Joint Pub 5-00.2 Joint Task Force Planning Guidance and ... - BITS

c. ROE generally provide guidance on and
impose limitations on the use of force by
commanders and individuals based on three
types of considerations.
• Military. Properly drafted ROE help
accomplish the mission by ensuring the
use of force in such a way that it will be
used only in a manner consistent with the
overall military objective. They must
implement the inherent right of selfdefense
and they support mission
accomplishment. ROE can assist the
commander by preventing the
unintended start of hostilities prior to
achieving a desired readiness posture; by
establishing economy of force
considerations during hostilities; and by
protecting from destruction enemy
infrastructure that may prove logistically
important at a later date.
• Political. ROE are a reflection of the
political will of the government.
Missions cannot be completed
successfully without the popular support
of the American people and their elected
officials.
• Legal. ROE are also a reflection of
international and domestic law and
national policy.
d. ROE must contribute to morale and
fighting spirit while accomplishing the
political, military, and legal requirements of
the mission. ROE may change over the
duration of an operation or be different from
previous operations.
e. Nothing in the ROE can limit the
inherent authority and obligation to use all
necessary means available and to take all
appropriate action in self-defense.
f. ROE issues must be considered during
COA development, wargaming, analysis, and
selection. The supported combatant
Joint Task Force Command and Control
commander may provide ROE guidance to
the CJTF via the initial planning documents,
which precede COA development. The
CJTF’s proposed supplemental ROE should
be developed, exercised, and modified as
necessary to support mission planning during
the COA development, wargaming, analysis,
and selection processes. Mission objectives
must drive the ROE formulation process and
not vice versa.
g. The development, distribution, training,
and modification of ROE must be timely and
responsive to changing mission and threat
parameters.
h. Standing Rules of Engagement
(SROE). ROE are the primary means by
which the NCA can, through the Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) and
combatant commanders, provide guidance to
US forces in peacetime for handling the use
of force during crises and in wartime to help
control the level of hostilities. NCA have
provided the SROE as stand alone guidance
for US forces worldwide that are equally
applicable to all the combatant commands and
can be easily and quickly amended or clarified
to meet mission-specific requirements.
SROE apply in addition to specific
guidance, if any, from higher authority in
the form of supplemental measures. SROE
also provide lists of numbered supplemental
measures that may be provided by, or
requested from, higher authority to tailor ROE
for a particular situation. SROE generally do
not apply to multinational forces; civil
disturbance operations; disaster relief
operations; US Coast Guard units (and other
units under their OPCON) conducting law
enforcement operations; and US forces in
support of operations not under operational
or tactical control of a combatant commander
or performing missions under direct control
of the NCA, Military Departments, or other
USG departments or agencies. Combatant
commanders also may augment the SROE
in order to properly respond to the mission
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