Doctrinal planning support for U.S. Army Psychological Operations teams. Aligned with FM 3-53, ATP 3-53.1, and JTTP. For use by authorized personnel.
Define and characterize the target population per FM 3-53 TAA methodology. Build a structured Target Audience Description (TAD) for planning use.
Check all factors applicable to the target audience:
Fill fields above, then generate a structured TAD paragraph suitable for PSYOP planning documents.
Map the information landscape of the target area. Identify key communicators, media penetration, adversary activities, and trusted messengers.
Check who this target audience trusts most:
Build Supporting PSYOP Tasks (SPTs) and analyze the information environment using the SCAME framework per FM 3-53 doctrine.
Use SCAME to analyze adversary or friendly information products. Evaluate each dimension:
Plan PSYOP series concepts, select appropriate media, develop themes, and complete product review checklists before dissemination.
Select all media types appropriate for this series. Consider TA access and literacy.
All boxes must be checked before product dissemination:
Define PSYOP-specific PIRs, track named areas of interest, and manage pre/post indicators for effectiveness assessment.
Define what intelligence the PSYOP team needs to accomplish TAA and MOE collection:
Monitors world media and events in real time. Useful for tracking narrative spread and conflict escalation indicators.
Track search interest by topic, region, and time. Useful for identifying what information the population is seeking.
Media Cloud tracks millions of news articles globally. Complement with CrowdTangle alternatives (Brandwatch, Meltwater) for social media tracking.
Track geographic or population-based areas where information collection is prioritized:
| NAI ID | Description | PIR Supported | Collection Asset | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Define baseline vs. target conditions to measure campaign effects:
| Indicator | Pre-Op Baseline | Post-Op Target | Collection Method | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Quick-reference doctrinal cards, process phases, legal authorities, and key definitions from FM 3-53 and related publications.
PSYOP products must be factually accurate. Deception operations are separate, highly restricted, and require special authority. Inaccurate PSYOP destroys long-term credibility.
All PSYOP begins with the target audience. TAA drives everything: message, medium, timing, and source selection. One-size-fits-all messaging fails.
PSYOP must be synchronized with IO, civil affairs, public affairs, and commander's intent. Conflicting messages undermine all operations.
PSYOP effects take time. Sustained, consistent messaging over weeks or months is far more effective than sporadic, high-intensity bursts.
All PSYOP tasks should have defined MOEs established before execution. If you cannot measure it, you cannot assess it or justify resources.
Psychological Operations (PSYOP) — now formally Military Information Support Operations (MISO): planned operations to convey selected information to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals.
An individual or group selected for influence. The TA is defined by shared characteristics (demographic, psychographic, behavioral) that make them susceptible to a specific message and relevant to mission objectives.
A task assigned to PSYOP forces to support the overall mission. Each SPT specifies: Who (target audience), What (desired behavior), Why (supporting argument), and How (methods/media).
Any activity intended to affect the perceptions and behavior of target audiences. PSYOP is one type; others include civil affairs, key leader engagement, and public affairs — all must be deconflicted.
The aggregate of social, cultural, linguistic, psychological, technical, and military variables within which information and human decision-making occur. PSYOP competes within the IE for the target audience's attention and trust.
Authorizes the Department of Defense to conduct PSYOP as a military activity. All MISO/PSYOP operations must be authorized under Title 10 and appropriate SecDef/Presidential directives. Operations directed at U.S. persons are prohibited.
PSYOP products must comply with LOAC. Prohibited: incitement to violations of IHL, perfidy (falsely claiming protected status), and operations designed to terrorize the civilian population. Truth requirement protects long-term credibility and legal standing.
Governs information operations aimed at U.S. audiences. PSYOP is restricted to foreign audiences. Domestic blowback risk must be assessed for all products.
Build, track, and manage MOEs for all PSYOP tasks. MOEs assess whether the desired behavioral or attitudinal change is occurring — distinct from Measures of Performance (MOP) which assess activity completion.
Common error: commanders report MOPs as if they were MOEs. Dropping leaflets does not equal behavior change.
FM 3-53 requires MOE collection to begin before operations (baseline) and continue during and after. Assessment is a continuous process, not a post-operation event. PSYOP teams should establish PIRs that support MOE collection as part of initial planning.
⚠ Behavioral change is rarely attributable solely to PSYOP. Military operations, economic conditions, kinetic events, and other IO lines of effort all influence target audience behavior simultaneously. MOE assessment must account for confounding factors and avoid overclaiming effectiveness.
Running record of all MOEs for this planning session. Persists in browser localStorage.
| MOE Ref | SPT Ref | MOE Type | Desired Behavior | Key Indicator | Baseline | Target | Collection | Status |
|---|
Generate a doctrinal Annex P per FM 3-53. Pulls from TAA, SPT, and MOE data entered in other tabs, or enter manually. Output is formatted for staff submission and commander approval.
This builder follows the FM 3-53 Appendix B Annex P format. The 5-paragraph field order is:
1 Situation (enemy/friendly IO, TA summary, assumptions) →
2 Mission (PSYOP mission statement) →
3 Execution (concept, SPTs, series, dissemination, coord instr) →
4 Service Support (logistics/assets) →
5 Command & Signal (chain of command, reporting, comms).
An Assessment Plan (MOEs/MOPs) is appended as paragraph 6 per current PSYOP doctrine.
Classification markings must appear at the top and bottom of every page per AR 380-5. Verify all classification, handling, and dissemination markings with your unit S2/G2 before submission.
Score a draft PSYOP message against target audience characteristics. Returns 0–100 with dimension breakdowns and improvement recommendations.
AI-assisted counter-narrative generation and media channel recommendations.