text: Operations During Competition Below Armed Conflict
  the theater army. It is incumbent upon the theater army, with the approval of the combatant command, to
  work with and inform the country team of recommendations for military engagement, security cooperation,
  and deterrence activities that involve Army forces across all domains.
  COMPETITION ACTIVITIES
  There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them.
  Attributed to Winston Churchill
  4-36. Competition involves activities conducted under numerous programs within a combatant command.
  The CCDR uses these activities to improve security within partner nations, enhance international legitimacy,
  gain multinational cooperation, and influence adversary decision making. Competition activities include
  obtaining access for U.S. forces, maintaining sufficient forward-based presence within a theater to influence
  conditions in the strategic environment, and mitigating conditions that could lead to a crisis or armed conflict.
  At any time during competition, but especially during times of heightened tension, leaders must take great
  care to ensure Army forces avoid activities that accidently provoke crisis or armed conflict. Army forces, as
  directed by the theater army, must stay within an activity level that meets the CCDR’s intent for readiness
  without unintentionally increasing tensions.
  4-37. Activities that occur during competition are directly tied to authorities provided in various titles of the
  United States Code and approved programs, and they are integrated and synchronized with the Department
  of State, other government agencies, country teams, and ambassadors’ plans and objectives. The Department
  of State and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) help produce the joint regional
  strategy to address regional goals, management, and operational considerations. Each country team develops
  both an integrated country strategy and a country development cooperation strategy to address joint mission
  goals and coordinated strategies for development, cooperation, security, and diplomatic activities. Working
  with the Department of State and various country teams, the CCDR develops country-specific security
  cooperation plans, which are codified in the country-specific security cooperation section of the combatant
  command campaign plan (CCP). Some CCPs include regional country plans, posture plans, and theater
  distribution plans that facilitate synchronization of resources, authorities, processes, and timelines to
  favorably affect conditions within the CCDRs’ AORs.
  4-38. Army forces execute activities during competition that support joint force campaigning goals, satisfy
  interagency requirements, and set the necessary conditions to employ Army combat power during crisis and
  armed conflict. The theater army works with the CCDR to develop objectives for the employment of Army
  forces in theater and develops support plans to address Army-specific activities. Army forces provide security
  cooperation capabilities across any given theater of operations by conducting military engagement, security
  cooperation, nuclear deterrence, counter-weapons of mass destruction activities, and humanitarian assistance.
  MILITARY ENGAGEMENT
  4-39. Military engagement is contact and interaction between individuals or elements of the Armed Forces
  of the United States and those of another nation’s armed forces, or foreign and domestic civilian authorities
  or agencies, to build trust and confidence, share information, coordinate mutual activities, and maintain
  influence (JP 3-0). Military engagement occurs as part of security cooperation, but it also extends to
  interaction with domestic civilian authorities. Army forces will also routinely communicate with
  nongovernmental organizations, either directly or indirectly, to ensure expectations and roles are understood.
  4-40. CCDRs and Army senior leaders seek out partners and communicate with adversaries to discover areas
  of common interest and tension. This increases the knowledge base for subsequent decisions and resource
  allocation. Such military engagements can reduce tensions and may prevent conflict, or, if conflict is
  unavoidable, they may allow the United States to enter into conflict with greater access and stronger alliances
  or coalitions. Army forces support military engagement through deliberate interactions with unified action
  partners at the junior Soldier through senior leader levels. The State Partnership Program provides a good
  example of how powerful military engagement can be.