Armed Forces News

Better coordination between the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) and Air Reserve Component (ARC) would improve the service’s ability to mobilize under short notice, the government’s chief watchdog agency believes.

In a report published last month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) stated that AFSOC has had trouble:

* Giving reserve-component units “timely notifications” that would help them anticipate what they would need to help with special operations missions.
* Coordinating with reserve commands in regards to requirements and capabilities.
* Sharing “reliable information about mission requirements and resources” with the reserve components.

Officials within the special operations community state that the issues stem from a lack of funding to support the endeavor. In turn the reserve component “does not provide AFSOC with complete information regarding which of its units could be used to support … requirements for special operations activities,” the report stated.
“Without a method to provide consolidated information on reserve component units available fort deployment, the ARC will not have the information it needs to successfully plan its deployments, or to easily identify which of its units will be available for mobilization,” the report stated.