AIR LAND SEA BULLETIN Attack the Network - ALSA

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FRIENDLY, NEUTRAL, AND THREAT NETWORKS SHOW COMPARABLE ENGAGEMENT VALUE Soldiers with Alpha Company, 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division launch a mine clearing explosive line charge on a road in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, 10 February 2011. The route clearing procedure was used to destroy improvised explosive devices. (Photo by SPC Zach Burke, USA) To neutralize threat networks, commanders must support and influence friendly and neutral networks By LTC Haimes Kilgore, Patrick Ryan, Mark Villegas, Jean-Yves Wood, and Michael Grant Attack the Network (AtN) focused on neutralizing the threat network, which caused commanders, in most instances, to overlook friendly and neutral networks. Network engagement changes the commander’s focus from solely attacking threat networks to identifying, defining, and effectively engaging friendly, neutral, and threat networks, giving the host nation (HN) the capability to operate independently of United States (US) or North American Treaty Organization forces. The numerous adaptive networks pose varying threats to unified land operations. To neutralize threat networks, commanders must support and influence friendly and ALSB 2012-2 8 neutral networks where US Soldiers converse with citizens in a nonthreatening manner. Accomplishing the aforementioned tasks require a unified approach to conduct network engagement as it is understood and internalized by commanders, staffs, and Soldiers. The Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Benning, Georgia is the proponent for the Army’s network engagement (AtN) line of effort at the brigade level, and below. WHAT IS A NETWORK? A network is a series of direct and indirect ties from one entity to a collection of others. Network engagement delineates networks into three separate categories: friendly, neutral, and threat. Friendly networks share objectives that are aligned with US, coalition, and HN interests. They
generally support the commander’s operational goals. A neutral network does not actively support or oppose US, coalition and HN interests or impact the commander’s operational goals. Neutral networks are not generally considered to be a current threat or asset, but should be a significant focus for targeting resources to effectively influence them to support US, coalition and HN interests. A threat network has goals or objectives that actively oppose US, coalition, and HN interests and negatively impact the commander’s operational goals and actions. A successful network engagement program includes network analysis, template creating, and targeting. Understanding the three types of networks begins with a basic appreciation for their structure, characteristics, dynamics, and purposes. Although different from an analysis of a conventional military threat, the analytical process for describing networks and predicting their behavior is largely the same. The network engagement operational approach rests on six pillars which comprise its backbone. These pillars are: Understand the mission. Understand the operational environment. Understand the networks. Organize for the fight. Engage the networks. Assess the current situation, evaluate progress toward the desired end state and recommend improvements. UNDERSTANDING THE MISSION AND THE OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT Understanding the mission is achieved by first understanding the commander’s intent. It is essential to understand the network engagement mission in context with the larger, operational and strategic mission. Understanding the commander’s intent is the key for creating detailed network engagement planning. It begins with the orders or initial guidance of the higher commander and is part of the military decisionmaking process (MDMP) found in the Army Tactics, Techniques and Procedures 5-0.1, Commander and Staff Officer Guide (chapter 5). Specifically, the MDMP steps of mission analysis (step 2), course of action (COA) development (step 3), and COA approval (step 6) are the most critical for network engagement operational planning. The output is the commander’s selected COA, refined intent, and commander’s critical information requirements and essential elements of friendly information. Operational environment analysis is critical to network engagement. Figure 1 shows operational environments are composites of the conditions, circumstances, and influences that affect employing capabilities, and bears on the decisions of the commander. While they include all friendly, neutral, and threat networks, they also include an understanding of the physical environment, the state of governance, technology, local resources, and the culture of the local population. Outcomes are measured by the threat’s capacity to conduct operations and the residual effect those actions have on the population. THE NETWORK ENGAGEMENT OPERATIONAL APPROACH The overall objective of network engagement is to increase the capability of the HN or civil authority while reducing the capability of threat networks to a level that is manageable by the friendly network. While neutral networks are a focus of network engagement, the decisive point occurs when the capabilities of friendly networks exceed those of threat networks as seen in figure 2. The overall objective of network engagement is to increase the capability of the HN or civil authority 9 ALSB 2012-3
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AIR LAND SEA BULLETIN Attack the Network - ALSA

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