The diversity of operations that may be categorized as OOTWs creates an initial organizational difficulty. A taxonomy was needed to aid in the discussion of the problem and to clarify potential solutions. The cube of three-way connections of categories, attributes, and tasks in Figure 1 illustrates the taxonomy of OOTW tools that was created to address this issue. The project defined the details of this taxonomy and, by so doing, created the analytical tools requirements. Based on similarities of requirements across different kinds of OOTWs, the similarity of tasks performed, the maturity of methods, and the availability of data to support tool development, the requirements were grouped into ten generic tools.
Figure 1. OOTW Analysis Taxonomy
The taxonomic indices (categories, attributes, and tasks) are briefly listed below. The values that were derived by creating this taxonomy are fully described in the research report [Hartley].
Following the second Monterey workshop and for purposes of this project, four OOTW categories have been defined: Peace Operations (PO), Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HA/DR), National Integrity (NI) operations, and Military Contingency operations. These four categories have been subdivided, resulting in 11 major subcategories, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. OOTW Analysis Categories
| Peace Operations (PO) | Peacekeeping(PK) Peace Enforcement (PE) |
| Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HA/DR) Operations | Humanitarian Assistance |
| Disaster Relief (DR) - foreign DR - Domestic |
|
| National Integrity (NI) Operations | Counterdrug (CD) Combatting Terrorism (CT) CounterInsurgency (CI) National Assistance (NA) |
| Military Contingency Operations | Noncombatant Evacuation Operations (NEO) Many Others |
Fifty OOTW attributes were identified and organized an expansion of the Army's Mission, Enemy, Troops, Terrain/Weather and Time Available (METT-T) paradigm. For OOTW use, "enemy" has been expanded to include both human and physical opposition (such as volcanos); "troops" may refer to friendly non-military and non-U.S. personnel; and "terrain/weather" has been expanded to include both the physical environment of terrain and weather and the human geopolitical environment. The values of certain attributes discriminate among the OOTW categories and these attributes were labeled "definitive." Table 2 displays the list of attributes.
Table 2. OOTW Analysis Attributes
| Mission: Rationale | |
| Mission, objectives, and MOEs | |
| Political vs Economic vs Ideological vs Symbolic Interest | |
| Mission: Assistance requirements | |
| Assistance required | |
| Mission: Constraints | |
| ROE | |
| Legal | |
| Degree of risk | |
| Use of force | |
| Level of intensity | |
| Scope of conflict | |
| Degree of Casualties | |
| Potential $ cost direct | |
| Potential $ cost indirect | |
| Enemy | |
| Human enemy exists | |
| Consent | |
| Impartiality | |
| Information/intelligence availability | |
| Troops: Force structure | |
| Command structure | |
| Force mix | |
| Integrated planning | |
| Need for CMOC | |
| Need for HAST | |
| C3I | |
| Security | |
| Use of liaisons | |
| Logistics / resupply | |
| Military capabilities of opposing sides | |
| Military technology | |
| Force size / force ratio / preponderance of force | |
| Troops: NonU.S., Nonmilitary | |
| Level of host nation support/infrastructure | |
| Involvement of other nations | |
| Degree of UN involvement | |
| Degree of U.S. agency involvement | |
| Scale of NGO/PVO involvement | |
| Extent of coalition | |
| Host government stability | |
| Terrain/Weather (Environment): Location | |
| Location | |
| Distance from United States | |
| Environment/terrain | |
| Size of operating area/demographics | |
| Terrain/Weather (Environment): Geopolitics | |
| Geopolitical environment | |
| Cultural Dissimilarities/ ethnic conflict | |
| Interests of Other Nations | |
| Great Power involvement | |
| Political sphere | |
| Media attention | |
| U.S. public support | |
| Time | |
| Time | |
| Planning/Reaction Time | |
| Duration | |
| OPTEMPO/PERSTEMPO | |
53 OOTW tasks were identified and grouped into non-mission-related analyses and phases of mission planning and execution. Following the second Monterey workshop, the tasks have been regrouped into seven groups: non-mission-related analysis; mission definition and analysis; Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I); mobilization/deployment; force employment; sustainment; and redeployment. The tasks were defined and related to the Uniform Joint Task List (UJTL), version 3.0 [Joint Staff]. Table 3 shows the tasks in the non-mission-related analysis group.
Table 3. Tasks
| Non-Mission-Related Tasks | |
| Provide instability forecast, impact forecast (psychosocial) | |
| Estimate cost of operations | |
| Mission Definition and Analysis Tasks | |
| Develop mission, MOEs, etc. | |
| Determine ROEs | |
| Define endstate, transition criteria | |
| Determine force structure | |
| Determine force mix | |
| Estimate readiness | |
| Evaluate risks and do 'worst case' gaming | |
| Estimate robustness of mission success | |
| C3I Tasks | |
| Create command arrangements, span of control | |
| Develop courses of action (COAs) | |
| Perform staff estimates | |
| Evaluate COAs | |
| Maintain measures of effectiveness (MOEs), including probability of mission success and end-state status | |
| Monitor situation and provide feedback | |
| Activate joint task force (JTF) | |
| Establish liaisons/civil-military operations center (CMOC) | |
| Design and install communications | |
| Perform intelligence collection and intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) | |
| Establish cultural awareness | |
| Establish red teams | |
| Perform mission, enemy, troops, terrain/weather - time (METTT) analysis | |
| Identify centers of gravity | |
| Estimate threat | |
| Support media/public affairs | |
| Execute psychological operations (PSYOPS) | |
| Mobilization/Deployment Tasks | |
| Initiate appropriate reserve callup | |
| Determine deployment timing | |
| Determine deployment priorities | |
| Determine transport capabilities | |
| Activate humanitarian assistance survey team (HAST) | |
| Activate CMOC | |
| Force Employment Tasks | |
| Establish lines of communication (LOCs) | |
| Protect forces | |
| Allocate and station forces | |
| Assess casualties | |
| Identify infrastructure improvement requirements | |
| Support humanitarian operations | |
| Evaluate potential use of force | |
| Rehearse missions | |
| Perform interdictions, raids, stings, infiltration | |
| Sustainment Tasks | |
| Balance tooth to tail ratio | |
| Perform logistics planning/resupply | |
| Provide transport support | |
| Provide engineering support | |
| Provide medical support | |
| Provide joint/interagency/coalition support | |
| Provide indigenous/client/refugee support | |
| Redeployment Tasks | |
| Determine priorities: effectiveness vs availability/feasibility | |
| Reposition assets | |
| Perform transition | |
| Determine reconstitution requirements | |
OOTW Tool Home Page