INFORMATION SUPERIORITY
1-36. The Army defines information superiority as the operational advantage
derived from the ability to collect, process, and disseminate an uninterrupted
flow of information while exploiting or denying an adversary’s ability
to do the same (FM 3-0). This definition differs slightly from the joint definition.
While joint doctrine considers information superiority a capability, Army
doctrine establishes it as an operational advantage. For Army forces, information
superiority describes the degree of dominance that commanders
have over the part of the information environment that affects their operations,
and over the adversary. Commanders measure it in terms of information-
based activities. Gaining and maintaining information superiority creates
conditions that allow commanders to shape the information environment
and enhance the effects of other elements of combat power. Commanders direct
three interdependent contributors to achieve this goal:
• Information management.
• Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
• Information operations (including related activities).
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT CONTRIBUTIONS
1-37. Information management is the provision of relevant information to the
right person at the right time in a usable form to facilitate situational understanding
and decisionmaking. It uses procedures and information systems to
collect, process, store, display, and disseminate information (FM 3-0). Information
management (IM) consists of INFOSYS (see paragraph 1-6) and relevant
information (RI). Relevant information is all information of importance to
commanders and staffs in the exercise of command and control (FM 3-0). The
G-6 exercises primary staff oversight for IM. The G-6 maintains the status of
INFOSYS and ensures the C2 system provides relevant information to the
commander and staff based on the priorities the commander establishes.
1-38. IM is integral to C2. Commanders drive IM by establishing commander’s
critical information requirements (CCIR). CCIR tell the staff which
RI is most important to the commander. This RI is given priority for processing
within the C2 system. FM 6-0 discusses the role of IM in C2, including
providing support to achieving situational understanding, decisionmaking,
and execution information.
1-39. An important IM enabler is network operations (NETOPS). NETOPS
provide the collaborative, integrated management of networks, information
systems, and resources that produce the common operational picture.
NETOPS is performed from the strategic to the tactical extension of the GIG.
It includes network management, information assurance, and information
dissemination management. Effective NETOPS ensure that networks and
INFOSYS are available, protected, and able to pass RI throughout the AO.
INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE CONTRIBUTIONS
1-40. The G-3 synchronizes intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance
(ISR). ISR is an enabling operation that integrates and synchronizes all battlefield
operating systems to collect RI to facilitate the commander’s decisionmaking.
