Joint Operating Environment: Trends and Challenges for the Future Joint Force Through 2030

Joint and service concept development and experimentation applies innovation and change to the ideas and capabilities that animate U.S. military forces to ensure that they are adapted to the world in which they operate. The process of innovation and change relies on an ability to foresee and anticipate the key factors that shape the world and the challenges which are intrinsic to these factors. A forward looking, anticipatory view of change allows the United States to properly shape its forces so that they are prepared to deal with emerging challenges to our nation’s security interests. Because the future is also shaped by shocks and other events that are by definition difficult or impossible to foresee, a culture of innovation and change encourages us to remain agile and able to quickly adapt in the face of surprise.