CHECO: Shootdown of EC-121 (The Case for Joint Command and Control)

“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for All other.”

–Winston Churchill

The same reasoning is true for Joint Command and Control; it is the worst except for all other. Throughout the entire reporting of this incident, Joint Command and Control policies and procedures came to light which may have been outdated and unrealistic. The Peacetime Aerial Reconnaissance Program worldwide has been an extremely fruitful endeavor, and certainly worthy of the risk involved. However, closer coordination among the services might have prevented this incident with relatively little additional expenditure of resources.