The U.S. Army information operations (IO) community faces an identity crisis. Army IO officers, known by their career field designation of Functional Area 30 (FA30), are the “staff focal point for IO,” and perform a vital function to synchronize, coordinate, and integrate information effects into unit operations. However, the FA30 community lacks a coherent group identity in part because of a widespread misunderstanding of IO stemming from years of constantly changing doctrine, terminology, and theories of execution. As a result, the Army lacks a shared institutional understanding of both IO and the purpose of FA30s. The degree to which the FA30 community can overcome this identity crisis will determine how well the Army can recruit, train, retain, and employ its IO professionals to meet the current and future challenges of information warfare.
An information operations branch designed for the 21st century Maj. Matthew Fecteau February 26 Marines with Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command pose for photos in the cyber operations room at Lasswell Hall aboard Fort Meade, Md., Feb. 5, 2020. (photo illustration by Staff Sgt. Jacob Osborne/Marine Corps) The U.S. military should focus on building a better and better resourced information operations (IO) branch that incorporates the open-source intelligence (OSINT) exploitation. This capability is critical to ensuring the U.S. military can create and exploit an information advantage within the operational environment. Before this can happen, IO needs to be treated as a non-accessions branch similar to that of civil affairs. As of this writing, there is no IO branch, but hopefully, this will change. IO is a functional area, meaning mostly mid-career officers from other branches make up its ranks through the Voluntary Transfer Incentive Program, and relatively limited