Research Catalog

Title

Joint Interagency Task Force-South : the best known, least understood interagency success / by Evan Munsing and Christopher J. Lamb.

Author

Munsing, Evan,

Publication

Washington, D.C. : National Defense University Press, 2011.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Lamb, Christopher J. (Christopher Jon), 1955-
• National Defense University. Center for Strategic Research, issuing body.

Description

v, 105 pages : color illustrations; 28 cm.

Summary

Joint Interagency Task Force-South (JIATF-South) is well known within the U.S. Government as the "gold standard" for interagency cooperation and intelligence fusion, despite its preference for keeping a low profile and giving other agencies the credit for its successes. It is often cited as a model for whole-of-government problem-solving in the literature on interagency collaboration, and other national security organizations have tried to copy its approach and successes. Despite the plaudits and attention, the way that JIATF-South actually operates has only received superficial analysis. In fact, few people actually understand why JIATF-South works as well as it does or how its success might be replicated. This study attempts to fill the gap in knowledge about JIATF-South as a model for crossorganizational collaboration. It traces the evolution of the task force from its roots in the "War on Drugs" in the 1980s, through its original manifestation as Joint Task Force-4 in the early 1990s and its later reinvention as Joint Interagency Task Force-East (and still later, its renaming as JIATF-South), up until the present day. It then examines how JIATF-South actually works with the help of 10 organizational performance variables taken from organizational and management research on cross-functional teams. Investigating JIATF-South's performance through these different organizational lenses, and weighing the importance of each variable in light of JIATF-South's historical experience, yields a compelling explanation for JIATF-South's stellar performance. The results contribute to a better understanding of interagency teams and help answer the pressing question of whether successes like JIATF-South can be replicated elsewhere in the national security system.

Series Statement

Strategic perspectives ; 5

Uniform Title

Strategic perspectives (National Defense University. Institute for National Strategic Studies) ; 5.

Subject

• Interagency coordination > United States > Case studies
• Interagency coordination > United States > History
• Interagency coordination
• Jointness
• United States

Genre/Form

• Case studies.
• History.

Note

• "June 2011."
• "Center for Strategic Research, Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University"--Cover.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 87-104).

Contents

Introduction -- Interagency coordination and cross-functional teams -- Drugs as a national security problem -- Legislative solutions -- JIATF-South's predecessor : Joint Task Force-4 -- Austerity spurs innovation : NICCP 1993 and 1994 -- Early years of the JIATFs : 1994 to 1998 -- JIATF-East lays the foundation for JIATF-South : 1999 to 2003 -- JIATF-South : the "gold standard" for interagency operations -- Performance variables -- Maintaining effectiveness : 2004 to present -- Observations -- Conclusion.

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library