Stop Sending Carriers to CentCom
By Lieutenant Commander Stephen Walsh, U.S. Navy
September 2022 Proceedings Vol. 148/9/1,435
The Department of Defense (DoD) has allocated aircraft carriers to U.S. Central Command (CentCom) for Iranian deterrence at the expense of strategic competition with China and Russia repeatedly over the past decade. DoD is locked in a cycle that regularly deprives Indo-Pacific Command (IndoPaCom) and European Command of the carriers necessary for strategic competition. Incoherent strategic messaging has resulted from priority misalignment between DoD and CentCom, changing political approaches, and overreliance on carriers for demonstrations of resolve.1
Though 2022 has seen a reduction in carriers assigned to CentCom, history suggests that unplanned political tension with Iran will draw carriers back to its constrained waters. DoD must break this cycle and rely on the potency of other assets allocated to CentCom. Iran can and must be deterred from aggression—but without continually holding an aircraft carrier in a stationary and strategically disadvantageous position.
Out-of-Sync CentCom Priorities
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2022/september/stop-sending-carriers-centcom
