Commander and Staff Guide to Liaison Functions

Liaison officer (LNO) functions are critical to the successful integration of diverse capabilities across military and civilian domains.

Despite the importance of these functions, the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL) continues to capture observations which indicate significant issues concerning the selection, training, and employment of LNOs.

In August 1998, the Air Land Sea Application (ALSA) Center published the Joint Task Force (JTF) Liaison Handbook, which provided planning and execution guidance to units providing and receiving LNOs at the JTF level.

That handbook provided valuable planning and execution guidance, but was written specifically for LNOs operating within a JTF.

The ALSA Center handbook was retired in January 2003.

LNO operations are discussed in several Army and Joint doctrinal publications, and are the subject of numerous articles; however, there has been no single reference source commanders and staffs can use to select, train, and employ LNOs since the ALSA Center handbook.