The Joint Operating Environment (JOE): Challenges and Implications for the Future Joint Force
Abstract
Predictions about the future are always risky. No one has a crystal ball. If we do not try to forecast the future, we will be caught off guard as we strive to protect America. The Joint Operating Environment (JOE) is our historically informed, forward-looking effort to discern the challenges we will face at the operational level of war, and to determine their implications. We recognize the future will not be precisely the one we describe; however, we are sufficiently confident this study can guide future concept development. When future war comes, our concept developers should have the fewest regrets if today they study, challenge, and implement solutions to the security implications defined in the JOE. In our work, having the fewest regrets defines success when conflict bring the surprise that inevitably accompanies warfare. America retains both the powers of "intimidation and inspiration." We must be under no illusions about the threats to our shared values, but we must also recognize the military as only one aspect of America's strength. This strength must specifically recognize the need to adapt to the security challenges we face, whether or not the enemy chooses to fight us in the manner that we would prefer. America's military cannot be dominant yet irrelevant to our policy makers' requirements. As the JOE goes to print, we face a challenging set of circumstances. The JOE maintains a longer term view and avoids a preclusive vision of future war. Any enemy worth his salt will adapt, so the implications contained in this study cannot be rank ordered. But the implications do serve as the basis of the companion Capstone Concept for Joint Operations (CCJO), which outlines how the Joint Force will operate in the future. If the JOE serves as the "problem statement," the CCJO serves as the way the Joint Force will operate in the future to "solve" the problem. These two documents should be seen as two parts of the whole.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 25, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA495390
Entities
Organizations
- United States Joint Forces Command