Joint Staff Analytical Support

The Joint Staff Analytical Support (JSAS) program is a critical component of the Department of Defense's Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) Management Support budget, managed by the Joint Staff. Its primary objective is to provide analytical support capabilities for the Joint Staff and Combatant Commands (CCMDs), enabling the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to fulfill statutory responsibilities related to joint force development and future force design. The program delivers tools, infrastructure, and analytic expertise necessary to formulate joint concepts, assess innovative operational approaches, and develop courses of action for the evolving joint force operating environment.

The program advances the development of future-based joint concepts to support the Chairman's Title 10 responsibility to articulate a vision for the future joint force, addressing operational challenges on a 20-year horizon. This includes identifying joint force development implications and the capabilities required to close future warfighting gaps. The analytical work performed informs investment decisions that balance near- and long-term risk, ensuring that joint force development is threat-informed and horizontally integrated across the military services, CCMDs, defense agencies, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), and the Joint Staff.

A key deliverable of the program is the Joint Warfighting Design (JWD), which explores innovative and alternative approaches to describe the characteristics, abilities, and technologies envisioned for the 2040 Joint Force. This effort includes the development and refinement of concepts of operations (CONOPS), which detail how joint force components and supporting organizations will integrate, synchronize, and phase their actions to accomplish specific missions in future scenarios. These CONOPS are evaluated in exercises, wargames, and experiments to assess new ways of operating, future force posture mixes, advanced capabilities, and authorities.

Another significant output is the Joint Operating Environment (JOE) and Gamechangers report, developed in partnership with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). These reports analyze the future security environment and project the implications of change for the Joint Force, providing a framework to anticipate how the character of war may evolve. The insights from these documents support the development of threat-based future joint concepts and CONOPS, helping the Joint Staff and CCMDs prepare for a wide range of potential missions and operational contexts.

The program also supports the Joint Advanced Fires Qualification Course (JAFQ-C), an initiative under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness (OUSD P&R) and the Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) effort. JAFQ-C is designed to produce qualified specialists in operational-level, all-domain joint fires, addressing critical joint warfighter concept issues for CCMDs, Joint Task Forces (JTFs), and component commands. This training initiative is intended to enhance joint fires integration and operational effectiveness across the force.

Planned activities for FY 2025 and FY 2026 include executing the Chairman's Joint Concepts Program, completing and refining the Joint Warfighting Design 2040, continuing global CONOPS development, and supporting the execution of the Globally Integrated War Game. Additionally, the program will develop and execute the curriculum for the Joint Advanced Fires Qualification Course. These efforts are intended to mature analytic community IT investments and modernize requirements-gathering and collaborative staffing processes, such as the development of Logbook-Next, which will replace legacy mission-enabling technologies for Global Force Management allocation workflows.