Abstract
Military leaders need to protect information to maintain strategic superiority over the enemy, but they also need accurate and timely information to make good decisions. This chapter reports on an empirical study among French operational headquarters staff that analyzed how officers perceive and implement the need-to-share doctrine, which has only recently replaced the need-to-know doctrine. My findings suggest that interoperability trails technological advances, such that new technologies are the source of many interoperability problems. I observed no insurmountable tension between protecting and sharing information, but each level of operations (strategic, operational, and tactical) seems to face specific information sharing problems.
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Notes
- 1.
Information is defined as any communication or representation of knowledge, such as facts, data or opinions, on any support, and in any form, including text, figures, graphs, maps, stories and audiovisual formats (CDEF EMP 20.202, taken from NATO Information Management Policy, 2007).
- 2.
“Information is a vital corporate resource (…). As such, it must be managed by organizing and controlling (it) throughout its life-cycle, regardless of the medium and format in which the information is held, in order to support coalition missions, consultation, decision-making processes, and operational requirements” (NATO 2011, pp. 1–2).
- 3.
More largely we live in a society ruled by information flows. Bell’s (1973) work on post-industrial society analyzes how we have shifted from an agrarian society characterized by physical power, to an industrial society characterized by machinery and now to a post-industrial society based on information.
- 4.
Those officers were assigned to the CPCO, to the EMIA-FE (French Joint Force and Training Headquarters) and to the État-major de force (a NATO type 2 level -Division level, 20,000 troops) an Army headquarters intended to take an operational command. The primary mission of an EMF is the development of systems of command of a NATO class division. French Forces have two EMFs: EMF1 in Besançon and EMF 3 in Marseille. The exercises and training mentioned in the survey are the 2013 and 2014 PROHN exercises, which aim to improve individual and collective skills in working in a joint multinational or national operational staff. It is battle staff training.
- 5.
The NATO information management policy describes the following key principles of information management: information shall be managed with an emphasis on the “responsibility-to-share” balanced by the security principle of “need-to-know ” (NATO 2011).
- 6.
In France, the decision-making process on military interventions is in the hands of the executive branch and the President is the only decision-maker.
- 7.
“Operational Art is the orchestration of an operation, in concert with other agencies, to convert strategic objectives into tactical activity in order to achieve a desired outcome. Although developed in the context of force-on-force operations, the concept is equally applicable to contemporary operations in which crisis resolution does not necessarily hinge on military success. It embraces a commander’s ability to take a complex and often unstructured problem and provide sufficient clarity and logic (some of which is intuitive) to enable detailed planning and practical orders. It is realized through a combination of a commander’s skill and the staff-assisted processes of Operational Design and Operational Management” (NATO 2010, pp. 5–8).
- 8.
“In a cluster organization, the principal work units are permanent and temporary teams of individuals with complementary skills. Team members, who are often widely dispersed around the globe, are greatly assisted in their work by the use of Web resources, corporate intranets, and collaboration systems. Global virtual teams are able to work around the clock, moving knowledge work electronically” (Zwass 2016).
- 9.
Situational Awareness Briefing, Assessment Board, Joint Coordination Board (the most important of the day), VTC with strategic level (CPCO ), VTC with components, working groups to prepare the main meetings, etc.
- 10.
The problems of information exchange within NATO are also encountered by many other organizations and are mainly linked with growth in information sources and types, connectivity, and user diversity .
- 11.
In a CIS, 80% of the information is processed automatically.
- 12.
The information manager is the officer in charge of orienting and supporting the process of information throughout its lifecycle to provide accurate information, in the time required to meet the needs of the staff. He works under the direct responsibility of the force commander.
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Acknowledgment
I want to warmly thank Major General Emmanuel de Romemont for having opened the doors of the État-Major Interarmées de Force et d’Entraînement (EMIA-FE; French Joint Force and Training Headquarters), allowing me to attend the PROHN exercises twice, a great opportunity for me to observe how a headquarters was getting prepared to plan and conduct an operation and to interview the officers of his staff. My thanks also go to the officers of CPCO who I met, and those of the EMF 1 in Besançon, commanded by Colonel Pierre-Yves Rondeau, chief of staff, who welcomed me and allowed me to interview the officers of his staff. I cannot name all the officers I talked to in this study, but I would like to express my highest gratitude to all of them. I wish to express my debt and my gratefulness to Irina Goldenberg and Joe Soeters for having trusted me since the very beginning and for the great editing job they’ve done on my paper.
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Jankowski, B. (2017). Information Sharing Among Military Operational Staff: The French Officers’ Experience. In: Goldenberg, I., Soeters, J., Dean, W. (eds) Information Sharing in Military Operations. Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42819-2_5
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