USA: CFMCC Flag Officer Course Begins

The Naval War College began a Combined Force Maritime Component Commander (CFMCC) Flag Officer Course at U.S. Southern Command headquarters in Miami Nov. 13.

With 13 nations in attendance, admirals and senior captains from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, Canada, the UK, and the United States met in Miami to discuss topics such as command and control, multinational operations, information-sharing, piracy and maritime security.

Personnel from U.S. 4th Fleet attending the course include Rear Adm. Sinclair Harris, commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/commander, U.S. 4th Fleet, Rear Adm. Jon Matheson, deputy commander U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/deputy commander U.S. 4th Fleet, and Lance Hegerle, political advisor on the 4th Fleet staff.

“For over five years friendly maritime nations have gained from their mutual experiences and deepened their partnership with each other through the Naval War College’s Combined Maritime Force Commander Course (CFMCC),” Harris said. “Collaboration that this course provides is more than beneficial to all our partners in the Americas.”

The purpose of the CFMCC Flag Course is to develop and deepen relationships based on trust and confidence among partner nations in the framework of regional challenges, serve as a forum to evolve Combined Maritime Command and Control concepts and mechanisms and eliminate impediments to effective coordination, and advance the understanding of those security issues facing participating nations.

In addition to international naval attendees, U.S. attendees come from each of the military services. The CFMCC Flag Course addresses the practical challenges confronting the maritime operational commander. Actual regional concerns, and the CFMCC capabilities to address those concerns, are the basis for course discussions and study. Further, the course considers existing CFMCC concepts and doctrine, operational-level capabilities, command and control processes and applications, and the considerations and expectations of the combined force commander as well as supporting functional component commanders.

The course is based upon the principles of transparency, non-attribution, and mutual respect for participants to provide a comfortable forum for open discussion of issues to facilitate a better understanding of the various perspectives involved in a combined force. The course also brings in experienced subject matter experts as session instructors to develop perspectives necessary to effectively employ naval forces as a joint, coalition, or interagency environment.

U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet employ maritime forces in cooperative maritime security operations in order to maintain access, enhance interoperability, and build enduring partnerships that foster regional security in the U.S. Southern Command Area of Responsibility.

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Press Release, November 14, 2013; Image: US Navy