Civil-Military Operations

Civil-military operations (CMO) are the activities of a commander performed by designated civil affairs or other military forces that establish, maintain, influence, or exploit relationships between military forces and indigenous populations and institutions (IPI), by directly supporting the attainment of objectives relating to the reestablishment or maintenance of stability within a region or host nation (HN). At the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of war, and during all military operations, CMO are essential to the military instrument to coordinate the integration of military and nonmilitary instruments of national power, particularly in support of stability, counterinsurgency, and other operations dealing with asymmetric and irregular threats. CMO are applicable at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of war. At the strategic level, CMO focus on larger and long-term issues that may be part of a Department of Defense (DOD) global campaign, or United States Government (USG) reconstruction, economic development initiatives, and stability operations in failing or recovering nations. At the operational level, CMO integrate and synchronize interagency, intergovernmental organization (IGO), and nongovernmental organization (NGO) activities with joint force operations. Often, a civil-military team or civil military operations center (CMOC) may facilitate tactical level CMO among the military, the local populace, NGOs, and IGOs.