Integration of the various U.S. personnel recovery (PR) architectures leave gaps in coverage and create unnecessary delays when Americans become isolated abroad. This is especially true between the Department of the Defense (DoD) and the Department of State (DoS). Although a few U.S. diplomatic missions abroad have mature PR architectures, each diplomatic mission is challenged with developing their own particular plan to meet the national goals in that given country. Currently, the DoS continues to struggle with the challenges of leading the PR effort within each host nation where the sovereignty belongs to that nation and the U.S. Government agencies within the mission do not fall under the exclusive control of the Ambassador. Therefore, the author finds it extremely important to identify the gaps where they exist and ascertain how the DoS and DoD can most effectively coordinate during a PR event within the context of a Chief of Mission (CoM) environment in order to prevent isolated persons from being tortured and/or killed. The author gives special focus to U.S. Army operations in the Western Hemisphere.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)