Current edition: JP 3-85, Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations, dated 22 May 2020. This
edition combined and replaced two older, separate publications — JP 3-13.1 (Electronic Warfare) and JP 6-01
(Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Management Operations) — into one unified doctrine. If you're used to citing
JP 3-13.1, that's no longer the current reference for EW doctrine.
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OVERVIEW
What this publication merged together, and the core idea it opens with.
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Two Publications Became One
JP 3-85 combines what used to be JP 3-13.1 (Electronic Warfare) and JP 6-01 (Joint EMS Management Operations) into a single, unified doctrine for the whole spectrum fight.
Provides fundamental principles and guidance for planning, executing, and assessing joint electromagnetic spectrum operations (JEMSO) across the competition continuum
Prepared under the direction of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
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The Core Idea: EMS as Maneuver Space
The publication treats the electromagnetic spectrum itself as a maneuver space — freedom of maneuver in it is essential to both US and allied multinational operations.
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Electromagnetic Superiority
Defined as the degree of control in the EMS that permits operations at a given time and place without prohibitive interference, while limiting an adversary's ability to do the same.
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JEMSO FUNDAMENTALS
The building blocks of the doctrine — effects, environment, and how it ties to the joint functions.
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Electromagnetic Environmental Effects
The impact of the electromagnetic environment on the operational capability of military forces, equipment, systems, and platforms — a factor commanders must account for regardless of who's causing it.
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Relationship to Joint Functions
JEMSO isn't a standalone activity — it threads through the joint functions (command and control, intelligence, fires, movement and maneuver, protection, sustainment).
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Effects Language
The 2020 update codified disrupt, degrade, and destroy as the effect terms used within JEMSO — "deny" remains a broader strategic-effect term in the DOD Dictionary but isn't one of the three core JEMSO effect verbs.
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JFC Staff Discretion
How a joint staff organizes to plan and execute JEMSO is left to the commander's judgment — staff size, number of available JEMSO experts, the mission, and time available all shape the right structure.
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INTEGRATION WITH OTHER OPERATIONS
Because the EMS overlaps every physical domain at once, JEMSO has to synchronize with all of them.
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Cyberspace Operations
JEMSO and cyberspace operations are closely linked — for more detail on CO specifically, this publication points to JP 3-12, Joint Cyberspace Operations.
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Space Operations
All space operations depend on the EMS for command and control, sensing, and information distribution — a good example is exploiting capabilities to locate emitters jamming friendly satellite links. See JP 3-14, Space Operations, for more.
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Air, Land, and Maritime Operations
Since the EMS overlaps these physical domains simultaneously, JEMSO provides the process to prioritize, integrate, synchronize, and deconflict the spectrum aspects of operations throughout all of them at once.
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ORGANIZATION & RESPONSIBILITIES
Who plans and executes JEMSO, and how the Guard fits in.
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Service EMSO Organization
Each Service organizes to plan and execute EMSO in its own way. For example, the Air Force's EMS capabilities integrator plans, directs, and assesses Air Force EMSO activity across air, space, and cyberspace.
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National Guard Bureau
The National Guard provides mission-ready Army and Air National Guard forces to assist local, state, and federal missions as needed.
A Title 10 response force can be formed from a standing joint task force or one configured for a specific mission to provide emergency assistance
In a dual-status command, the Title 10 JFC coordinates with the NG joint force headquarters-state to achieve unity of effort
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JEMSO Execution Cycle
The publication defines a formal JEMSO Execution Cycle to structure how planning, execution, and assessment activities are divided and carried out across a staff.