JP 3-16, Multinational Operations - Defense Technical Information ...

Planning and Execution Considerations
b. NATO CIMIC. Within NATO, CMO is often referred to as CIMIC. CIMIC refers
to “the resources and arrangements which support the relationship between commanders and
the national authorities, civil and military, and civil populations in an area where military
forces are or plan to be employed.” Such arrangements include cooperation with
nongovernmental or international agencies, organizations, and authorities.
c. Generally, CIMIC expands on CA activities that refer primarily to support of the civil
component of the OE in order to influence the civilian environment in support of the armed
forces. While CIMIC and CA activities often overlap on the ground, there is a clear
doctrinal difference in scope. While CA encompasses activities undertaken to establish and
maintain relations between military forces and civil authorities as well as the general
population, CIMIC focuses on humanitarian need and provides guidance for how to interact
with civilian actors (civil authorities, local populations, international organizations, and
NGOs) to effectively complete the objectives of a humanitarian mission. CA, by contrast,
focuses on military needs and provides suggestions for how to gain the support of civilians
for the military mission. Whereas CIMIC and CA forces have similar roles, the CA forces
have a much broader function and different focus than most CIMIC organizations. Despite
these noticeable distinctions between CA and CIMIC, the two approaches share sufficient
common ground to be compatible.
d. CIMIC doctrine involves aspects of both CMO and interorganizational coordination
as described in joint doctrine. Additionally, CIMIC teams are comprised of a mixture of
military and civilian members, much like a provincial reconstruction team.
See AJP-3.4.9, Allied Joint Doctrine for Civil-Military Cooperation, for additional
information.
NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION
CIVIL-MILITARY COOPERATION (CIMIC)
Thirteen North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nations directly
commanded twenty-seven active provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs)
simultaneously engaged in a variety of sixty-four CIMIC operations and
projects scattered throughout Afghanistan. Coordinating this significant
presence of widely dispersed international assistance personnel is one of
the tasks of NATO’s Multinational CIMIC Group (MNCG) Headquarters
established in 2009. MNCG is able to engage CIMIC activities to support
NATO and multinational operations, to enhance the effectiveness of military
operations and serve as an essential forum for CIMIC consultations,
planning staff, and a center of expertise. MNCG’s Deployable Module or
implementation detachments provide the permanent specialist core able to
coordinate any kind of CIMIC effort as well as provide consultancy and
advice to the force commander.
MNCG ensures that although flexible and different from each other, all PRTs
share the same NATO CIMIC mission and the same operational/strategic
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