JP 3-16, Multinational Operations - Defense Technical Information ...

CHAPTER II
COMMAND AND COORDINATION RELATIONSHIPS
“Even the soldiers of a Democracy cannot always understand the reasons back of
strategic situations. Political and military reasons are worked out in cabinets and
general staffs and soldiers obey orders.”
Newton D. Baker, Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson
1. Command and Control of United States Forces in Multinational Operations
Although nations will often participate in multinational operations, they rarely, if ever,
relinquish national command of their forces. As such, forces participating in a multinational
operation will always have at least two distinct chains of command: a national chain of
command and a multinational chain of command (see Figure II-1).
a. National Command. As Commander in Chief, the President always retains and
cannot relinquish national command authority over US forces. National command includes
the authority and responsibility for organizing, directing, coordinating, controlling, planning
Notional Multinational Command Structure
United States
President
and
Secretary of Defense
National
Government
National
Government
Legitimizing
Authority*
Combatant
Commanders
Multinational Force
Commander
US National Force
National Force
National Force
*Examples include United Nations, alliances, treaties, or coalition agreements.
Legend
national command
command authority delegated to multinational force commander by participating nations
nation-to-nation communications
Figure II-1. Notional Multinational Command Structure
II-1