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AJP-10.1

AJP-10.1 Allied joint doctrine for information operations

NATO commanders and their staffs running the information operations staff function inside a headquarters, with the doctrine also usable as a framework by NATO partner and non-NATO coalition forces

AJP-10.1 is NATO's doctrine for information operations, the staff function that analyses, plans, integrates and assesses information activities inside a military headquarters; it binds through the STANAG that covers it, which nations ratify.

Edition
A
Published
2023-01

What it is

AJP-10.1 is the Allied Joint Doctrine for Information Operations, one of NATO's Allied Joint Publications. It is written for NATO commanders and their staffs, and it says so directly: it "provides guidance to NATO commanders and their staffs to use Info Ops as the staff function for the horizontal integration of strategic communications direction and guidance through planning and coordinating information activities throughout the full spectrum of activities and operations." Information operations, known throughout by its NATO short form Info Ops, is a staff function run inside a headquarters, not a product, a technique catalogue, or something a company implements.

This is Edition A, Version 1, promulgated in January 2023. The document describes itself as expanding on changes carried by AJP-01, the capstone doctrine, most notably the introduction of a new keystone publication, AJP-10, Allied Joint Doctrine for Strategic Communications, which sets out NATO's wider approach to strategic communications (StratCom). AJP-10.1 covers the part of that picture handled by the Info Ops staff.

Who it binds, and how

AJP-10.1 does not bind a company. It is Allied doctrine, promulgated under the NATO Standardization Agreement (STANAG) that covers it, and a STANAG binds a nation once that nation ratifies it. A nation can ratify with reservations against specific text: this edition's own front matter records one from the United States, concerning glossary terminology and the use of national joint doctrine to resolve variances with Allied doctrine. The document's own scope is stated plainly: it "primarily details Info Ops processes at the operational level, but the principles and thought processes can be applied at all levels," and "it can also be a useful framework for operations conducted by a coalition of NATO partners, non-NATO nations and other organizations." Nothing in the text names a supplier, manufacturer or certification body, and no clause anywhere describes a certification, audit or surveillance scheme for it.

The Info Ops staff function, and where it sits in a headquarters

Info Ops is defined in the document as a staff function "to analyze, plan, assess and integrate information activities to create desired effects on the will, understanding and capability of adversaries, potential adversaries and audiences in support of mission objectives." Inside a headquarters, it sits within the J10-Strategic Communications directorate (J10-StratCom), the organizational structure a NATO Military Committee policy directs every NATO military headquarters to establish, led by a director of communications. The Info Ops staff interacts closely with the other headquarters staff directorates responsible for intelligence, operations, planning, communications systems and civil-military cooperation, and it is expected to be present at the headquarters' recurring boards and working groups, where information activities are coordinated, deconflicted and synchronised with the rest of the headquarters' work.

The document distinguishes information activities (any capability's activities that create a cognitive effect) from communication activities, a narrower category it defines, for the purposes of this publication, as the activities performed specifically by psychological operations (PsyOps) and military public affairs (Mil PA) staff, both covered by their own separate Allied Joint Publications. Info Ops is described as coordinating with several further capabilities that each have their own dedicated doctrine, among them cyberspace operations, electromagnetic warfare, civil-military cooperation, and operations security and deception, without itself directing any of them.

How the four components fit together

Chapter 4 works through Info Ops as four components. Analyse is the staff's contribution to understanding the information environment, producing the information environment assessment that feeds a headquarters' comprehensive understanding of the operating environment alongside the intelligence staff's own assessment process. Plan is the staff's contribution to NATO's operations planning process, described in AJP-5, at every stage from initiation through to the finished operation plan. Integrate is how Info Ops staff synchronise information activities with the rest of the headquarters and with the joint targeting process, principally through the Information Activities Working Group. Assess is how the staff measures whether activities achieved their intended effect over time, feeding that finding into the wider operations assessment process the J5 directorate leads.

Two annexes support this: Annex A is a glossary of standard verbs the doctrine uses to describe an activity's intended effect, and Annex B sets out suggested staff-work templates for the Info Ops appendices attached to a NATO operation plan.

Where this sits in the Allied Joint Publication set

AJP-10.1 says it "builds on the landscape provided by AJP-01, Allied Joint Doctrine and the principles and processes outlined in AJP-3, Allied Joint Doctrine for the Conduct of Operations, AJP-5, Allied Joint Doctrine for the Planning of Operations and AJP-10, Allied Joint Doctrine for Strategic Communications." It also names AJP-2, Allied Joint Doctrine for Intelligence, Counter-Intelligence and Security, and several of its subordinate publications, as doctrine its own information environment assessment works alongside.

Elsewhere it names further doctrine its staff coordinate with or draw on: AJP-3.1 (Maritime Operations), AJP-3.2 (Land Operations), AJP-3.3 (Air and Space Operations), AJP-3.5 (Special Operations), AJP-3.6 (Electronic Warfare), AJP-3.9 (Joint Targeting), AJP-3.10.2 (Operations Security and Deception), AJP-3.14 (Force Protection), AJP-3.16 (Security Force Assistance), AJP-3.19 (Civil-Military Cooperation), AJP-3.20 (Cyberspace Operations), AJP-3.22 (Stability Policing) and AJP-6 (Communication and Information Systems). For the training and experience expected of Info Ops personnel, it points to ASCP-01, NATO Strategic Communications Training Standards. Two administrative publications govern how the doctrine and its terms are built: AAP-47, Allied Joint Doctrine Development, and AAP-77, NATO Terminology Manual.

Getting the document

AJP-10.1 is unclassified ("NON CLASSIFIED") and free of charge, like all NATO standardization documents. NATO's Standardization Document Database lists the current edition; we do not host a copy or sell it.

How we help

AJP-10.1 is policy and doctrine written for NATO commanders and staff, not for a company, and it creates no requirement a supplier is assessed against. There is no compliance programme to build around it, and no certification scheme exists for it.

Where this touches a ComplyTrain customer is narrow and indirect: an organisation delivering training, technical support or products under a contract or task order that references NATO information operations doctrine, or the training standard in ASCP-01, can hold that contract's procedures, training records and deliverable sign-offs in ComplyTrain the same way it holds evidence against any other contractually invoked document. ComplyTrain does not analyse an information environment, plan or integrate information activities, or produce any of the staff products this doctrine describes; that work stays with the military staff who own it. Which NATO or national requirements actually touch your work is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by us. See what else sits alongside AJP-10.1 in the standards explorer, and talk to us about the documentation trail behind the work your organisation does around it.

Standards it references

Questions

Is AJP-10.1 mandatory for a company?

No. AJP-10.1 addresses NATO commanders and their staffs, not companies or suppliers. It binds through the STANAG that covers it, which nations ratify; a company would only encounter it indirectly, through a contract or task order that references NATO information operations doctrine.

Is there a certification for AJP-10.1 or for information operations?

No. The document names no certification body, accreditation scheme or government-surveillance regime. It is doctrine, applied and reviewed inside NATO's own command structure, not something an external body certifies a company against.

What is the difference between AJP-10.1 and AJP-10?

AJP-10, Allied Joint Doctrine for Strategic Communications, is the keystone publication covering NATO's wider strategic communications approach. AJP-10.1 covers one part of that picture: the information operations staff function that delivers strategic communications' horizontal integration within a headquarters.

Does AJP-10.1 apply to non-NATO organisations?

The document describes itself as written primarily for NATO commanders and staff, but adds that it "can also be a useful framework for operations conducted by a coalition of NATO partners, non-NATO nations and other organizations." It does not describe any obligation this creates for such an organisation.

How does AJP-10.1 relate to ASCP-01?

ASCP-01, NATO Strategic Communications Training Standards, is the publication AJP-10.1 points to for the competency and experience expected of personnel assigned to Info Ops positions within NATO. It is a separate, dedicated training standard rather than part of AJP-10.1 itself.