FM 5-0, The Operations Process - Federation of American Scientists

The Military Decisionmaking Process
B-55. The commander and COS (XO) also refine the staff planning timeline. The refined timeline includes
the—
• Subject, time, and location of briefings the commander requires.
• Times of collaborative planning sessions and the medium over which they will take place.
• Times, locations, and forms of rehearsals.
Develop Initial Information Themes and Messages
B-56. Faced with the many different actors (individuals, organizations, and publics) that are connected with
the operation, commanders identify and engage those actors that matter to their operational success. These
actors have behaviors that can help solve or complicate the friendly forces’ challenges as they strive to
accomplish their missions. Gaining and maintaining the trust of key actors is an important aspect of
operations.
B-57. Commanders and their units must coordinate what they do, say, and portray. Fundamental to that
process is the development of information themes and messages in support of an operation and military
action. An information theme is a unifying or dominant idea or image that expresses the purpose for
military action. Information themes are tied to objectives, lines of effort, and end state conditions.
Information themes are overarching and apply to the capabilities of public affairs, psychological operations,
and leader and Soldier engagements. A message is a verbal, written, or electronic communications that
supports an information theme focused on a specific actor and in support of a specific action (task).
Information themes and messages are transmitted to those actors whose perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and
behaviors matter to the success of an operation.
B-58. To assist in developing initial information themes and messages for the command, the G-7 (S-7) with
support from the entire staff, reviews the higher headquarters’ information themes and messages. If
available, they also review internal design products (see chapter 3), including the initial commander’s
intent, mission narrative, and planning guidance. Information themes and messages are refined throughout
the MDMP as commanders refine their commander’s intent and planning guidance and COAs are
developed, evaluated, and decided upon.
Develop a Proposed Mission Statement
B-59. The COS (XO) or operations officer prepares a proposed mission statement for the unit based on the
mission analysis. This officer presents the unit’s mission statement to the commander for approval
normally during the mission analysis brief. A mission statement is a short sentence or paragraph that
describes the organization’s essential task (or tasks) and purpose—a clear statement of the action to be
taken and the reason for doing so. The mission statement contains the elements of who, what, when, where,
and why, but seldom specifies how (JP 5-0). The five elements of a mission statement answer the
questions:
• Who will execute the operation (unit or organization)?
• What is the unit’s essential task (tactical mission task)?
• When will the operation begin (by time or event) or what is the duration of the operation?
• Where will the operation occur (AO, objective, grid coordinates)?
• Why will the force conduct the operations (for what purpose)?
Example 1. Not later than 220400 Aug 09 (when), 1st Brigade (who) secures ROUTE SOUTH
DAKOTA (what/task) in AO JACKRABBIT (where) to enable the movement of humanitarian
assistance materials (why/purpose).
Example 2. 1-505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (who) seizes (what/task) JACKSON
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (where) not later than D-day, H+3 (when) to allow follow-on
forces to air-land into AO SPARTAN (why/purpose).
B-60. The mission statement may have more than one essential task. The following example shows a
mission statement for a phased operation with a different essential task for each phase:
26 March 2010 FM 5-0 B-11