Planning is an essential aspect of military confrontations, and it is necessary for army leaders to be able to make sound decisions in order to succeed. Without required information on an adversary, it is not possible to defeat them. The primary objective of Joint Intelligence Preparation of Operational Environment (JIPOE) is the collection of data to aid the decision-making process of the commander (Department of Defense 20). JIPOE is the primary means of how intelligence organizations produce intelligence products.
It is essential to mention that JIPOE is concerned with the adversary’s potential course of action in multiple domains, including diplomacy, military, cyberspace, and economics. It is a continuous analytical process that is comprised of four main steps. The first step is to define the operational environment – this step includes the analysis of the joint force commander’s end goal and collecting data about characteristics of the operational environment (Department of Defense 46). It should be noted that focusing on irrelevant aspects of the operational area may lead to wasted resources and mission failure.
After defining the operational area, the next step is to evaluate the impact this area has on both friendly and adversary forces. Some of the outcomes of this step are diagrams, data on demographics of the region, meteorological and oceanographic factors, and information environment (Santacroce 52). The primary objectives of this step are to obtain geospatial and systems perspective of the area and evaluate how these domains influence the military and diplomatic abilities of adversaries and friendly forces (Santacroce 54). Systems perspective encompasses data on political capabilities, military strengths, economical options, infrastructure, physical environment, and time.
Information about the adversary is collected during the third step. This phase includes the identification of strengths and weaknesses of the adversary, their source of power in terms of military, political, and economic vulnerabilities that can be exploited, and tactics that they usually employ (Department of Defense 54). In other words, this step is comprised of activities that are aimed at building a holistic picture of the adversary. The current status of the adversary is also evaluated – for instance, information about the dislocation, training status, strength, logistics, and tactics of the opponent is obtained.
The last step of the process is to make a detailed list of the adversary’s potential courses of action (COA). Such information is valuable for the anticipation of the opponent’s activities and the development of countermeasures. This step goes beyond the scope of the operational area, because the intents and strategies of the adversary may extend further than the borders of current confrontation (Santacroce 55). Each potential COA should be as detailed as possible in order for joint forces to prepare for multiple outcomes. They also should meet the minimum criteria to be considered. They should be suitable for meeting the adversary’s objectives, feasible, unique, consistent with the adversary’s doctrine or tactics, and the risk level should be acceptable. COAs must be prioritized, and planning should be conducted accordingly.
In summary, JIPOE is a valuable tool for comprehensive and consistent intelligence collection. As a joint force commander or an army leader in the future, I will be able to make informed decisions with the help of data provided by JIPOE. Mainly, I will use this information to decide whether or not current capabilities of joint forces, the adversary’s strengths, weaknesses, employed tactics, and geospatial factors allow for confrontation with the adversary.
Works Cited
Department of Defense. Joint Intelligence Preparation of the Operational Environment. Federation of American Scientists, 2014.
Santacroce, Michael. Joint/Interagency SMARTbook 1 – Joint Strategic & Operational Planning. The Lightning Press, 2019.