United States Strategic Command | |
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The official seal of the United States Strategic Command.
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Active | 1 June 1992 to present |
Country | United States of America |
Type | Functional Combatant Command |
Role | "Leaders in Strategic Deterrence and Preeminent Global Warfighters In Space and Cyberspace." |
Part of | Department of Defense |
Headquarters | Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, U.S. |
Nickname(s) | STRATCOM, USSTRATCOM |
Commanders | |
Current commander |
General John E. Hyten, USAF |
United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) is one of nine Unified Combatant Commands of the United States Department of Defense (DoD). It is charged with space operations (such as military satellites), information operations (such as information warfare), missile defense, global command and control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR), global strike and strategic deterrence (the United States nuclear arsenal), and combating weapons of mass destruction.
Strategic Command was established in 1992 as a successor to Strategic Air Command (SAC). It is headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base south of Omaha, Nebraska. In October 2002, it merged with the United States Space Command (USSPACECOM). It employs more than 2,700 people, representing all four services, including DoD civilians and contractors.
Strategic Command is one of the three Unified Combatant Commands organized along a functional basis. The other six are organized on a geographical basis. The unified military combat command structure is intended to give the President and the Secretary of Defense a unified resource for greater understanding of specific threats around the world and the means to respond to those threats as quickly as possible.
On 1 June 1992, President George H. W. Bush established the U.S. Strategic Command from the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and other Cold War military bodies, now obsolete due to the change in world politics. The Command unified planning, targeting and wartime employment of strategic forces under one commander. Day-to-day training, equipment and maintenance responsibilities for its forces remained with the Air Force and Navy.