Joint Function Protection and Why It Matters

by SGM Boerre A. Langum, Norwegian Army

Editor’s Note: SGM Langum is a Cavalry Senior Noncommissioned Officer in the Norwegian Army currently attending the Sergeants Major Course class 74 at the US Army Noncommissioned Officer Leadership Center of Excellence as an international military student.

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Joint functions refer to the capabilities and activities joint force commanders (JFCs) use to coordinate, integrate, and manage joint operations effectively. Each function comprises of numerous sub-tasks, missions, and relevant capabilities, and some tasks are helpful across different functions. One of the seven joint functions is protection; the remaining six include command and control, information, intelligence, movement and maneuver, and sustainment (Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS], 2022).

The joint planning process emphasizes the need for the integration and synchronization of the joint functions, and the friendly center of gravity (COG) must identify the capabilities of our forces and critical vulnerabilities that need protection (JCS, 2020). The purpose of this essay is to analyze the application of the joint function protection, including force protection, force health protection, physical security, levels of threats, and the application of the concepts as a future sergeant major.   

Protection

Preserving the fighting power potential in the joint force is a crucial task for JFCs during all phases of a campaign or operation, and the joint function protection facilitates and focuses on preserving the fighting power. The ability to preserve the fighting power extends to all efforts to secure and defend military and nonmilitary personnel, infrastructure, equipment, and facilities by utilizing some or all the protection function tasks. Air and missile defense (AMD), defensive countermeasures such as military deception, and establishing measures to hinder fratricide, exemplify three of the fifteen functional tasks tied to protection (JCS, 2022). Furthermore, protection as a joint function emphasizes force protection as critical to preserving the joint force fighting power.              

Force Protection

Protection as a joint function emphasizes force protection as a critical part of the function. Measures to prevent or mitigate threats posed to personnel, vital information, facilities, and resources by active defense measures or passive defense measures to preserve the fighting power of a force defines force protection (JCS, 2022). As part of the joint function protection and the other six joint functions, planners must ensure the transition of the joint functions to joint operational tasks to provide operational force protection during all phases of an operation. To resource and plan force protection is crucial (JCS, 2020). Moreover, implementing active and passive defense measures to facilitate force protection increases the survivability of friendly forces.

Force protection employs active defense measures, such as AMD, to facilitate adequate force protection. Active AMD is a direct action to destroy or reduce the effect of air and missile threats against a friendly force, critical infrastructure, and facilities. Passive AMD utilizes several means to reduce hostile air and missile threats, such as detection, deception, camouflage, and warning, to improve survivability (JCS, 2023a). The renewed hostilities between Hamas and Israel have spillover effects on the region. Attacks on United States (U.S.) and collation bases in Iraq and Syria by drones and missiles increased after Hamas attacked Israel. Active AMD measures at Ain al-Asad air base intercepted an armed drone (Rasheed, 2023). The successful interception depicts the importance of active defense measures to improve force protection through one of the protection tasks, to provide AMD. Moreover, to ensure a healthy and fit force, commanders must also implement force health protection as a vital part of the joint function protection.

Force Health Protection

Force health protection (FHP) includes all measures taken by the military health system and JFCs to promote and maintain the physical and mental health of the force. Divided into ten functions, the FHP supports JFCs to provide satisfactory capabilities to identify health threats and enforce suitable FHP measures (JCS, 2022). The design of the FHP framework enhances the health readiness and safety of the joint force by preventing health threats and casualties that may arise during operations caused by the environment, operational, infectious diseases, or other hazards to the force.

Of the ten functions of FHP, a robust health surveillance system is one of the most critical functions to ensure proper FHP. To ensure the prevention of future disease and non-combat injuries to include combat injuries, it is essential to have a health surveillance program that encompasses Soldiers’ military careers. Historical data shows that 69 percent of admissions to battlefield hospitals during the war in Vietnam related to disease and non-combat injuries, showing the vast importance of FHP measures to maintain a fit and healthy force (JCS, 2023b). Furthermore, the joint function protection contains other activities, such as providing physical security.

Provide Physical Security

To provide physical security is to employ physical measures to protect personnel and to hinder access of unauthorized personnel to bases, equipment, and information. Providing physical security reduces vulnerability to hostile actions and influence. Actions to implement and provide physical security include barriers, fences, protection from blast damage, and means to detect intrusion (JCS, 2022). A key component of physical security is the design of bases to prevent penetrating and standoff attacks by denying the enemy the ability to conduct such actions by utilizing barriers, obstacles, and restricting access terrain to conduct standoff attacks by conducting potent defense operations within a base boundary (JCS, 2019).

The effects of not providing proper physical security were evident during the raid by Taliban forces on Camp Bastion in Afghanistan in 2012. Taliban fighters managed to infiltrate the base and caused losses of mission-critical equipment and the deaths of collation forces (Sommerville, 2012). Accordingly, understanding the levels of threat in the joint operations area is crucial to implement the proper countermeasures.

Levels of Threat

Divided into three levels, one, two, and three, the levels of threat categorization and description aim to assist in countering the threat levels through security responses and provide a benchmark for planning. Each level, or the combination of levels, can be present in the operational area alone or at the same time. Tied closely to specific capabilities and size of the enemy elements conducting the different levels, each level defines through specific examples and ways own forces must counter them (JCS, 2019).

Level one threats include hostile actors who seek to inflict casualties on friendly forces or extract vital and classified information by utilizing activities such as sabotage, killings, and espionage. An essential part of level one threats are attacks conducted by host nation security forces or other forces within an alliance or collation force (JCS, 2019). During the war in Afghanistan, the increasing threat of insider attacks conducted by members of the Afghan National Security Forces became a real problem for coalition forces and a key tactic for the Taliban (Roggio, 2017). Furthermore, level two and three levels of threat are crucial to understand by JFCs to implement measures to counter the threats.

Level two threats will comprise many activities similar to level one threats, but the size of hostile units conducting the activities will be larger, better trained, and well-coordinated. The effects of the actions may cause vast disruptions to military operations or damage critical infrastructure. Using standoff attacks by utilizing weapons or weapons platforms with great range will be employed by enemy forces in level two threat activities (JCS, 2019). The recent attacks by Hamas against Israel depict hostile activities and actions by small tactical units by conducting raids and effective use of standoff attacks by using rockets (Knell, 2023).

Level three threats consist of major enemy formations capable of conducting major combat operations in the land, sea, and air domains, including amphibious operations and missile threats anywhere in the operation area. To counter level three threats demand a large combat force to counter the threats in one or all domains (JCS, 2019). Moreover, the application of concepts of the joint function protection as a future sergeant major will ensure the preservation of the fighting power in the joint force.        

Application of Concepts

As the senior enlisted advisor to the commander, it is crucial to address protection during all phases of an operation and the joint planning process. To advise the commander on the importance of planning guidance to identify the critical vulnerabilities to protect and measures to prevent fratricide will provide the planning team with guidance to incorporate protection in the mission and intent statement. Force protection through active and passive measures is a crucial concept to address by utilizing the senior noncommissioned officer (NCO) chain within the joint force and ensuring that the commander’s intent is clear to the senior NCOs.

Interaction with the force protection working group within the staff to help provide accurate staff estimates is equally essential as a future sergeant major or command sergeant major. To enforce the policies in FHP and prioritize time to conduct the health surveillance program. If enforced properly by senior NCOs, the health surveillance program will provide JFCs with a healthy and fit force, which is vital to preserve the fighting power.

Conclusion

The joint function protection primary purpose is to preserve the fighting power of the force. The operationalization of preserving fighting power emphasizes force protection, FHP, and other protection activities, such as providing physical security. To provide force protection through all phases of an operation is crucial, and to implement active, such as AMD, and passive measures protects the forces, hence increasing survivability. To ensure a healthy force, the framework and ten functions of FHP ensure a mental and physically fit force for JFCs and prevent disease and non-combat injuries that will affect the fighting power.

The importance of providing physical security to protect personnel and to hinder access of unauthorized personnel onto bases, by using barriers and denying the enemy terrain to conduct standoff attacks helps to enhance the protection of forces. Utilizing the threat levels to employ countermeasures through security responses according to the threat level also preserves fighting power and increases the force’s survivability. As a future sergeant major, advising commanders to provide planning guidance to include protection in all planning and operation phases will be crucial to applying the concepts to the force.

References

Knell, Y. (2023). Hamas attack shocks Israel, but what comes next?. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67043563   

Joint Chiefs of Staff. (2019). Joint security operation in theater (JP 3-10). https://jdeis.js.mil/jdeis/new_pubs/jp3_10.pdf

Joint Chiefs of Staff. (2020). Joint planning (JP 5-0). https://jdeis.js.mil/jdeis/new_pubs/jp5_0.pdf

Joint Chiefs of Staff. (2022). Joint campaigns and operations (JP 3-0). https://jdeis.js.mil/jdeis/new_pubs/jp3_0.pdf

Joint Chiefs of Staff. (2023a). Countering air and missile threats (JP 3-01). https://jdeis.js.mil/jdeis/new_pubs/jp3_01.pdf

Joint Chiefs of Staff. (2023b). Joint health services (JP 4-02). https://jdeis.js.mil/jdeis/new_pubs/jp4_02.pdf

Rasheed, A. (2023). Rockets, drones hit Iraqi bases housing U.S. forces. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/rockets-drones-hit-iraqi-base-housing-us-forces-security-sources-2023-10-19/ 

Roggio, B. (2017). Afghan soldier opens fire on US troops, wounds 7. FDD’s Long War Journal. https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2017/06/afghan-soldier-opens-fire-on-us-troops-wounds-7.php

Sommerville, Q. (2012). Camp Bastion Assault: Details emerge of Taliban attack. BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19704620

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Sergeant Major Boerre A. Langum is a Cavalry Senior Noncommissioned Officer in the Norwegian Army. He has served in leadership position from squad leader to battalion command sergeant major, and several staff positions from battalion to Norwegian Army Headquarters. SGM Langum currently attends the Sergeants Major Course class 74 at the US Army Noncommissioned Officer Leadership Center of Excellence as an international military student.

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