Commander and Staff Roles and Responsibilities PDF

Chapter 2 Commander and Staff Roles and Responsibilities This chapter examines the roles, needs, and guidance of the commander in information collection activities. This chapter then discusses the role of the staff. Lastly, this chapter discusses the working group’s inpu...

Chapter 2 Commander and Staff Roles and Responsibilities This chapter examines the roles, needs, and guidance of the commander in information collection activities. This chapter then discusses the role of the staff. Lastly, this chapter discusses the working group’s input to information collection. THE COMMANDER’S ROLE 2-1. Commanders understand, visualize, describe, direct, lead, and assess operations. Understanding is fundamental to the commander’s ability to establish the situation’s context. Understanding involves analyzing and understanding the operational or mission variables in a given operational environment. It is derived from applying judgment to the common operational picture (COP) through the filter of the commander’s knowledge and experience. 2-2. Numerous factors determine the commander’s depth of understanding. Information collection and the resulting intelligence products help the commander understand the area of operations (AO). Formulating commander’s critical information requirements (CCIRs) and keeping them current also contributes to this understanding. Maintaining understanding is a dynamic ability; a commander’s situational understanding changes as an operation progresses. 2-3. The commander participates in information collection planning. The commander directs information collection activities by—  Asking the right questions to focus the efforts of the staff.  Knowing the enemy. Personal involvement and knowledge have no substitutes.  Stating the commander’s intent clearly and decisively designating CCIRs.  Understanding the information collection assets and resources to exploit the assets’ full effectiveness. 2-4. Commanders prioritize collection activities by providing their guidance and commander’s intent early in the planning process. Commanders must—  Identify and update CCIRs.  Tie CCIRs directly to the scheme of maneuver and decision points.  Limit CCIRs to only the commander’s most critical needs (because of limited collection assets).  Aggressively seek higher echelons’ collection of, and answers to, the information requirements.  Ensure CCIRs include the latest time information is of value (LTIOV) or the event by which the information is required. 2-5. The commander may also identify essential elements of friendly information (EEFI). The EEFI are not CCIRs. EEFI establish friendly information to protect and not enemy information to obtain. However, the commander may need to determine if the enemy has learned EEFI. In this case, finding this out can become a CCIR. (See ADRP 5-0 for detailed information on EEFI.) 2-6. Commanders ensure that both intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB) and information collection planning are integrated staff efforts. Every staff member plays an important role in both tasks. The chief of staff or executive officer ensures all staff members participate in and provide their functional expertise into the IPB process and information collection planning, preparation, execution, and assessment. Full staff engagement in these activities supports planning and helps facilitate the commander’s visualization and understanding. 2-7. Information collection planning and assessment must be continuous. Commanders properly assign information collection tasks based on the unit’s abilities to collect. Therefore, commanders match their information requirements so they do not exceed the information collection and analytical ability of their unit. When not using organic assets, commanders use habitual relationships to optimize effective operations as a combined arms team when possible. 3 May 2013 FM 3-55 2-1 Chapter 2 2-8. Commanders assess operations and ensure collection activities provide the information needed. Timely reporting to the right analytical element at the right echelon is critical to information collection activities. Commanders continuously assess operations during the planning, preparation, and execution activities. The commander’s involvement and interaction enable the operations and intelligence officers to effectively assess and update collection activities. The commander’s own assessment of the current situation and progress of the operation provides insight to new information needed and information no longer required. The commander communicates this to the staff to help them update CCIRs. Commanders should use regularly scheduled staff assessments (for example, end of phase assessments) to update information collection guidance and increase their own understanding of the situation. Every echelon works together and tailors the intelligence enterprise. This removes information sharing barriers. THE COMMANDER’S NEEDS 2-9. Staffs synchronize and integrate information collection activities with the warfighting functions based on the higher commander’s guidance and decisions. Commanders’ knowledge of collection activities enables them to focus the staff and subordinate commanders in planning, preparing, executing, and assessing information collection activities for the operation. 2-10. Commanders must understand the overall concept of operations from higher headquarters to determine specified and implied tasks and information requirements. There are a finite number of assets and resources for information collection activities. Commanders communicate this as guidance for planners and the staff. Commanders must visualize how multiple collection components work together and understand how their unit’s activities fit into and contribute to those of higher, adjacent, and lower echelons. 2-11. Extended AOs, the necessity to conduct missions and develop information and intelligence over large areas, and extended time spans can surpass the organic capabilities of a unit. Commanders coordinate with many agencies and organizations in the AO so the unit can perform information collection activities. Terminology is essential to this coordination. Commanders ensure civilians and organizations understand terminology and provide or request clarification as needed. Commanders should gain a working knowledge of joint and multinational vocabulary and ways of operating. They should also know about the roles and contributions of other organizations to better communicate and leverage resources. THE COMMANDER’S GUIDANCE 2-12. Commanders plan by providing guidance. This should include guidance for collection assets and required information. Commanders consider risks and provide guidance to the staff on an acceptable level of risk for information collection planning. The commander issues formal guidance at three points in the process:  Commander’s initial guidance following receipt of mission.  Initial planning guidance following mission analysis to guide course of action (COA) development.  Refined commander’s intent, CCIRS, and EEFI after the COA decision but before the final warning order. 2-13. See figure 2-6 in ADRP 5-0 to review all key inputs, steps, and key outputs of the MDMP. COMMANDER’S INITIAL GUIDANCE 2-14. After a unit receives a mission, the commander issues initial guidance. The initial guidance accomplishes several things. It—  Begins the visualization process by identifying the tactical problem (the first step to problem solving).  Defines the AO. This presents a COP for the commander and staff to see the terrain, including the populace.  Develops the initial commander’s intent, specifically key tasks (including tasks for reconnaissance), decisive point, and end state. 2-2 FM 3-55 3 May 2013  Commander and Staff Roles and Responsibilities  Lists challenges and initial CCIRs. Challenges include any guidance for staff sections.  Results in the warning order. 2-15. For information collection planning, the initial guidance includes—  Initial timeline for information collection planning.  Initial information collection focus.  Initial information requirements.  Authorized movement.  Collection and product development timeline. 2-16. The initial warning order can alert information collection assets to begin collection activities. If this is the case, the initial warning order includes—  Named areas of interest (NAIs) covered.  Collection tasks and information requirements collected.  Precise guidance on infiltration method, reporting criteria and timelines, fire support, and casualty evacuation plan. INITIAL PLANNING GUIDANCE 2-17. The commander issues the commander’s planning guidance during the mission analysis step of the MDMP, following the approval of the restated mission and mission analysis brief. Part of the commander’s planning guidance is directly related to collection activities—the initial CCIRs and information collection guidance. The guidance for planning should contain sufficient information for the operations officer to complete a draft information collection plan. As a minimum, the commander’s planning guidance includes—  Current CCIRs.  Focus and tempo.  Engagement criteria.  Acceptable risk to assets. 2-18. The commander issues the initial commander’s intent with the commander’s planning guidance. The staff verifies the draft information collection plan synchronizes with the commander’s initial intent and assesses any ongoing information collection activities. The staff recommends changes to support the commander’s intent, CCIRs, and concept of operations. REFINED COMMANDER’S INTENT, CCIRS, AND EEFI 2-19. After the decision briefing, the commander determines a COA the unit follows and issues final planning guidance. Final planning guidance includes—  Any new CCIRs, including the LTIOV.  Rehearsals. THE STAFF’S ROLE 2-20. The staff must function as a single, cohesive unit. Effective staff members know their respective responsibilities and duties. They are also familiar with the responsibilities and duties of other staff members. (See ATTP 5-0.1 for staff duties and responsibilities.) Other coordinating staff members’ information collection responsibilities include helping develop the information collection plan and annexes. 2-21. The chief of staff or executive officer directs the efforts of coordinating and special staff officers, integrates and synchronizes plans and orders, and supervises management of the CCIRs. 2-22. The G-2 (S-2) must work with the entire staff to identify collection requirements and implement the information collection plan. The intelligence staff determines collection requirements (based upon inputs from the commander and other staff sections), develops the information collection matrix with input from the staff representatives, and continues to work with the staff planners to develop the information collection 3 May 2013 FM 3-55 2-3 Chapter 2 plan. The G-2 (S-2) also identifies those intelligence assets and resources that provide answers to the CCIRs. 2-23. The G-2X (S-2X) (hereafter referred to as the 2X) is the doctrinal term for the counterintelligence and human intelligence staff officer who works directly for the G-2 (S-2). The term also refers to the staff section led by the 2X. The 2X manages counterintelligence and human intelligence operations to support the overall unit operation. The 2X section works with the G-2 (S-2) in information collection planning and assessing, taking developed counterintelligence and human intelligence requirements and identifying the proper assets to answer the requirements. This information helps develop requirement planning tools and the overall collection plan. 2-24. The G-3 (S-3) is the primary information collection tasking and directing staff officer in the unit, tasking the organic and assigned assets for execution. The G-3 (S-3) collaboratively develops the information collection plan and ensures it synchronizes with the operation plan. 2-25. The other members of the staff support the operations process. Through the planning process, staffs develop requirements, including CCIRs, and put those into the information collection plan. Staffs also monitor the situation and progress of the operation towards the commander’s desired goal. Staffs also prepare running estimates and continuously assess how new information impacts conducting operations. They update running estimates and determine if adjustments to the operation are required. Through this process, the staffs ensure that the information collection plan remains updated as the situation changes, the requirements are answered, or new requirements are developed. 2-26. Staff members consider the following when supporting the information collection planning and execution:  Nature of the mission. Offensive, defensive, and stability or defense support of civil authorities operations have different requirements, timeframes, rules of engagement, and other differences. These differences influence information staffs require to provide recommendations or decisions. Unit movements before an operation begins may require a route reconnaissance.  Terrain and weather. Environments (urban, mountain, jungle, and desert), the size of the operational area, trafficability, and severe weather conditions affect when and how assets are deployed and may degrade sensor capabilities. Additionally, terrain management for asset locations is a staff responsibility when creating the information collection plan.  Higher commander’s intent and guidance. The commander’s intent and guidance may specify the initiation of collection activities or may leave leeway for subordinate commanders and staffs. Staffs determine how information collection activities support the commander’s visualization expressed in the commander’s intent.  The known and unknown of the enemy and environment. The commander determines the criticality of the information identified through CCIRs, which include the LTIOV. The information required drives the collection timeframe. The staff recommends requirements as part of the CCIR development process, ensuring that requirements remain current with the situation and ongoing operations.  Risk to collection assets. Using the risk management process, commanders include acceptable risk to collection assets in their guidance. This may preclude the use or early use of some types of assets. For example, a long-range surveillance company may be available, but the nature of the terrain and the enemy may dictate the use of a less vulnerable asset.  Rules of engagement that affect information collection activities. These may include limitations on where or when aircraft may fly, the use of tracked vehicles in urban areas, protection measures, surveillance of U.S. citizens (in defense support of civil authorities), and other restrictions that affect information collection activities.  Need for operations security. Staffs balance the need for information with the need to avoid revealing intentions by conducting information collection activities. Operations security may dictate selection of assets, such as an airborne asset instead of ground reconnaissance asset, or the use of military deception instead of these assets. 2-4 FM 3-55 3 May 2013  Commander and Staff Roles and Responsibilities  Support for friendly military deception operations. Information collection activities can support friendly deception operations by causing the enemy to predict friendly intentions based on the reconnaissance and surveillance efforts the enemy observes.  Available assets. The availability, capabilities, and limitations of assets influence decisions on when and how to deploy them.  Enemy counterreconnaissance. Staffs remain cognizant of the nature of the enemy’s counterreconnaissance intentions and capabilities and plan to defeat or avoid them. THE WORKING GROUP’S INPUT TO INFORMATION COLLECTION 2-27. A working group is a grouping of predetermined staff representatives who meet to provide analysis and recommendations for a particular purpose or function. Working groups are cross-functional by design to synchronize the contributions of multiple command posts’ cells and staff sections. 2-28. A board is a grouping of predetermined staff representatives with delegated decision authority for a particular purpose or function. Boards are similar to working groups. However, commanders appoint boards to arrive at a decision. When the process or activity requires command approval, a board is the appropriate forum. 2-29. A battle rhythm is a deliberate cycle of command, staff, and unit activities intended to synchronize current and future operations. A headquarters’ battle rhythm consists of a series of meetings, briefings, and other activities synchronized by time and purpose. The chief of staff or executive officer oversees the battle rhythm. Each meeting, including working groups and boards, are logically sequenced so that one meeting‘s outputs are available as another meeting‘s inputs (including higher headquarters meetings). OPERATIONS AND INTELLIGENCE WORKING GROUP 2-30. At division and higher echelons, there are dedicated cells responsible for information collection planning. At battalion and brigade, there are no designated cells for information collection planning. The operations and intelligence staffs provide this function. Depending on the availability of personnel, the commander may choose to designate an ad hoc group referred to as an operations and intelligence working group. Because the primary staff officers’ responsibilities are not delegated, the chief of staff or executive officer should direct and manage the efforts of this working group to achieve a fully synchronized and integrated information collection plan. 2-31. Unit standard operating procedures (SOPs) and battle rhythms determine how frequently an operations and intelligence working group meets. This working group should align with both the current operations and future operations (or plans) cells to ensure requirements planning tools are properly integrated into the overall operations plan. These planning tools should also be in the concepts for plans. 2-32. The operations and intelligence working group is a temporary grouping of designated staff representatives who coordinate and integrate information collection activity and provide recommendations to the commander. This group ensures maximum efficiency in information collection by carefully employing all the collection tasks or missions together in the information collection plan. This helps satisfy several requirements and ensures the operations and intelligence working group does not favor or become too reliant on one particular unit, discipline, or system. The working group usually includes, at a minimum, the following representatives:  Chief of staff or executive officer.  G-3 (S-3) (alternate chair) or representative.  Engineer coordinator representative.  Air defense airspace management or brigade aviation element representative.  G-2 (S-2) or representative.  G-2X (S-2X) or representative.  Military intelligence company commander or representative.  Reconnaissance squadron S-3, S-2, the S-3 and S-2, or a representative.  G-2X (S-2X) or representative. 3 May 2013 FM 3-55 2-5 Chapter 2  Fire support officer or representative.  G-7 (S-7) or representative.  Signal officer or representative.  Electronic warfare officer.  G-9 (S-9) or representative.  Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) officer.  Sustainment cell representative.  Subordinate unit representatives (if available).  Special operations forces representative (if available).  Legal representative (if available). 2-33. The working group brings staff sections together. The staff sections validate requirements and deconflict organic and attached collection assets’ missions and taskings. Input is required from each member of the working group. The output of the working group is validation of outputs. This includes the following:  Understand how the enemy is going to fight.  Refine the list of requirements.  Confirm the final disposition of all collection assets.  Review friendly force information requirements, priority intelligence requirements (PIRs), and EEFI.  Validate outputs of other working groups (for example, fusion and targeting working groups).  Review and establish critical NAIs and target areas of interest (TAIs). 2-34. The working group meeting is a critical event. Staffs must integrate it effectively into the unit battle rhythm to ensure the collection effort provides focus to operations rather than disrupting them. Preparation and focus are essential to a successful working group. All representatives, at a minimum, must come to the meeting prepared to discuss available assets, capabilities, limitations, and requirements related to their functions. Planning the working group’s battle rhythm is paramount to conducting effective information collection operations. Staffs schedule the working group cycle to complement the higher headquarters’ battle rhythm and its subsequent requirements and timelines. 2-35. The G-3 (S-3) (or representative) comes prepared to provide the following:  The current friendly situation.  Current CCIRs.  The availability of collection assets.  Requirements from higher headquarters (including recent fragmentary orders or taskings).  Changes to the commander’s intent.  Changes to the task organization.  Planned operations. 2-36. The G-2 (S-2) (or representative) comes prepared to provide the following:  The current enemy situation.  The current information collection priorities and strategies.  Current requirements planning tools.  The situational template tailored to the time discussed.  Support from resources the G-2 (S-2) must request from higher headquarters.  Weather and effects of weather on intelligence collection, reconnaissance, and surveillance. 2-37. Table 2-1 describes an example for the operations and intelligence working group. 2-6 FM 3-55 3 May 2013  Commander and Staff Roles and Responsibilities Table 2-1. Example of the operations and intelligence working group Purpose: To synchronize information collection Staff Proponent: G-2 (S-2) with operations, determine current requirements Chair: Deputy commander and make full use of all available assets to meet Attendees: Primary staff sections, fires officer, the commander’s intent and requirements. G-2X (S-2X), brigade or battalion liaison officers, Frequency: Twice weekly. and Air Force liaison officer. Duration: 30 to 45 minutes. Location: To be determined. Inputs: Agenda: Command group guidance. Command group guidance review. Area of operations update. Area of operations review. CCIRs update. Past information collection plan review. Future operations requirements. Weather. Subordinate unit requirements. Future operations requirements. Targeting requirements. Subordinate unit requirements. Air tasking order nomination. Targeting requirements. Outputs: Allocation of collection resources and Priorities and recommendations for latest assets availability. information collection plan. Issues review. Latest scrub of the commander’s critical Summary. information requirements. Closing comments. Fragmentary order input. FUSION WORKING GROUP 2-38. Typically, brigade and above form a fusion working group. This working group refines and fuses the intelligence between the command and its subordinate units. The output of this working group provides the intelligence staff with refinements to the situation template and the event template. The working group also refines existing PIRs and recommends new PIRs to the operations and intelligence working group. Additionally, the working group reviews requirements to ensure currency. TARGETING WORKING GROUP 2-39. The targeting working group synchronizes the unit’s targeting assets and priorities. For the staff, supporting the planning for the decide, detect, deliver, and assess (known as D3A) activities of the targeting process requires continuous update of IPB products (such as situation templates and COA matrixes). The targeting working group considers targeting related collection and exploitation requirements. It also recommends additional requirements to the operations and intelligence working group. Staffs articulate these requirements early in the targeting process to support target development and other assessments. 2-40. Information collection support to target development takes D3A methodology and applies this to the development of targets. Units using other targeting techniques—such as find, fix, finish, exploit, analyze, and disseminate (known as F3EAD) or find, fix, track, target, engage, and assess—require no adaptation to the information collection support to targeting process. Nominations for request to current and future tasking orders as well as refinements to the high-value target lists are outputs of this working group. 2-41. The results of these working groups form the basis of the requests for information collection and products the intelligence staff uses to create requirements planning tools. The operations staff integrates these tools in the creation of the information collection plan. 3 May 2013 FM 3-55 2-7