text: Foundations of Operations
  Figure 1-4. Domains and dimensions of an operational environment
  Note. Joint doctrine describes the components of an operational environment as the physical areas
  of the land, maritime, air, and space domains; the information environment (which includes
  cyberspace); the electromagnetic spectrum; and other factors. (See JP 2-0 and JP 5-0 for more
  information on describing and analyzing an operational environment from a joint perspective.)
  1-79. The operational environment model aids in accounting for the totality of factors, specific
  circumstances, and conditions that impact the conduct of operations. This understanding enables leaders to
  better identify problems; anticipate potential outcomes; and understand the results of various friendly, enemy,
  adversary, and neutral actions and the effects these actions have on achieving the military end state. A
  description of an operational environment includes all the factors that the commander and staff need to
  capture and understand to inform the conduct of operations.
  1-80. Knowledge of the operational environment is the precursor to effective action. Obtaining knowledge
  about an operational environment requires aggressive and continuous intelligence, surveillance,
  reconnaissance, and security operations to acquire information. Information collected from multiple sources
  and analyzed becomes intelligence that answers commanders’ intelligence requirements. Using all available
  relevant information to determine how the operational environment affects operations is essential to
  understanding which courses of action are the most feasible, suitable, and acceptable. Throughout the course
  of operations, commanders and staffs rely on an integrated information collection effort to develop an
  accurate picture of their operational environment. Information collection is an activity that synchronizes and
  integrates the planning and employment of sensors and assets and as well as the processing, exploitation, and
  dissemination systems in direct support of current and future operations (FM 3-55).
  1-81. An operational environment is the totality of factors that affect what occurs in an assigned area. These
  factors include actors, events, or actions that occur outside the assigned area. How the many entities behave
  and interact with each other is difficult to discern. No two operational environments are the same, and all of
  them continually change. Changes result, in part, from opposing forces and actors interacting, learning, and
  adapting. The complex and dynamic nature of an operational environment makes determining the relationship