A Civil Military Operations Center or CMOC is a center usually established by a military force for coordinating

civil-military operations Civil-military operations or CMO are activities of a military force to minimize civil interference on and maximize civil support for military operations. CMO is conducted in conjunction with combat operations during wartime and becomes a central p ...

in an

area of operation In U.S. armed forces parlance, an area of operations (AO) is an operational area defined by the force commander for land, air, and naval forces conduct of combat and non-combat activities. Areas of operations do not typically encompass the entire op ...

s. This center usually serves as a meeting place for military and non-military entities involved in governance, stabilization,

humanitarian relief Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and v ...

and reconstruction activities or for interaction between the entities involved in these activities and the civilian population. Often, it also serves as a central location for information on civilian related activities in the area or maintains the status of the infrastructure or institutions. During combat operations, a CMOC is usually in a secure compound.

Temporary governance

A Civil Military Operations Center can be used as a place for temporary governance until the normal civilian governance is reestablished in an area impacted by military operations or natural or man-made disaster. In a military operations, temporary governance is often referred to as military governance, and is often performed by military organizations until the normal governmental body can perform these duties. This allows for the functions of governance to continue during a crisis situation.

International operations

Humanitarian operations involving multiple international organizations often use other terms for a CMOC, such as combined coordination center. These centers seek to achieve coordination and

unity of effort Unity of effort is the state of harmonizing efforts among multiple organizations working towards a similar objective. This prevents organizations from working at cross purposes and it reduces duplication of effort. Multiple organizations can achiev ...

among organizations delivering humanitarian aid during

disaster relief Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actuall ...

Historical examples

Iraq War

During the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

, the

U.S. Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary warfare, exped ...

operated a CMOC near the city of

Fallujah Fallujah ( ar, ٱلْفَلُّوجَة, al-Fallūjah, Iraqi pronunciation: ) is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jew ...

outside of the

MEK Compound Camp Fallujah (formerly known as the MEK (''Mujahedin-E Khalq'') Compound) is a large compound in Fallujah, Iraq formerly used by the U.S. Marines from 2004 to 2009. History Before the Marine occupation, the Iranian dissident group called ...

. This CMOC was called the Fallujah Liaison Team or F.L.T. and it was a compound used for interaction between the Marines and the local civilians. At the F.L.T., Marines supported by U.S. Navy Seabees developed and managed reconstruction projects with local contractors. Marines also settled battle damage claims and facilitated reestablishment of local governance.

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

During the

humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake The humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake of a magnitude of 9.1 was prompted by one of the worst natural disasters of modern times. On 26 December 2004, the earthquake, which struck off the northwest coast of the Indonesian ...

, militaries from multiple countries worked with

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s at a Combined Coordination Center to organize delivery of humanitarian aid to the region.Asia-Pacific Defense Forum Staff.
"Turning Military Cooperation Into Humanitarian Aid"
Asian-Pacific Forum, Special Edition 2005. Retrieved on 2009-02-07.

Notes

{{commons category, Civil-military operations centers Civil affairs