Which two considerations should drive early risk assessments in planning?

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In the earliest phase of planning, the two things that most shape risk are where you will operate and how you will move and handle essential throughput to keep the operation running. Site selection sets the stage for exposure to threats, ease of movement, protection of your forces, impact on civilians, and the availability of sustainment and support. A favorable site lowers potential hazards and logistical friction, while a poor choice can magnify risk from terrain, accessibility, and civilian or legal constraints.

Processing encompasses how information, requests, decisions, and material flow are handled to turn plans into action. If processing capabilities are weak or bottlenecked, you’ll face delays, miscommunications, and wasted resources, which amplify risk and can compromise timing and coordination. Early attention to processing ensures you can maintain situational awareness, command and control, and logistical throughput, all of which are critical to mitigating risk as plans unfold.

Other areas, while important, don’t shape the initial risk landscape as directly. They tend to be domain-specific or administrative concerns that come into play after the fundamental choices about where you operate and how you sustain and move essential inputs and outputs are made.