Title: Understanding military decisions and actions in humanitarian assistance operations

Authors: Jeffrey Miller; Joseph A. Barbera

Addresses: The George Washington University, Washington DC 20052, USA ' The George Washington University, Washington DC 20052, USA

Abstract: In large-scale humanitarian crises, it is common to encounter military forces as well as civilian agencies and nongovernmental organisations providing relief services. The military-civilian interface is often frustrating for all actors and viewed as problematic by both military officers and their civilian counterparts from the humanitarian response community. This paper describes the doctrine-driven military staff processes used by military organisations while conducting humanitarian assistance operations. It highlights areas in which civilian agencies and the military forces can improve their coordination. Considerations are presented for both the military and humanitarian response organisations to modify their actions in order to achieve greater shared situation awareness.

Keywords: military decisions; military actions; humanitarian assistance; CMCOORD; civil military coordination; CIMIC; civil military cooperation; CMOC; civil military operations centres; collections; coordination; doctrine; operations planning; targeting; situation awareness; staff processes; military decision making; humanitarian crises; civilian agencies; military forces; humanitarian response; emergency management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEM.2014.066186

International Journal of Emergency Management, 2014 Vol.10 No.2, pp.135 - 152

Received: 11 Feb 2013
Accepted: 12 Mar 2014
Published online: 03 Mar 2015 *

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