Information Operations Joint Publication 3 13

This Joint Chiefs of Staff manual, Joint Publication JP 3-13 Information Operations Change 1 November 2014, sets forth joint doctrine to govern the activities and performance of theArmed Forces of the United States in joint operations and provides the doctrinal basis for USmilitary coordination with other US Government departments and agencies during operationsand for US military involvement in multinational operations. It provides military guidancefor the exercise of authority by combatant commanders and other joint force commanders(JFCs) and prescribes joint doctrine for operations, education, and training. It providesmilitary guidance for use by the Armed Forces in preparing their appropriate plans. It is notthe intent of this publication to restrict the authority of the JFC from organizing the force andexecuting the mission in a manner the JFC deems most appropriate to ensure unity of effortin the accomplishment of the overall objective.

Introduced in 1998 by the Department of Defense, the concept of information operations (IO) proposed to revolutionize the ways in which warfare, diplomacy, and business were conducted. However, this transformation has not come to fruition. Two large gaps remain: between policy and theory, and between the funding needs of IO initiatives and the actual funds the federal bureaucracy is willing to provide to support these operations. These two discrepancies are central to the overall discussions of Information Operations Matters. Leigh Armistead explains why these gaps exist and suggests ways to close them. Also in discussing best practices in IO, he clarifies how the key agencies of the U.S. government can use the inherent power of information to better conduct future strategic communication campaigns. Information Operations Matters presents a more pragmatic approach to IO, recommending that IO policy be made surrounding usable concepts, definitions, theories, and capabilities that are attainable with the resources available. To meet the threats of the future as well as those facing us today, Armistead argues, it is necessary to use this new area of operations to the greatest extent possible.

This publication, “Information Operations (Joint Publication 3-13),” provides doctrine for information operations planning, preparation, execution, and assessment in support of joint operations. Information is a strategic resource, vital to national security, and military operations depend on information and information systems for many simultaneous and integrated activities. Information operations (IO) are described as the integrated employment of electronic warfare (EW), computer network operations (CNO), psychological operations (PSYOP), military deception (MILDEC), and operations security (OPSEC), in concert with specified supporting and related capabilities, to influence, disrupt, corrupt, or usurp adversarial human and automated decision making while protecting our own. The purpose of this doctrine is to provide joint force commanders (JFCs) and their staffs guidance to help prepare, plan, execute, and assess IO in support of joint operations. The principal goal is to achieve and maintain information superiority for the US and its allies. The information environment is the aggregate of individuals, organizations, and systems that collect, process, disseminate, or act on information. The information environment is made up of three interrelated dimensions: physical, informational, and cognitive.

Information is an element of combat power. Commanders conduct information operations (IO) to apply it. Focused IO-synchronized with effective information management and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance-enable commanders to gain and maintain information superiority. IO is a prime means for achieving information superiority. Users of FM 3-13 must be familiar with the military decision making process established in FM 5-0, Army Planning and Orders Production; the operations process, established in FM 3-0, Operations; and commander's visualization, described in FM 6-0, Mission Command: Command and Control of Army Forces. As the Army's key integrating manual for IO, this manual prescribes IO doctrine and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP). It also establishes doctrine and TTP for the IO elements of operations security and military deception. This manual implements joint IO doctrine established in JP 3-13, Joint Doctrine for Information Operations; JP 3-54, Joint Doctrine for Operations Security; and JP 3-58, Joint Doctrine for Military Deception. This manual establishes the following as the definition of IO used by Army forces: Information operations is the employment of the core capabilities of electronic warfare, computer network operations, psychological operations, military deception, and operations security, in concert with specified supporting and related capabilities, to affect or defend information and information systems, and to influence decision making. This definition supersedes the definition of IO in FM 3-0. It is consistent with joint initiatives.

The instruments of national power (diplomatic, informational, military, and economic) provide leaders in the US with the means and ways of dealing with crises around the world. Employing these means in the information environment requires the ability to securely transmit, receive, store, and process information in near real time. The nation's state and non-state adversaries are equally aware of the significance of this new technology, and will use information-related capabilities (IRCs) to gain advantages in the information environment, just as they would use more traditional military technologies to gain advantages in other operational environments. As the strategic environment continues to change, so does information operations (IO). Based on these changes, the Secretary of Defense now characterizes IO as the integrated employment, during military operations, of IRCs in concert with other lines of operation to influence, disrupt, corrupt, or usurp the decision making of adversaries and potential adversaries while protecting our own.

Information is an element of combat power. Commanders conduct information operations (IO) to apply it. Focused IO-synchronized with effective information management and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance- enable commanders to gain and maintain information superiority. IO is a prime means for achieving information superiority. Users of FM 3-13 must be familiar with the military decision making process established in FM 5-0, Army Planning and Orders Production; the operations process, established in FM 3-0, Operations; and commander's visualization, described in FM 6-0, Mission Command: Command and Control of Army Forces. As the Army's key integrating manual for IO, this manual prescribes IO doctrine and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP). It also establishes doctrine and TTP for the IO elements of operations security and military deception. This manual implements joint IO doctrine established in JP 3-13, Joint Doctrine for Information Operations; JP 3-54, Joint Doctrine for Operations Security; and JP 3-58, Joint Doctrine for Military Deception. This manual establishes the following as the definition of IO used by Army forces: Information operations is the employment of the core capabilities of electronic warfare, computer network operations, psychological operations, military deception, and operations security, in concert with specified supporting and related capabilities, to affect or defend information and information systems, and to influence decision making. This definition supersedes the definition of IO in FM 3-0. It is consistent with joint initiatives. The publication addresses IO doctrine in Part I and TTP in Part II. Part I also establishes Army operations security (OPSEC) and military deception doctrine.

This publication provides joint doctrine for the planning, preparation, execution, and assessment of information operations across the range of military operations. This publication has been prepared under the direction of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It sets forth joint doctrine to govern the activities and performance of the Armed Forces of the United States in joint operations and provides the doctrinal basis for US military coordination with other US Government departments and agencies during operations and for US military involvement in multinational operations. It provides military guidance for the exercise of authority by combatant commanders and other joint force commanders (JFCs) and prescribes joint doctrine for operations, education, and training. It provides military guidance for use by the Armed Forces in preparing their appropriate plans. It is not the intent of this publication to restrict the authority of the JFC from organizing the force and executing the mission in a manner the JFC deems most appropriate to ensure unity of effort in the accomplishment of the overall objective. Joint doctrine established in this publication applies to the Joint Staff, commanders of combatant commands, subunified commands, joint task forces, subordinate components of these commands, and the Services. The guidance in this publication is authoritative; as such, this doctrine will be followed except when, in the judgment of the commander, exceptional circumstances dictate otherwise. If conflicts arise between the contents of this publication and the contents of Service publications, this publication will take precedence unless the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, normally in coordination with the other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has provided more current and specific guidance. Commanders of forces operating as part of a multinational (alliance or coalition) military command should follow multinational doctrine and procedures ratified by the United States. For doctrine and procedures not ratified by the United States, commanders should evaluate and follow the multinational command's doctrine and procedures, where applicable and consistent with United States law, regulations, and doctrine.