Narrative:

I showed up to work xa:00 there are 2 controllers at xa:00. I split and worked the high sectors while the other controller worked the low sectors. When I split the sectors; aircraft X was already on frequency orbiting at FL250 near ecg. I asked aircraft X exactly what he was doing. That's when he told me that he was already in an orbit between ntu and ecg at FL250 and was to fly that orbit for 4 hours. At that time I was handed a 2 full page document from my supervisor explaining the full mission. I did not have time to read the document. I had too many aircraft on frequency and was way too busy to stop what I was doing to read a 2 page document.then around xa:15 aircraft Y a flight of 2 fighters was handed off to me. His flight plan did not have good information to know exactly what he was doing. Again; all the information was contained in the 2 page document. I asked aircraft Y what his intentions were. He explained that he wanted to orbit between cvi and northeast of rdu at FL280. This orbit impacted sectors 34 and 38. He wanted to orbit there for 4 hours. I explained to him that he was in a bad spot during a busy morning push of traffic and asked him to move to the east to work closer to aircraft X. He said he could not because of his mission. Then aircraft Y asked to go off frequency to coordinate. I told him to fly present heading and report back in 1.5 minutes. A few seconds later he began to turn east on his own. I did not have time to figure out what he was doing. I was trying to get the sectors split because of volume and these military missions that I knew nothing about. I was well aware of the fact that there were no other aircraft within 2;000 feet of aircraft Y. Once aircraft Y came back on frequency I got his exact mission that he wanted to fly. Again; the flight plans gave me no information.in the middle of splitting sectors aircraft Y asked to conduct a flight break up. Again; no flight plans were in the system at this time. I didn't have time to help him so I told him to wait. I was concentrating on splitting the sectors because traffic was at an unsafe level.I strongly recommend that controllers who are certified on the sectors where the mission will take place be part of the process to analyze and approve the mission. We know best what works and what doesn't. We also know what times of the day work better than others. This mission could have been done overnight when there is very light traffic. I also strongly recommend that these missions be briefed a day (or days) before the event and reiterated in briefing at the start of the shift that will be affected by the mission. My briefing was being thrown a 2 page bulletin about the missions while I was working a busy sector. This is so incredibly unsafe. I also strongly recommend that the flight plans be entered with more information and if the flights want to break up; have the proposal flight plan of the wingman. I also strongly recommend that these missions not be flown a during busy traffic pushes across 2 sectors in 2 different areas. I also strongly recommend that the area(s) staffing be setup to support the mission. We needed at least 2 more controllers at the time of the mission; 1 to split the high sectors and the other to be the D side to enter the proper flight plans for the mission.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Washington Center Controller reported not being briefed about two flights that impacted the area.

Narrative: I showed up to work XA:00 There are 2 controllers at XA:00. I split and worked the high sectors while the other controller worked the low sectors. When I split the sectors; Aircraft X was already on frequency orbiting at FL250 near ECG. I asked Aircraft X exactly what he was doing. That's when he told me that he was already in an orbit between NTU and ECG at FL250 and was to fly that orbit for 4 hours. At that time I was handed a 2 full page document from my supervisor explaining the full mission. I did not have time to read the document. I had too many aircraft on frequency and was way too busy to stop what I was doing to read a 2 page document.Then around XA:15 Aircraft Y a flight of 2 fighters was handed off to me. His flight plan did not have good information to know exactly what he was doing. Again; all the information was contained in the 2 page document. I asked Aircraft Y what his intentions were. He explained that he wanted to orbit between CVI and northeast of RDU at FL280. This orbit impacted sectors 34 and 38. He wanted to orbit there for 4 hours. I explained to him that he was in a bad spot during a busy morning push of traffic and asked him to move to the east to work closer to Aircraft X. He said he could not because of his mission. Then Aircraft Y asked to go off frequency to coordinate. I told him to fly present heading and report back in 1.5 minutes. A few seconds later he began to turn east on his own. I did not have time to figure out what he was doing. I was trying to get the sectors split because of volume and these military missions that I knew nothing about. I was well aware of the fact that there were no other aircraft within 2;000 feet of Aircraft Y. Once Aircraft Y came back on frequency I got his exact mission that he wanted to fly. Again; the flight plans gave me no information.In the middle of splitting sectors Aircraft Y asked to conduct a flight break up. Again; no flight plans were in the system at this time. I didn't have time to help him so I told him to wait. I was concentrating on splitting the sectors because traffic was at an unsafe level.I STRONGLY recommend that controllers who are certified on the sectors where the mission will take place be part of the process to analyze and approve the mission. We know best what works and what doesn't. We also know what times of the day work better than others. This mission could have been done overnight when there is very light traffic. I also STRONGLY recommend that these missions be briefed a day (or days) before the event and reiterated in briefing at the start of the shift that will be affected by the mission. My briefing was being thrown a 2 page bulletin about the missions while I was working a busy sector. This is so incredibly unsafe. I also STRONGLY recommend that the flight plans be entered with more information and if the flights want to break up; have the proposal flight plan of the wingman. I also STRONGLY recommend that these missions not be flown a during busy traffic pushes across 2 sectors in 2 different areas. I also STRONGLY recommend that the area(s) staffing be setup to support the mission. We needed at least 2 more controllers at the time of the mission; 1 to split the high sectors and the other to be the D side to enter the proper flight plans for the mission.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.