https://crsreports.congress.gov
Updated December 16, 2022
United States Central Command
United States Central Command (CENTCOM) has
command authority over U.S. forces in the Middle East and
West/Central Asia. The Department of Defense (DOD)
formally established CENTCOM on January 1, 1983.
CENTCOM denotes its area of responsibility (AOR) as 21
countries: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel,
Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman,
Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Uzbekistan,
and Yemen. CENTCOM is headquartered at MacDill Air
Force Base (AFB) in Tampa, FL. Congress has engaged in
CENTCOM oversight regularly, particularly during annual
posture hearings.
Component Commands
As with other Combatant Commands, CENTCOM is a
headquarters; no military units are permanently assigned to
it. CENTCOM operates through component commands—
one for each of the U.S. armed services, along with a joint
special operations component. Each component command
may or may not have military forces assigned to it in theater.
CENTCOM and National Strategic Priorities
A potential oversight issue for Congress is whether DOD is
devoting an appropriate level of resources to the
CENTCOM AOR, and whether the Administration is
properly balancing demands for force deployments to the
CENTCOM AOR vis-a-vis other AORs, in particular the
Indo-Pacific region and Europe.
Statements and decisions suggest that the Biden
Administration, similar to the Trump and Obama
Administrations, wants to economize on U.S. force
deployments to the CENTCOM AOR where possible so that
a larger number of U.S. forces can be available for potential
deployments to counter threats from China or Russia. A
November 29, 2021, DOD news report on a global DOD
posture review conducted by the Biden Administration
stated that (1) “the Indo-Pacific is the priority region for the
review, given [Secretary of Defense Austin’s] focus on
China as America's pacing challenge”; (2) in Europe, “the
review looks to strengthen the U.S. combat deterrent against
Russia, and enable NATO forces to operate more
effectively”; and (3) in the Middle East, “there have already
been some posture review changes including the
redeployment of critically strained missile defense
capabilities, and reallocation of certain maritime assets back
to Europe and the Indo-Pacific.” The review indicates that,
in Iraq and Syria, “DOD posture will continue to support the
defeated Islamic State campaign and building the capacity of
partner forces.” In April and June 2021, reports said that the
Biden Administration had decided to withdraw certain U.S.
forces, including fighter squadrons and Patriot and THAAD
(Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile defense
batteries, from the Middle East, so that some could be
redeployed elsewhere.
The Biden Administration’s October 2022 national security
strategy (NSS) and national defense strategy (NDS)
emphasize competing with China and Russia. The NDS
states that DOD “continues to right-size its forward military
presence in the Middle East following the mission transition
in Afghanistan,” and that “continuing our ‘by, with, and
through’ approach [of working with global and interagency
partners] in Iraq and Syria, we will address major security
challenges in the region in effective and sustainable ways.”
Speaking about U.S. partnership with Arab states in
November 2022, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Colin Kahl said, “The United States remains committed to
the region. We’re here and we’re not going anywhere. This
administration believes that our collective security will
benefit from a more integrated coalition of partners,
synchronizing actions across political, economic and
security sectors, all within the framework of a rules-based
international order.” The CENTCOM AOR’s location and
the resources and defense capabilities of some CENTCOM
countries may sustain the AOR’s relevance in U.S. strategic
competition with China and Russia.
Israel in CENTCOM
For decades, DOD placed Israel in the European Command
(EUCOM) AOR due to significant tensions between Israel
and its neighbors in the Middle East. On January 15, 2021,
DOD announced that the 2020 Unified Command Plan
review resulted in shifting Israel from the EUCOM AOR to
that of CENTCOM. In so doing, DOD noted, “The easing of
tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbors subsequent to
the Abraham Accords has provided a strategic opportunity
for the United States to align key partners against shared
threats in the Middle East.” While improved Israeli ties with
some Arab states may allow more open coordination to
counter Iran, including on air and missile defense, these
states may choose to limit or avoid some forms of overt
cooperation with Israel (including stationing Israeli
personnel on their territory).
Funding
DOD budget documentation does not delineate total funding
by Combatant Command (CCMD). In general, the military
services fund forces and operations assigned to the
commands. CCMD funding justified in budget
documentation is, with some exceptions, limited to
Operation and Maintenance (O&M) accounts for
headquarters and mission support activities.
In the case of CENTCOM, the U.S. Air Force is the
Combatant Command Support Agent (CCSA) and has
primary responsibility for funding its headquarters. For
FY2023, the Air Force requested $331.1 million in the
O&M budget sub-activity group (SAG) for Combatant
Command Mission Operations – USCENTCOM and $1.4
million for USCENTCOM Cyberspace Sustainment.
