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Human attention, rather than information, has become the critical resource for situation awareness (SA) and decision-making in many command and control (C2) environments. The impact of new information technologies and the evolving nature of missions to demand richer and more complex interactions (joint, coalition, inter-agency) have resulted in new approaches to C2 that place unique demands on human cognition and social processes. These demands go well beyond the need to process increased quantities of information. Pressures on human attention are intensifying as operators must regularly multi-task, accommodate frequent interruptions, attend to numerous information sources and modalities, and scan for unanticipated events. Distributed collaborators must dedicate additional time and attention to team awareness and shared SA, repeatedly recalibrating priorities and roles. Good information is necessary but insufficient for decision making: information must also be attended to for SA to develop. Technologies such as information filters, alerts, and peripheral displays could potentially support attention allocation. But when applied without a systematic understanding of the domain’s demands, technology may unintentionally contribute to overload, attentional tunneling, or ill-timed interruptions. This paper draws from direct field observation of attention allocation behaviors in C2 environments, as well as existing theories of attention, to develop a systems framework that specifies distinct drivers of attention challenges, their interrelationships, and the interactions with information management processes and subsequent decision processes. This framework will enable both characterization and tailored technological support of a domain’s attention challenges to improve SA and decision making performance.