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Current Scenario Situation

The pace at which the international community reacted to the conflict in Tindoro recently quickened. The headquarters of the Thailand-led Multi-National Force (MNF) was identified and began the transformation from being national entity into a multinational coalition. Minimum planning representation from all Troop Contributing Nations (TCNs) was brought together by the lead Nation to consider the operation in Tindoro. The Force Commander arranged a meeting with the senior national planning officers of all TCNs to discuss lessons learned in the process of developing this coalition and key actions which need to be taken to ensure that the MNF not only arrives in theatre as quickly as possible, but does so well prepared and possessing a cohesive plan that will ensure successful completion of the tasks given to it by the UN Security Council.

Requirements

Based on the game scenario and personal experience, syndicates developed presentations for the Force Commander and the heads of the key civilian agencies which would provide an overview of the key military command and control issues, as well as the key military-civilian coordination and cooperation issues that must be considered from a military perspective before the MNF deploys to the area of operations, and the manner in which they would be handled.

Results

Extensive discussion took place regarding the military command and control issues key to building an effective MNF. The salient points were identified as:

1. Developing and promulgating strategic guidance, including commander's intent and concept of operations
2. Defining command relationships
3. Developing an effective planning process
4. Creating an information structure and a communications plan
5. Determining the force composition and structure
6. Determining capabilities of TCNs for logistics, engineering, medical, mobility communications, etc.
7. Establishing a deployment time line
8. Assigning responsibilities to components based on capacity
9. Legal considerations: Establishing Standard Operating Procedures, Codes of Conduct, and Rules of Engagement, and addressing Status of Forces Agreements
10. Training and educating headquarters and field units pre and post deployment
11. Establishing communication protocols
12. Managing MNF and National logistics
13. Coordinating the assistance provided by other nations
14. Engaging and building up the capacities of the host nation, particularly focusing on the judiciary and law enforcement.
15. Addressing budget issues

The civil-military coordination and cooperation issues identified as key to enhancing civil-military relations were:

1. Identifying key players and roles for each
2. Establishing working groups, generating dialogue, and creating liaisons at all levels
3. Integrating civil dimensions into military planning
4. Developing and delivering common training and education packages
5. Defining the parameters and developing a process for the exchange of information
6. Identifying the military support required by various agencies and vice versa
7. Promoting the acceptance of the military force by the local communities
8. Determining the role(s) for the host nation
9. Determining the role(s) of the media

Open Discussion on Command and Control Issues

Discussion throughout the seminar focused on all aspects of Command and Control yet the prime issue identified was that of communication. Its importance cannot be overstressed and as many comments as possible have been captured below.

Communication as one of the key aspects of command and control includes:

• The ability to pass information and have it understood at all levels of the mission
• The ability of the commander to communicate the mission and the concept of operations both to the nations and to the participating troops.
• Understanding the issues which may not be factual in nature but require the same interpretation on the ground
• The passage of orders and instructions which generate consistent action from each of the units and individuals in the mission
• The ability to generate trust in the operation

The issue often manifests itself in the lack of a common language in the mission and a lack of capability when a mission language is designated. This has extraordinary consequences:

• Action that should take place does not because orders are not understood and are simply ignored.
• Direction is misunderstood and interpreted as contrary to National direction
• Misunderstandings occur and antagonisms are created between coalition partners
• Risk for the force is increased and personal security threatened because of the potential misinterpretation of the "use of force guidance found in the ROE"
• The lack of understanding reduces the capacity of the professional officer and soldier and serious frustrations develop

Effective communications with the local parties and population:

• The mission can fail based on failure to convince the local leadership and population of the mission mandate
• The inability to communicate with the parties to the conflict and the host nation causes problems
• Bad feeling are generated when misunderstandings occur in dealing with the local populations even though these were not intended
• The lack of a local language capacity is also part of the problem

Solutions to some of these communications issues include:

• A professional capacity and a technical language capability is needed to support a mission
• Language centers in the mission that constantly improve the capacity
• Interpretation "hot lines" where professionals can be reached
• The concept of a registry of capable interpreters and materiel that is available at short notice to the mission
• In the mission have all the players that work together brief each other continuously so that differences are discussed before they become problems
• Meet constantly - interaction reduces misunderstandings
• Train together constantly in the mission with a focus on communications
• Deploy the best possible liaison officers and interpreters
• Generate SOPs /policy /techniques that eliminate misunderstandings in procedure, process and training

The qualities of leadership in a mission are also essential to assure quality communication in command and control:

• There is a 100 % correlation between good leadership and mission success and the command and control of a mission is directly related to this leadership
• The commander must have a good personality and his prime quality is that of a good communicator
• The commanders understanding of the broad geo-political issues and ability to work with all players is essential

National issues can be detrimental to good communication:

• When National pride and dignity threatened, the result may prove to be a blockage to effective communication in a mission. When this is not resolved it will destroy mission success
• Where national interests and culture is threatened, appropriate communication may be stifled. It is therefore important that leadership in particular understands the cultural issues that will influence national response.
• Balancing national and international requirements may prevent the passage of information
• Domestic law may also influence the ability of contingents to respond consistently and this becomes a major issue in command and control
• Neutrality of the mission and the commander is an important part of communications.

Communication as an element of command and control is important at all levels of the mission:

• Strategic level - extremely important:
  • At the strategic level it permits the National participants to establish a common approach, which will improve communication at the operational and tactical level.
  • Negotiations between potential coalition partners at the highest level can reduce problems before they manifest themselves, particularly if this information is passed to all levels
  • Decisions made at this level will give the troops on the ground a more consistent approach based because the guidance is developed in their own language and cultural values
  • Peacekeeping policy at this level, if it is consistent, coordinated and well understood, provides an excellent basis for the control of operations
• Operational and tactical level
  • Different problems exist at the operational and tactical level and these will require unique solutions at this level; more communications problems will exist here as contingents often speak only their national language
  • Pre deployment training is essential, however in mission training is equally needed to reinforce processes that improve communication
  • Enforced standards of performance are one of the solutions
  • Evaluation and testing needs to be completed at this level

UNMOs because of the nature of their deployment in limited small groups suffer badly whenever a failure of communication occurs:

• Individuals without a language capability are sidelined and become ineffective
• Good officers are ignored because of the language issue, not competence
• Frustration often sets in for many officers
• Those with good language capacity are overtaxed and given multiple jobs
• Some officers who speak the language well, do not have the temperament or judgment, yet become the key players
• Performance on the ground varies and the local population is often frustrated

Preparation of the soldier, UNMOs, staff and units at all levels is the key to generating better communications skills essential to successful command and control:

• The FC must be involved in the training process so that he is capable of judging the capacity of the units and employing them
• ROE training must be a constant feature of each mission.
• Combined training with all the components can assist the communications process
• DPKO has a role to set guidance / minimum standards / assessment procedures
• Nations need to harmonize doctrine / impose minimum unit standards
• All must be prepared - from the lowest soldier to the leadership regarding the conflict, culture etc, however they also need to understand the same issues about their coalition partners
• Cultural awareness training, as an essential to good communication is required for all levels

Mass Communications and Information Flow & the Media:

• Managing the media is part of the communications process
• Using / harnessing the power of the media improves understanding
• The audience for the media includes the international audience, the national audience, the mission staff, the components of the mission, the local population, parties to the conflict
• Influencing public opinion will generate a common understanding in the mission area
• Political shaping of the process provides a common base of understanding for all the components
• Training on working with the media is a necessity.

Keep everyone briefed at all times:

• Establish the coordination mechanisms at all levels
• Continuous sharing of the information is essential to advancing the mission development
• Brief, brief, brief

Meeting the expectations of the wide range of players in the mission is a function of command and control:

• Understand the expectations of the Force commander
• Meet the expectations of the components / nations / international community
• Meet the / cultural expectations
• Establish the conditions that will permit a successful operation to take place Lessons

Learned and After Action Review:

• Need a mechanism to capture, analyze and disseminate lessons learned on communications.
• Important not to reinvent the wheel - people going into missions should understand previous experiences
• Lessons learned must be viewed through a prism colored by current existing conditions and communications issues

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