This monograph highlights the lack of a doctrinal course of action development process for creating campaign plans. Such a process is needed due to the inexperience of both senior leaden and middle-grade staff officers with the operational level of war. The difficulty with developing an operational level course of action development process to use in support of campaign planning lies in the nature of operational art itself and its fitting more in the domain of art than that of science. This monograph accepts the challenge and uses both theory and existing doctrine to develop an operational level process similar to the familiar tactical level course of action development process. The research presents the basic foundation of terms, definitions, and relationships associated with campaign planning. The current lack of an operational level decision-making process is examined and a process resulting from previous research is offered to fill the void. The first step of this process, mission analysis, generates the products necessary to initiate course of action development. These are surveyed and the sometimes misunderstood relationship between mission analysis and estimates discussed. A new way to view the estimate process is proposed to clarify this relationship. The most difficult step of mission analysis faced by the operational commander and planner, translating strategic aims into military end states, guides the monograph into the course of action development step of the decision-making process. The views of both Jomini and Clausewitz on campaign planning and current campaign planning doctrine are used to modify the foundation of an operational level course of action development process provided by the current tactical level process. The result is an eight step process as follows: 1) Select Operational Objectives; 2) Generate Conceptual Possibilities; 3) Determine Sequence of Tasks for Each Objective; 4) Identify Forces to Achieve Each Task; 5) Phase the Campaign; 6) Design Theater Organization; 7) Prepare Course of Action Statement and Sketch; and 8) Conduct Course of Action Review. The proposed operational level course of action development process provides a systematic organization of thought, potentially saves valuable planning time, is consistent with joint doctrine, applicable to each level of campaign planning, and integrates operational design concepts. It provides a tool for future campaign planners to educate themselves and ease the development of judgment and imagination.

ADA 284139 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)