JP 1, Doctrine for the Armed Forces of the United States - Defense ...

Doctrine Governing Unified Direction of Armed Forces
(c) Parallel Command Structures. Under a parallel command structure, no
single force commander is designated. The MNF leadership must develop a means for
coordination among the participants to attain unity of effort. This can be accomplished
through the use of coordination centers. Nonetheless, because of the absence of a single
MNFC, the use of a parallel command structure should be avoided if possible.
(2) Regardless of how the MNF is organized operationally, each nation furnishing
forces normally establishes a national component, often called a national command element,
to ensure effective administration of its forces. The national component provides a means to
administer and support the national forces, coordinate communication to the parent nation,
tender national military views and recommendations directly to the MNFC, facilitate the
assignment and reassignment of national forces to subordinate operational multinational
organizations, and maintain personnel accountability. In an administrative role, these
national components are similar to a Service component command at the unified CCMD
level in a US joint organization. The logistic support element of this component is referred
to as the national support element.
d. Command and Control of US 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-6).
(1) National Command. The President retains and cannot relinquish national
command authority over US forces. National command includes the authority and
responsibility for organizing, directing, coordinating, controlling, planning employment, and
protecting military forces. The President also has the authority to terminate US participation
in multinational operations at any time.
(2) Multinational Command. Command authority for an MNFC is normally
negotiated between the participating nations and can vary from nation to nation. Command
authority will be specified in the implementing agreements and may include aspects of
OPCON and/or TACON, as well as support relationships and coordinating authority. A
clear and common understanding of what authorities are specified in the implementing
agreement is essential to operations. This is particularly important when similar terms have
different meanings to the various participants. For example, both the US and North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) use the term operational control and the acronym OPCON, but
the authorities of US OPCON are more encompassing than the authorities of NATO
OPCON. Commanders and forces must be aware of which authorities are specified.
(a) Operational Control. While the President cannot relinquish command
authority, in some multinational environments it might be prudent or advantageous to place
appropriate US forces under the OPCON of an MNFC to achieve specified military
objectives. In making this decision, the President carefully considers such factors as
mission, size of the proposed US force, risks involved, anticipated duration, and ROE.
Normally, OPCON of US forces is assigned only for a specific timeframe or mission and
includes the authority to assign tasks to US forces already deployed by the President and to
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