emsenn

JP 2-0: Joint Intelligence

4 min read

Joint Publication 2-0, Joint Intelligence, is the capstone doctrinal publication governing intelligence support to joint military operations. It establishes the principles, processes, and organizational structures through which the intelligence enterprise supports combatant commanders and joint force commanders across all domains.

Core principles

JP 2-0 establishes seven principles of joint intelligence:

  1. Synchronization. Intelligence activities must be synchronized with operations — collection plans timed to support decision points, analysis delivered when the commander needs it.
  2. Unity of effort. All intelligence disciplines and organizations contributing to the joint force must work toward common objectives under a coherent intelligence architecture.
  3. Timeliness. Intelligence delivered after the decision point it was meant to support has no value. The tension between accuracy and timeliness is a permanent feature of operational intelligence.
  4. Objectivity. Intelligence assessments must be based on evidence, free from politicization or command influence. The analyst must “tell truth to power” even when the assessment contradicts the commander’s preferred course of action.
  5. Accessibility. Intelligence must reach the people who need it, in a form they can use, at the classification level that permits its use. Need-to-know must be balanced against the need to share.
  6. Responsiveness. The intelligence system must be responsive to the commander’s requirements — adaptive enough to shift collection and analytical priorities as the situation changes.
  7. Relevance. Intelligence must address the questions the commander actually needs answered, not the questions the intelligence system finds interesting or easy.

The Joint Intelligence Process

JP 2-0 describes the joint intelligence process in six phases corresponding to the intelligence cycle:

Planning and direction. The J-2 (joint intelligence staff) translates the commander’s requirements into intelligence tasks, develops the collection plan, and establishes priorities. The commander’s Critical Information Requirements (CCIRs) and Priority Intelligence Requirements (PIRs) drive this phase.

Collection. Intelligence collection assets — organic to the joint force and provided by national agencies — execute the collection plan. Collection management ensures assets are tasked against the highest-priority requirements.

Processing and exploitation. Raw collected data is converted into usable information: imagery is analyzed, signals are decrypted and translated, captured documents and materiel are exploited, human sources are debriefed.

Analysis and production. All-source analysis integrates information from all collection disciplines into assessments of the adversary’s capabilities, intentions, and vulnerabilities. The joint intelligence staff produces the products — threat assessments, intelligence estimates, target nominations — that support operational decision-making.

Dissemination and integration. Intelligence products are distributed to consumers and integrated into operational planning and execution. The intelligence architecture — the networks, systems, and procedures for moving intelligence from producers to consumers — determines how effectively this phase works.

Evaluation and feedback. The commander and staff evaluate whether the intelligence system is answering the questions it was tasked to answer. Feedback drives adjustment of the collection plan and analytical priorities.

Intelligence support to joint planning

JP 2-0 describes intelligence support to the Joint Planning Process (JPP) — the joint equivalent of the Army’s MDMP:

  • Joint Intelligence Preparation of the Operating Environment (JIPOE) — the joint equivalent of IPOE, conducted at the theater and operational level
  • Threat assessment — evaluation of adversary capabilities and intentions across all domains (land, maritime, air, space, cyberspace)
  • Target development — intelligence support to the joint targeting process, including target system analysis, target nomination, and battle damage assessment
  • Intelligence support to force protection — threat assessment for the protection of friendly forces, facilities, and operations

Intelligence architecture

JP 2-0 establishes the concept of the intelligence architecture — the system of organizations, systems, and procedures that provides intelligence support to the joint force. Key elements include:

  • Theater Joint Intelligence Center. The combatant command’s all-source intelligence fusion center.
  • Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS). The technical system for processing, exploiting, and disseminating intelligence across the joint force.
  • Intelligence reach. The ability to access intelligence products and databases from national agencies and other combatant commands, extending the joint force’s analytical reach beyond its organic capabilities.

Graph View

Backlinks