MOD B - Operational Flashcards
Describe the contemporary operational environment
The complex global landscape faced by the USG includes vulnerable nation-states and the destabilizing activities of both adversarial nation-states and non-state actors, to include hostile neighbors and non-state actors, such as transnational terrorists and criminal enterprises…These states increasingly avoid direct conflict with the USG and indirectly attack the security of partner nations to undermine U.S. national interests. Within states, this diffusion of technologies and hyper-connectivity allow greater ability for beneficial, and malign, non-state actors and groups to network, organize, and challenge the legitimacy of governments.
Strategic challenges such as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are employing coercive methods to accomplish objectives in the competitive space between peace and war. These competitors aim to change international norms with operations characterized by uncertainty to create ambiguity meant to confuse public opinion, paralyze political decision making, subvert legal frameworks, and avoid crossing the threshold of military response.
Identify and explain the levels of the Competition Continuum
- Cooperation includes mutually beneficial relationships between strategic actors with similar or comparable interests.
- Competition below armed conflict exists when two or more strategic actors view one another as competitors that have incompatible interests. Competitors may cooperate with one another or engage in behavior detrimental to the other strategic actors’ interests. Influence and coercion are central to the condition of competition below armed conflict
- Armed conflict involves the use of force as the primary means by which a strategic actor seeks to satisfy its interests or react to provocation. Armed conflict involves the highest intensity of coercive force.
Identify and explain the Instruments of National Power
- Diplomatic. The essence of the diplomatic instrument is engagement—how a nation interacts with state or non-state actors, generally to secure some form of agreement that allows the conflicting parties to coexist peacefully.
- Information. The informational instrument is about creating, exploiting, and disrupting knowledge. A state or non-state actor generally benefits when it enjoys an information advantage over another party.
- Military. The essence of the military instrument is the use of force by one party in an attempt to impose its will on another. This use can entail applying force, threatening the application of force, or enabling other parties to apply force in furtherance of strategic ends.
- Economic. The economic instrument focuses on furthering or constraining others’ prosperity. Economic power is frequently considered the heart of national power. Whether the state has the economic power to pursue a particular strategy, or whether the effort to attain a strategic end will consume too much of the state’s economic power are crucial national strategy judgments.
What is Unified Action, and how is it achieved?
Unified action synchronizes, coordinates, and/or integrates joint, single-Service, and multinational operations with the operations of other USG departments and agencies, NGOs, IGOs (e.g., the United Nations [UN]), and the private sector to achieve unity of effort. Unity of command within the military instrument of national power supports the national strategic direction through close coordination with the other instruments of national power.
Instructor key point: unified action is when different organizations or commands meet to agree on synchronizing and coordinating efforts toward a single end state
Identify and explain the components of the acronym JIIM
- Joint. Connotes activities, operations, organizations etc., in which elements of two or more Military Departments participate.
- Interagency. Of or pertaining to United States Government agencies and departments, including the Department of Defense.
- Intergovernmental Organization (IGO). An organization created by a formal agreement between two or more governments on a global, regional, or functional basis to protect and promote national interests shared by member states.
- Multinational Operation. A collective term used to describe military actions conducted by forces of two or more nations, usually undertaken within the structure of a coalition or alliance.
Identify and explain the three categories of the Range of Military Operations?
- Military Engagement, Security Cooperation, and Deterrence. These ongoing activities establish, shape, maintain, and refine relations with other nations. Many of these activities occur across the conflict continuum, and will usually continue in areas outside the operational areas associated with ongoing limited contingency operations, major operations, and campaigns.
- Crisis Response and Limited Contingency Operations. A crisis response or limited contingency operation can be a single small-scale, limited-duration operation or a significant part of a major operation of extended duration involving combat. The associated general strategic and operational objectives are to protect US interests and prevent surprise attack or further conflict.
- Major Operations and Campaigns. When required to achieve national strategic objectives or protect national interests, the US national leadership may decide to conduct a major operation or campaign involving large-scale combat. In such cases, the general goal is to prevail against the enemy as quickly as possible, conclude hostilities, and establish conditions favorable to the US and its inter-organizational partners. Major operations and campaigns feature a balance among offensive, defensive, and stability operations through six phases: shape, deter, seize initiative, dominate, stabilize, and enable civil authority.
Explain the concept of deterrence in reference to the military instrument of national power.
Deterrence helps prevent adversary action through the presentation of a credible threat of counteraction. As discussed previously, deterrence convinces adversaries not to take threatening actions by influencing their decision-making.
Explain the role of the TSOC in support of the Combatant Commands
The TSOC is the primary theater SOF organization to plan and control special operations and other SOF activities. The TSOC plans and conducts operations in support of the GCC. The GCC normally exercises OPCON of attached SOF through the CDRTSOC, who may exercise OPCON of subordinate forces directly from the TSOC location, or through a smaller special operations command-forward (SOC-FWD), located elsewhere in the theater of operations.
