WHO?

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) is one of ten Unified Combatant Commands of the United States Armed Forces.  The current commander for CENTCOM is General James Mattis.  He took command from acting commander Lieutenant General John Allen on August 2010.  Lt. Gen. Allen assumed temporary command when the previous commander, General David Petraeus left to take command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan on June 2010.

WHAT?

With national and international partners, U.S. Central Command promotes cooperation among nations, responds to crises, and deters or defeats state and non-state aggression, and supports development and, when necessary, reconstruction in order to establish the conditions for regional security, stability, and prosperity.

WHERE?

Of the six American regional unified commands, CENTCOM is one of three regional commands whose headquarters are not within its area of operations.  CENTCOM’s main headquarters is located at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida.  A forward headquarters was established in 2002 at Camp As Sayliyah in Doha, Qatar, which transitioned to a new forward headquarters at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in 2009 to serve American strategic interests of the Iraq region.

The formal Area of Responsibility (AOR) extends to 20 countries: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Uzbekistan, and Yemen.  International waters included are the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and western portions of the Indian Ocean.  Syria and Lebanon are the most recent addition, having been transferred from the United States European Command on March 2004.

WHEN?

U.S. Central Command was established January 1, 1983. When the hostage crisis in Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan underlined the need to strengthen U.S. interests in the region, President Jimmy Carter established the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force (RDJTF) in March 1980.

WHY?

To provide a stronger, more lasting solution in the region, President Ronald Reagan took steps to transform the RDJTF into a permanent unified command over a two-year period. The first step was to make the RDJTF independent of U.S. Readiness Command, followed by the activation of USCENTCOM in January 1983.  Since then, CENTCOM has been the main American presence in many military operations, including the Gulf War, the United States war in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.  Forces from CENTCOM currently are deployed primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan in combat roles and have bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, and central Asia in support roles.