Ch. 3 Define the Op Environment

• Step 1 of the Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPOE) process involves defining the operational environment (OE)
• Intelligence staff identifies significant characteristics or activities within the OE and analyzes their potential impact on friendly and threat Courses of Action (COAs) and command decisions
• The physical space the mission occupies is also assessed

Planning Scenarios

• Planning scenarios are portrayed via examples
• Brigade S-2 identifies five ethnic groups with armed militias and host-nation security forces that have attacked each other in the past 12 months during planning for a foreign humanitarian assistance mission
• A rocket-propelled grenade shot down a host-nation military helicopter in the last month
• The militias haven't attacked any of the nongovernmental aid organizations
• Each group is identified as a threat
• There is no information about these groups available in the command's intelligence data files or in the higher headquarters' data files to assist the developing of valid potential COAs these groups may adopt when U.S. forces enter their Areas of Operation (AOs)
• Searches of various organizations’ data files within the intelligence community reveal limited information that can be found about the threats this militia poses
• Each militia is a company-sized element with various small arms, crew-served weapons, mortars, demolitions, and antiarmor rockets
• It remains unknown whether these militias possess any ADA
• The brigade S-2 initiates a request for collection on the current locations, dispositions, strengths, and capabilities of these militias
• The brigade S-2 determines possible threat COAs based on what is known and assumed about the threat
• The commander and the rest of the staff understand what is known and assumed
• As intelligence related to the request for collection arrives, the brigade S-2 updates threat COAs and informs the commander and the rest of the staff

Planning for an Attack

• Brigade S-2 identifies that an enemy has an attack helicopter squadron that could threaten the friendly mission
• The threat situation template will include reported locations, air attack corridors, and forward arming and refueling points
• Brigade S-2 also generates collection requests to locate and track these assets

Defining Relevant Characteristics

• Defining relevant characteristics of Areas of Interest (AOIs) provides commanders with success that results in time and effort saved by focusing only on those characteristics that influence friendly COAs and command decisions
• Failure to focus on only the significant characteristics leads to wasted time and effort collecting and evaluating intelligence on OE characteristics that do not influence the operation
• Staff failure to identify all significant characteristics in all domains relevant to the OE may lead to the command's surprise and unpreparedness when some overlooked feature of the OE affects the operation for which the commander did not plan

Defining the Operational Environment

• Defining the OE consists of the substeps and outputs shown in figure 3-1
• Includes steps to identify limits, significant characteristics and areas of interest

Commander's Area of Operations (AO)

• An operational area is defined by a commander for land and maritime force commanders to accomplish their missions and protect their forces (JP 3-0)
• The AO includes the subordinate unit AOs and comprises an external boundary that delineates adjacent unit AOs
• Subordinate unit AOs may be contiguous or noncontiguous
• Commanders conduct decisive, shaping, and sustaining operations to articulate an operation in terms of purpose within an AO
• Main and supporting efforts are designated to establish the shifting and prioritization of resources
• Political boundaries and/or other civil considerations may impact the AO
• The command can subdivide an AO to support mission requirements
• Contiguous AOs are illustrated in figure 3-2

Commander's Area of Interest (AOI)

• An area of interest is the area of concern to the commander that includes the area of influence and areas adjacent to and extending into enemy territory
• AOI includes areas occupied by the threat forces who could jeopardize mission accomplishment
• An area of influence is an area inclusive of and extending beyond an operational area
• Commanders can directly influence maneuver, fire support, and information normally under the commander's command or control in this area (JP 3-0)
• The area of influence includes terrain inside and outside the AO and is determined by both the G-2/S-2 and G-3/S-3

AOI Considerations

• Operational and mission variables need considered to have AOI established by the commander with input from G-2/S-2 or G-3/S-3
• An area normally larger than or outside the area of influence that directly impacts the AO, resulting in the potential need of more intelligence assets to monitor staging areas
• An area that may be irregular in shape or noncontiguous and can overlap the areas of adjacent and subordinate unit AOs
• Assists in determining Named Areas of Interest (NAIs) during step 4 of the IPOE process

Geographical Area

• The geographical area from which information is required to facilitate planning and the successful conduct of the command's operation (AOI)
• The area changes as the situation changes and as commanders determine new information requirements
• Consists of any threat characteristics that significantly influence accomplishing the command's mission
• AOI extends into threat territory to the objectives of current or planned friendly operations if located outside the assigned AO in combat operations
• It is typically much larger than defined for combat operations in stability or defense support of civil authorities tasks.

AOI Limit Determinants

• Time limits consider the mobility of threat and amount of time needed to accomplish the friendly mission
• The AOI must encompass all threat forces and activities that could influence accomplishing the command's mission within a two-day estimate to accomplish the mission
• An area is divided into ground, air, subterranean, and cyberspace components
• It may be necessary to integrate the various AOIs into a whole in order to present a holistic view to the commander
• The AOI may be illustrated using overlays to depict the relevant aspects
• Threats to mission accomplishment may also cross into neutral terrain countries
• Commanders are likely to witness increased visibility of friendly operations because of technological advances in communications, which may lead to an increase in neutral and threat actions caused by friendly operations
• Analyzing civil considerations and the dissemination of information’s affect on operations is important

Conducting an AO Analysis

• Commanders and staff can determine how the relevant aspects of the AOI may impact the conduct of operations in the AO through analyses
• It assists the commander in determining the required capabilities for mission accomplishment
• The staff can determine the requirement to identify additional potential capabilities and how to request required capabilities in time to successfully impact operations
• Commanders consider the extent of subordinates' areas of influence when defining subordinates' AOs
• The area of influence should encompass the entire AO to avoid making an AO substantially larger than the unit's area of influence
• The commander uses it to focus on the information collection operations, to shape the battlefield, and to facilitate future operations

Identifying Significant Characteristics

• Identify and define the characteristics of the enemy, terrain and weather, and civil considerations of the OE
• Determine the significance of each in relation to the mission to focus the IPOE
• Building an environmental model prevents unnecessary analysis

Conducting Analyses

• Staff may face analyzing aspects that transcend the AO
• Analyzing threats located outside the AO who likely use cyberspace capabilities to affect friendly operations in the AO across multiple domains

Staff Threat Consideration

• Threat forces and other aspects of the environment that may affect accomplishing the friendly mission must be considered
• Area's geography, terrain, and weather
• Population demographics (ethnic groups, religious groups, age distribution, income groups)
• Political or socioeconomic factors, including the role of clans, tribes, religious organizations, criminal organizations, corruption, rule of law, gender, age, cultural groups, and ethnicity
• Infrastructures include things like transportation or telecommunications
• Rules of engagement or legal restrictions such as international treaties, status of forces agreements, international sanctions, or United Nations charters
• Military, other foreign security forces, as well as paramilitary forces, criminal and terrorist organizations are all examples of threat force capabilities

Intelligence Considerations

• Inspectors identify those characteristics of significance to the command and its mission
• Consider analyzing each characteristic that has the possibility to impact the success of decisive, shaping, and sustaining operations
• Evaluate each threat’s specific capabilities to also consider its implications on the overall IPOE process

Analyzing Threats

• Analysis of the enemy includes not only the known enemy but also other threats to mission success
• Threats can pose with a wide array of political, economic, religious, and personal motivations
• Threats can be identifiable via uniform or by blending into the population
• Traditional (rifles or mortars) or nontraditional capabilities can be used (computer networks and social media)
• Commanders and staffs require detailed, timely, and accurate intelligence produced by IPOE to understand threat capabilities and vulnerabilities

Natural Environment

• Terrain and weather are natural conditions in the physical environment and profoundly influence the type of information collected and operations
• Terrain and weather can favor friendly or threat forces based on their familiarity or preparedness

Terrain Analysis

• Terrain includes natural features (rivers, caves, valleys, and mountains) and man-made features (cities, subway tunnels, bunkers, airfields, and bridges)
• Terrain affects how commanders select objectives and locate, move, and control forces and also influences protective measures and the effectiveness of weapons and other systems
• Effective use of terrain reduces effects of fires
• Terrain appreciation allows the ability to predict the impact of operations
• Commanders and staffs analyze terrain using the five military aspects of terrain (OAKOC) during step 2 of the IPOE process

Weather Influences

• Climate refers to the average weather conditions of a location, area, or region for a specific time of the year for a period of years
• Operational climatology can assess effects on weapon systems, collection systems, ground forces, tactics and procedures, threat TTP, and other capabilities
• Actual weather forecasts and/or predictions, using weather models and others can be used to assess weather effects on systems too operate inside of a 10-day window

Civil Factors

• Civil considerations are the influence of manmade infrastructure, civilian institutions, and attitudes and activities of civilian leaders, populations, and organizations within an area of operations on the conduct of military operations
• Commanders and staffs analyze civil considerations in terms of areas, structures, capabilities, organizations, people, and events (ASCOPE) (See chapter 4.)

Commander Considerations

• Commanders want to have an understanding of the operational and mission variables
• Operations often involve stabilizing the situation, securing the peace, building partner capacity, and transitioning authority to civilian control
• Combat operations directly affect the populace, infrastructure, and the force's ability to transition to host-nation authority
• The degree to which the populace is expected to support or resist U.S. and friendly forces also affects the offensive and defensive operational design

Staff Assessments

• They provide knowledge and personal assistance to assess social, economic, and political factors
• Commanders consider how these factors may relate to potential lawlessness, subversion, or insurgency
• The goal is to develop an understanding to the level of cultural awareness
• Cultural awareness improves how Soldiers interact with the populace
• Commanders and staffs should continually seek to improve cultural understanding to improve their roles in IPOE
• Intelligence staffs can use sociocultural databases and repositories to aid the intelligence analysis conducted as part of assessing civil considerations (See paragraphs 4-96 through 4-103) to improve their roles in IPOE

Significant Characteristic Example

• The intelligence staff briefs the commander on the AO's significant characteristics
• This brief should be concise and provide all significant characteristics pertaining to step 1 only; it should not include specifics, such as the MCOO and threat template statements, which pertain to steps 2 and 3

Common Briefing Points for Significant Characteristics

• Terrain, weather, civil considerations, and enemy are key points to brief

Evaluating Intel Capabilities

• Not all information needed to complete IPOE will be in the command's or higher headquarters' data files and databases
• Information gaps should be identified early and prioritized based on the commander's initial guidance and intent for intelligence and information collection
• The staff should ensure the commander is aware of any unsolvable information gaps within the time allotted for IPOE
• Development of reasonable assumptions to can be used as well as explaining, and developing reasonable assumptions in order to use and explain them to the customer through use cases

Acquiring Information

• The information necessary to complete IPOE is not contained within local and searchable external data files and databases
• Staff sections submit requests for information or requests for collection to obtain the information
• IPOE products are updated and intelligence gaps eliminated as information is received
• New intelligence gaps and information requirements may be developed as IPOE continues
• (See FM 3-55 for more doctrine on information collection. See ATP 2-01 for more doctrine on collection management.)

Explore the considerations for defining an Area of Interest (AOI) in military operations, focusing on stability tasks, operational timelines, and technological impacts. Learn about dividing AOIs, using overlays, and the importance of civil considerations and information dissemination.