Briefly examines SSTR [Stability, Security, Transition and Reconstruction] operations and recommends creation of an independent joint command--drawing on the example of U.S. Special Operations Command--to conduct them. Missions focused on these operations--overpowered by immediate lessons and imperatives from Afghanistan and Iraq--have likely received less attention than they did before the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S. homeland. Yet power projection for humanitarian purposes is a potent extension of a time-honored military principle into the realm of grand strategy. To be effective, however, the forces engaged in these missions cannot merely be assembled ad hoc from units designed, equipped and trained for major combat.

"September 2006."