text: Chapter 3
  are actioned. Winning in competition is critical for the strategic interests of the U.S. government because it
  reduces the requirement to deploy and utilize combat forces to achieve diplomatic goals.
  3-78. During competition, regional security is promoted by the forward presence of strategic land forces,
  accessing potential trouble spots, and enabling partner nations to participate in a community (or network) of
  partners to establish or maintain security and stability. CA forces are an economy of force effort to maintain
  awareness of conditions within an OE. CA forces augment and enable U.S. embassies or U.S. missions, joint
  force headquarters, or a theater Army by building the civil knowledge necessary for strategic leaders to make
  decisions.
  3-79. CA forces identify critical civilian infrastructure status and capabilities, and areas of cultural
  significance (protected targets) in order to develop running estimates for mission analysis and course of action
  development. They also identify causes of instability within a civil society and identify potential threat
  networks as they develop within the society.
  3-80. CA forces engage and develop friendly or neutral networks that enable rapid entry of other U.S. or
  coalition capabilities. These forces may also support civil administration during competition to help the
  country team develop democratic institutions or to address governmental sectors that CA forces have civil
  functional expertise to advise in.
  3-81. Civil preparation of the environment is the continuous development of civil knowledge within an
  area of operations to help commanders identify capabilities within civil society that can be integrated
  with operations for stability and security activities. This minimizes the requirement for U.S. Army forces
  to conduct some of these actions and facilitates the maintenance or restoration of host-nation governance and
  legitimacy.
  3-82. A critical strategy for winning in competition is through the provision of effective, responsive local
  governance. This strategy uses a whole of government approach which engages the diplomatic, information,
  military, and economic instruments of national power. CA forces develop and integrate mobilized civil
  networks that are in line with U.S. interests; deny space, resources, and capabilities to threat networks; and
  simultaneously provide governance, as directed, to address the hardships placed on the population due to the
  destruction of infrastructure during manmade or natural disasters. CAO degrade the freedom of action of
  threat networks, reduce their flexibility and endurance, and disrupt their plans and coordination.
  3-83. Degrading access to the civil populace, resources, and capabilities places critical threat functions at
  risk, and denies threat elements the ability to synchronize or recruit from vulnerable populations. The
  application of CAO capabilities in a complementary and reinforcing manner with the instruments of national
  power creates critical problems for the threat element. These operations effectively reduce the ability to
  engage and mobilize a population in support of the ideals and goals of the threat networks, thereby eroding
  both the effectiveness and the will to fight of the threat network.