Effects Based Paper

Few doctrinal issues seem to be as polarizing or heavily debated at the moment as issue of whether Joint Doctrine, or any doctrine, should be based on effects based operations (EBO). While EBO is already prevalent in Air Force doctrine and is written into several operations plans some very senior officers in the military debate the utility of using EBO and EBO concepts because of confusing terminology and consider EBO a distraction from practicing military operational art.1 The purpose of this paper is to determine the relevance of developing Joint Doctrine based on EBO and the benefits and costs associated with doing so. Realizing the promise and pitfalls for EBO is a worthwhile effort. To do so requires a review of published information related to EBO and an examination of contemporary and historical examples.