The Revolution in Military Affairs and Coalition Operations: Problem Areas and Solutions

Abstract

Command authorities are little known, but crucial, instruments in the conveyance of political authority to a designated military commander to conduct military operations. In the context of civil-military relations, command authorities act as the nexus between the political authority to carry out military operations and their actual execution. In a coalition/alliance, political sensitivities over the transfer of command authorities to a foreign military commander far exceed those in solely a national context. That said, future operations undertaken by the United States and its close allies and friends certainly will be multinational. Thus, all the more reason to understand weaknesses and shortcomings in current command authority definitions and the practices by which they are delegated.