled in part by the reality that he had been in Haiti both during and well prior to the unfortunate earthquake. Moreover, there was an immediate response on the part of USSOUTHCOM and its leadership in its decision to actually form the Joint Task Force. It was necessary for USSOUTHCOM to expeditiously reorganize to effect the Joint Task Force. The effect is that it became considerably easier for USSOUTHCOM to integrate all of its auxiliary forces that it had to incorporate, and proves that sometimes rapid reorganization is an essential component of disaster management -- particularly in international settings.