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

Chapter 3
they had to first understand the problem and frame the task before seeking to solve it. These commanders
used design intuitively and adapted their existing processes to gain this understanding.
3-17. As learned in recent conflicts, challenges facing the commander in operations often can be
understood only in the context of other factors influencing the population. These other factors often
include, but are not limited to, economic development, governance, information, tribal influence, religion,
history, and culture. Full spectrum operations conducted among the population are effective only when
commanders understand the issues in the context of the complex issues facing the population.
Understanding context and then deciding how, if, and when to act is both a product of design and integral
to the art of command.
PERSISTENT CONFLICT
3-18. In the 21st century, several global trends shape the emerging strategic environment and exacerbate
the ideological nature of current struggles. These trends present dilemmas as well as opportunities. Such
trends include—
• Globalization.
• Technological diffusion.
• Demographic shifts.
• Resource scarcity.
• Climate changes and natural disasters.
• Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
• Failed or failing states.
3-19. The collective impact of these trends makes it likely that persistent conflict will characterize the next
century. Persistent conflict is the protracted confrontation among state, nonstate, and individual
actors that are increasingly willing to use violence to achieve their political and ideological ends.
Conflicts will erupt unpredictably, vary in intensity and scope, and endure for extended periods. In a
dynamic and multidimensional operational environment, design offers tools vital to solving the complex,
ill-structured problems presented by persistent conflict.
EVOLVING CHARACTER OF CONFLICT
3-20. Although the essential nature of conflict is timeless, its character reflects the unique conditions of
each era. Conflict is invariably complex because it is fundamentally human in character. As such, conflict
is characterized by uncertainty, chance, and friction. Design provides additional tools necessary to
understand this environment and to mitigate the adverse effects of complexity on full spectrum operations.
As modern conflict evolves, it is characterized by several key factors:
• Conducted between and among diverse actors, both state and nonstate, with the former
frequently acting covertly and the latter sometimes acting through state sponsorship or as a
proxy for a state.
• Unavoidably waged among the people.
• Increasingly unpredictable and sudden, with the potential to expand rapidly into unanticipated
locations and continue for unexpected durations.
• Increasing potential for spillover, creating regionally and globally destabilizing effects.
• Waged in transparency.
• Increasingly likely to include hybrid threats, dynamic combinations of conventional, irregular,
terrorist, and criminal capabilities adapting to counter traditional advantages.
FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN
3-21. Today’s operational environment presents situations so complex that understanding them—let alone
attempting to change them—is beyond the ability of a single individual. Moreover, significant risk occurs
when assuming that commanders in the same campaign understand an implicit design concept or that their
design concepts mutually support each other. The risks multiply, especially when a problem involves
3-4 FM 5-0 26 March 2010