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Operational art is the use of creative thinking by commanders and staffs to design strategies, campaigns, and major operations and organize and employ military forces. This article is a sequel to the study published in a previous issue of this Military Revue. The author discusses the fundamental pillars of operational art, upon which Alliance countries build their doctrinal and defence documents concerning operational art. A separate section deals with conditions and status of operational art in the Army of the Czech Republic in the last 20 years. The author calls for the need to introduce operational art in several key areas of Czech doctrines. He recalls the necessity to implement those issues in the prepared Doctrine of the ACR.

Armed forces, civilian employees, are extremely exposed to unwanted effects of socially undesirable behaviour, as they live and meet their assignments under difficult conditions, e.g. in mission abroad, separated from their relatives, spouses, wives. The best deterrence against socially undesirable behaviour is its prevention. Legally this problem is defined in the Defence Minister Order No 53/2010, The Prevention of Socially Undesirable Behaviour. According to the author M. Hrbata, Deputy Defence Minister for Personnel, we must deal with this problem in a multidisciplinary manner, in the frame of effective organizational structure, run by competent commanders, chiefs, directors, with natural authority.

The French "Centre de Doctrine d'Emploi des Forces" (CDEF) has published new doctrine FT-05 The Tactical Commander's Guide to Command and Control in Operations. The global action of land forces is now carried out within a strategic environment that has dramatically changed for 15 years. In this new environment, the French Army asserts and implements a double requirement: that of power and the control of force. The article presents the fundamental conclusions of this doctrine and compares them with the Czech national doctrinal documents. Author concludes that in comparison with the French doctrine, Czech doctrines are much more focused on the procedural and technological part of the Command and Control Systems than the ability of commanders to command.

The article shows that Czech armed forces are supposed to develop planning mechanism according to the Alliance Comprehensive Operations Planning Directive (COPD) to be fully interoperable in operation planning process (OPP), namely in field operations planning in the framework of the multinational missions abroad. However, some problems persist at the operational level of crisis management, such as institutional arrangements for planning and commanding crisis operations, procedures pertaining to force generation, synchronization and activities coordination. The Czech Army Operational Planning Doctrine is still being developed. The purpose of this article is to inform on current state of affairs in operational planning with subsequent consequences to the results and reform recommendations by the White Paper on Defence.

The conversion of military ranks poses an enormous difficulty due to great differences in hierarchical structures between different national armies. This article written by the Director of Defence Language Institute Vyškov will give a short overview of most common troubles. The problem here is that national armies mostly represent national cultures as well. Translations of titles of high-rank military personnel are not too complicated. More problematic is finding equivalents for less-known, more specific ranks or those of other national Armed Forces. NATO has agreed upon a common standard for their translation, the norm STANAG 2116, based on NATO codes representing levels of ranks according to their duties, responsibilities, and career requirements.

The academic year 2006-2007 is an important milestone for the Defence University, as the freshmen are asked to have relatively high entry knowledge of English language. The concept of English entry tests had to be changed, i.e. entry tests are at the level STANAG 6001 SLP 2. For practical purposes, speaking and writing knowledge of all applicants can't by tested, therefore new test patterns cover only listening and reading (level SLP 2). This represents an extra burden for the staff of the Centre of Language Preparation, influencing language training and testing. The new curriculum was formed, accredited in UNIcert system. It has been implemented for students in the first grade of the Faculty of Military Technologies. This curriculum reflects speaking knowledge at the level STANAG 6001 SLP 3333 and opens the road to European Certificate of English Language.

The article continues explanation basic operational terms, familiarizes readers with true theoretical fundamentals of the key element of operational design - the decisive point. Basic doctrinal interpretations are described and explained. Its introduction and utilization is visible during the operational planning process and elaboration of operational design. The concept of decisive point has a close connection to the other concepts, namely lines of operations, the centre of gravity and the end state. The concept is further evolved via example of peace support military operation planning process. Key words: decisive points, decisive conditions, lines of operations, centre of gravity, effect, kinetic, nonkinetic operations, doctrine.

The purpose of this analysis is to trace contemporary position of recent war veterans, members of missions abroad after 1989 after they retired. Above it concentrates on their problem on home labour market, eventually on psychic disorders, negative after-effects or syndromes, possible assistance and support on the part of state, eventually of Czech Ministry of Defence. The article is divided into two parts. The first one analyses accessible statistical data concerning participants in foreign missions and at the same time collected data serve for drafting hypothesis tied with a research segment of this paper. The second part of this study evaluates results reached, based upon anonymous questionnaires completed by retired new war veterans in the period from December 4, 2009, till January 25, 2010

The overall purpose of this paper is to describe the way the Alliance and the also the Czech Army is going to apply the leverage of powers while conducting operations in the future. The article shows in details that the relative combat power analysis requires an assessment of factors either directly or indirectly affecting the potential outcome of the operation. In order to improve military knowledge and operational thinking within the Czech Army it is recommended to improve the quality of officers' military training and personnel preparation in accordance with Czech MoD White Paper on Defence. The views expressed in this assessment are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of Alliance or the Czech Ministry of Defence.

Such exercises are regular part of European exercise process that in periodical cycles examines individual capacities of solving crisis situations, conducting crisis operations under methods developed by the EU. European training process does not cover only the preparation of military units, but also those of civil elements (police, rescue teams, diplomats). Since 2007 the exercises have been ran according to a common scenario "ALISIA", with the purpose to practise crisis operations control by commanders and staffs of EU nations, without any means and elements or support by NATO. European exercise process allows to the EUMS to organize and harmonize two exercises of solving crisis situations in a year. Five members of the Czech Army took part in the exercise MILEX 09 last year. They were involved in the operational planning process at the EU OHQ Specialist Staff, CJ2, CJ4, CJ5 and CJ7 departments. The article is mostly based on the experiences of Czech offi cers at the EU OHQ LARISSA.

The exercise was a continuation of series of exercises that were conducted in previous years. Among others, participants of the CPX were representatives of Defence University Brno, National Defence Academy Vienna, Austria, and the Armed Forces Academy, Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia. During the exercise, in imaginary region POPRADLAND, there were practiced various basis aspects of forces preparations and engagement that focus on EU Battle Group in Area of Responsibility, explaining forming commander and staff's decision-making process at the level of Battalion Task Force, during operational planning and its engagement in action. At the end the Officer Conducting the Exercise certified that participants in the CPX fulfilled set goals and aims of this exercise sucessfully. The exercise was designated maily for members of Higher and Basic Command and Staff Courses.

Topical problems of insufficient military budget, limited means are a drive force for searching unoccupied financial means to saturate set goals and ensure their unbiased reallocation and rational exploitation. The necessary prerequisite is control implementation and managerial accounting. This ought to create primary predispositions for introducing managerial accounting system, which would be oriented not towards financial, and property operations, but towards effective economy. The article describes phenomena tied with an army unit, together with the position of its commander in the process of gradual implementation of integrated informational system of state treasury, which is most manifested in the field of planning, budgeting and accounting.

With the running changes in methods of modern operations within NATO framework, there are also changes in demands and tasks in the scope of civil-military operations-CIMIC. They are incorporated in many documents, such as the Comprehensive Political Guidance, New Concept of Civil-Military Cooperation or Field Manual 3-07 Stability Operations. The CIMIC capacities ought to be used for active impact on impending security situation, crisis development, impact implemented more sooner then crises might escalate to conflicts, eventually they could be used to halt the conflicts, in the places where they are a threat to Alliance security. We must create new rules of co-operations between civil and military sections, with the use of Alliance materials, resources and documents from conferences, seminars and field working shops. Today we have also abundant experiences that the Army of the Czech Republic, its CIMIC section, have acquired in preceding ten years.

War game is a simulation of military operations intended to train military commanders or to test a proposed strategy. It is a game in which model soldiers are used to create battles, in order to study tactics. This article illustrates the importance of War Game COAs (course of action). It was tested against opposing force COAs. Such exercise will help to identify advantages and disadvantages and the key elements of execution planning for each COA. The lesson learned during OHQ CZE/SVK BG EU Staff Exercises that took place in Olomouc from January 19th, to January 23rd, and from February 16th, to February 20th, 2009 is that war-gaming (although time consuming) is something closer to "reality" than the "theory" in doctrines. The war-gaming practices teamwork, facilitates team-building and enables to share mental model COA. Commanders and their staff ought to be engaged in simulations and war games more frequently. All information and sources for this paper were drawn from unclassified materials.

All-inclusive attitude of NATO forces assumes that conflict can't be solved only by military means. This shift from purely soldierly level to political brought around numbers of Alliance activities at Strategical and Operational Commands. The common denominator was the philosophy of complex approach in operational thinking, planning, and implementing NATO activities. As a result the operational SACEUR's directive GOP was substituted by its revised successor-the so-called Comprehensive Operations Planning Directive (COPD). It is going to be introduced in 2011 and will influence groups and military persons at all levels of warfare, dealing with operational planning and operational art for art's sake. The article familiarizes readers with this directive (COPD) as a tool for comprehensive approach to operations. The COPD offers more deliberate and inclusive planning procedures that allow for both military and non-military actors broader understanding of operational environment and better cooperation in their common effort.

Official objectives of war on terrorism are as follows: we must face theorist threats, prevent terrorist strikes; suppress the power of terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda. War on terrorism is not a classical or conventional warfare; the term is wide-ranging, covering longterm strategies of national importance. The war on terrorism and employed means are also a source of controversy. It is a question of adequacy of used tools. It is necessary to implement the new strategy of improving conditions in Muslim countries to eliminate their background supporting negative religious and political attitudes towards democracy. Outlined ways of "smoothing edges" in economical, social spheres can noticeably change hateful attitudes of Muslim population towards values of Western democratic society.

The Command and Control process may be defined as an ability to determine what to do and implement effective actions. With the use of the Standard Operating Procedures, the commander must be able to realize set tasks in defined time. The C2 system must be able to monitor and collect data on the situation, to develop an understanding of the situation, to develop a course(s) of action and select one, to develop a plan to execute the selected course of action, to execute the plan, to include providing direction and leadership to subordinates, to monitor execution of the plan and adapt as necessary. The commander draws the picture of situation on the base of surveillance and data collection from various sources, classified and unclassified. The context of information is formed by means of paradigm of personal experiences of commander and his intuition.

The article presents six more or less structured analytical methods that are or could be employed in intelligence analysis. This type of analysis, one part of the intelligence cycle, is understood as "the process of evaluating data for reliability, validity, and relevance; integrating and analysing it; converting the product of this effort into a meaningful whole, which includes assessment of events and implications of the information collected". The set of presented methods includes: link analysis, opportunity analysis, analogy, linchpin analysis, analysis of competing hypothesis and alternative scenarios. The study doesn't stop with presenting those methods; it also explains which type of reasoning (inductive, deductive or abductive) is used when working with each particular method. In broad terms, the article tries to shed light on intelligence analysis and its specifics. The reader should obtain better understanding their usefulness in the daily work of intelligence analyst.

Bread has constituted a staple of man's diet for centuries. Modern armies have made bread a major part of their sustenance, portable ovens are carried on campaign to facilitate its ample provision. The provisional support of Czech missions abroad is our first priority, baked products belong among those most important. The article deals with results of specific research done within Defence University in this field. The research covered analysis of modern technologies used for baking, devices and appliances. It dealt with traditional materials (e.g. flour) and verified them from a point of chemical, microbiological and sensorial parameters. Actual costs were compared with prices of other methods of production. The research proved that container bakeries are effective device for bread production.

The outcomes of battles and fighting are significantly influenced by weather conditions. Together with other important circumstances they decide a chosen combat strategy, operational art, warfare tactics, and ways of personnel and vehicles deployment; consequently the volume of losses or casualties. The authors recount the establishing of weather service within individual arms, creating fi rst weather charts, they give details on situation in pre-war republic, during WWII, in the 50s, even after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. They mention the names of eminent personalities of Czech Hydrometeorological Service to be honoured and remembered. We must also remind that our Hydrometeorological Service works not only in favour of the ACR, but also for other NATO countries.

This article illustrates the troubles encountered with development of the NRF. The NATO Response Force is a highly ready and technologically advanced force made up of land, air, sea and special operations forces components that the Alliance can deploy quickly wherever needed. The NRF is intended to be a transformational force that will not only be able to meet the security needs of NATO in 21st century but also serve as an agent of change whereby all the member nations of NATO will be able to bring capabilities, and concepts of operations into their national forces. Undoubtedly, the NRF will not provide a basis for solving all of complex challenges. But it does offer an opportunity for experimentation and testing-the essence of military transformation-and the forging of creative solutions. The views expressed in this assessment are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of NATO or EU.

This paper deals with aspects of intelligence analysis that very often influence the quality of intelligence information utilized by end users. Such analysis requires not only analytical thinking, but also specific experiences of all personnel exploiting collected information. The same body of information may result in multiple analytic products, with different security classifications, time scales, and level of detail. The result of this process is an analytical product - evaluation without any idle speculation and pseudo prophecy. Evaluation and interpretation must describe up-to-date conditions and demonstrate the clusters of future images with alternative developments. Reasonable evaluation reduces uncertainty and makes user's decision easier. At the end the author concentrates on rules of analytical team control and management.

In recent years both authoresses took part in several important international terminology meetings: European Association for Lexicography (EURALEX), International Conference and Exhibition Dedicated to Defence Training, Education and Simulation (ITEC), and finally the highest Alliance terminology forum: NATO Terminology Programme. In our country this subject is under the authority of Defence Standardisation, Codification and Government Quality Assurance Authority. All problems are incorporated in the Terminology Programme of Defence Department. It deals with STANAG 3680 implementations, MoD's standardisation policy, standardisation terminology process. The most representative terminology body within the Army of the Czech Republic is the Terminology Conference of MoD, traditionally held in the premises of the Defence University Brno.

The proponents of Revolution in Military Affairs claim that modern military technology will lift a "fog of war". In this article the term "fog of war" is described and illustrated in a work of Carl von Clausewitz who is supposed to introduce this term, used also in the famous novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. These classics show us that uncertainty and chance, in other words fogs of war, are essential to human mentality. They will be present as long as war remains within a scope human endeavour. Emphasizing that military technology is equal to lifting the "fog of war" can lead to situation in which only trained commanders are supposed be able perfectly address problems in "chessboard" of war or computer simulators, but they will unable to manage a real world full of chaos, as they not used to count with uncertainties.

International humanitarian law hinges on the principle of the distinction between combatants, whose function is to conduct hostilities during armed confl ict, and civilians, who are presumed not to be directly participating in the hostilities and, therefore, entitled to full protection from attack. They lose this protection only if, and for as long as they "directly participate in hostilities". After several years of expert discussions and research, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has published the Interpretive Guidance, which aims to clarify the meaning and consequences of direct participation in hostilities under international humanitarian law (IHL). This article is devoted to the explanation of this notion. The presented interpretation follows the Interpretative Guidance published this year.

The article summarizes the results of sociological research into organizational culture in the ACR. It should create the picture of military organization, perhaps point at potential dysfunctions and thus to help to their correction. Respondents's opinions on remunerations were detected, in respondents places of work, in combination with their expectancy, anticipations what military service might bring to them. Two thirds professional soldiers have positive attitudes towards interpersonal relations at their working places. The worst position on the scale had the chance to work with the latest technologies and to start a professional career, i.e. to reach important positions. The culture of sustenance, sports facilities were evaluated positively. The lowest rating was allocated to arms equipment, furnishing and quality of garrison quarters. Respondents were also unsatisfied with high level of bureaucratic procedures and formalization.

The problem of forming military decisions lies in the very core of this article. Among others, there are a lot of highly unpredictable impact factors; there are many assessment criteria for individual variants of solving problems. Criteria of qualitative characters, and various interpretations of data information demand quality decisions; they are sometimes difficult to understand and even contradictory. The commanders and their staffs must be well educated, trained and experienced. To meet this precondition we must ensure quality of career training, supported by practical experiences. The staff work must be practiced regularly, with the use of various scenarios, supplemented by historical studies of past or recent fi ghts and battles.

The paper deals with the relation between political extremism and regular soldiers of the Czech armed forces (from the point of view of military staff). The threat of presence of extremists in the army is conceptualized in this paper. After that there are presented methodology, outcomes and interpretations of research sociological investigation, which was realized in February and March 2009 at Czech armed forces. As a risk should be assessed mostly information about contacts with extremists in the army and information about very different attitudes in relation to the importance of the issue "extremism in the army".

The Combined Joint Exercise was focused on the European approach to crisis management operations and involved an annual exchange of students and directing staffs between of the Higher Command and Staff Colleges from France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain. The aim of this article is to provide knowledge and personal experience of its author based on his own participation in this exercise at the Escuela Superior de las Fuerzas Armadas (ESFAS) Madrid. The purpose of the exercise was to foster the understanding, mutual knowledge and dialogue among the offi cers of the aforementioned colleges through the practice of operational planning. Among general information describing the character of the exercise, the article defines some areas of the operational art, namely Operational Planning Process, Operational Design, Decisive Point Concept and Centre of Gravity Analysis.

This essay describes management system as a factor that can increase effectiveness in defence sector. The author depicts relationship among new public management reforms, public expenditure reforms and defence sector management reform. The reform of defence sector in the Czech Republic is characterized as introducing new management tools. Author explains their inner substance and importance; draws our attention to the difficulty of its first implementation. He underlines some of the factors which shape their successful implementation into Czech armed forces.