The Operations Evaluation Group conducts ongoing Washington-based, and field-based, research programs focused on a host of operational challenges facing military decision makers as well as leaders at a host of other government agencies.

During WWII these OEG scientists were pioneers in the field of military operations research; their resulting equations governing anti-submarine warfare searching and screening changed the course of the war and set the standard for future operations research methods.

CNA's Operations Evaluation Group Teams:

  • Combat Systems Team
  • Evolving Security Operations Team
  • Operational Policy Team
  • Operations & Force Support Team
  • Tactical Analysis Team
  • Theater Operations Team
  • Operational Training Team
  • Tactical Naval Issues Team
  • Naval Operations and Support Team

Today, the Operations Evaluation Group (OEG) deploys analysts to operational commands around the world in the same tradition as the their predecessor scientists in WW II. OEG deploys nearly 50 analysts assigned as field representatives to Navy, Marine Corps and Joint commands. Assignments are for 2-3 years and range from aircraft carrier battle groups to Marine expeditionary forces to the highest levels of operational commands, such as U.S. Central Command and the U.S. Pacific Command. OEG's field representatives are included in all functions of the command and provide real-time analytic support on operational problems of immediate concern to the command.

OEG also provides analyses of operations and logistics, and explores such issues as whether operations systems should be upgraded or replaced, opportunities for system improvements, and efficient and effective use of shared fiscal resources.

Integration is another area of focus for OEG analysts—a focus that goes beyond integration between the Navy and Marine Corps to include the integration between operators and the community that trains the operators. Commanders expect that the forces under them will be properly trained for the missions appropriate for that theater. But training programs can't respond to each nuance of a particular mission and, inevitably, mismatches occur. OEGÕs work in this area involves understanding the skills being honed under specific training programs and how those programs can adapt to new concepts of operation. For example, can training programs be altered to accommodate a compressed pre-deployment training period? What impact does pre-deployment training have on combat effectiveness? What role does the training environment play in training received?

Also in the spirit of our origins, OEG is responsible for augmenting our field representatives in times of crisis or conflict operations by sending additional analysts from our headquarters to support the military's operating forces. We have supported every conflict that involved the Navy or Marines since World War II, including the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War in 1991 and, most recently, Operation Iraqi Freedom. During these conflicts, the field representatives and the augmenting analysts are responsible first and foremost for providing real-time analytic support on issues that can help their commander conduct the operation. In addition to this fundamental charter, the analysts are also responsible for identifying issues requiring further analysis after the conflict and collecting the data to support that analysis.

In addition to on-scene field support, OEG conducts ongoing headquarters-based research programs focused on near-term problems facing decision makers—from squadron commanders to senior flag officers in Washington. Recent efforts in this area have focused on the implications of U.S. operations in Iraq for future naval forces.

Additional research topics on military issues include:

  • Performance of the Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile
  • Performance of new precision strike aircraft and weapon systems
  • Joint processes for controlling target selection and weapon employment
  • Options for organization of, and command relationships for, military forces
  • Performance of communications and data-sharing systems, including interoperability
  • Techniques and measures for experimentation with transformational concepts
  • Methods for military forces to protect themselves from attack, including attacks involving chemical and biological weapons.
  • Analyses of expeditionary operations focusing on the ability of the naval forces to carry out the naval mission with today's equipment and methodologies.
  • Analyses of expeditionary logistics with a focus on ensuring that current logistics plans are feasible, establishing a baseline of current logistics capabilities, assessing the feasibility of new logistics concepts and assisting in the refinement of those new concepts.

OEG has helped the Navy and Marine Corps develop a number of new concepts of operations to deal with emerging threats and the Global War on Terrorism: concepts that have the two Services operating together in new ways. (For example, current plans have the naval forces configured differently and responding to crises entirely from a base at sea rather than from sites ashore.) ISO's work also includes issues at the interface between other organizations that have to work together to accomplish a combined mission, such as linking the naval operational community with the training community.

Finally, OEG conducts research in support of domestic agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Agriculture, to aid in their efforts to increase homeland security. The work we are doing for these agencies is in the best tradition of OEG: analyzing their security plans, designing and analyzing their exercises, and working with them in the field.

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