Add in the fact that, at least in Baghdad, technically the Iraqi Security Forces are the battlespace owners and you get an even more difficult situation.

That being said, our Brigade, which was responsible for all of Baghdad Province, was the U.S. battlespace owner if you will. As 82redleg mentioned, we maintained situational awareness of all units/convoys/PRTs/Transition Teams/State Department moving in, out and through our area. If any incidents happened from an IED strike to a vehicle breaking down in a convoy (civilian or military), one of our organic battalions would have to respond. We fought daily with getting outside units to report in as they transited our battlespace to ensure we had visibility in case of an incident so we could rapidly respond with assets to assist.

We did not have operational control over units transiting our battlespace nor would any other battlespace owner without prior coordination.

I've personally seen a major shift in how outside units (i.e. SOF) operated in our battlespace. A few years ago, a box would go up over an area without warning, SOF would do their thing, then leave the mess behind for the battlespace owner to deal with. What I saw this tour was a lot more coordination between SOF and the battlespace owners. We knew where every SOF mission was going prior to launch so we could be prepared to assist with QRF assets and coordinate with the ISF battlespace owners as well. Definitely a plus from how things were a few years back.