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The chain of command leads from the president (as commander-in-chief) through the secretary of defense down to the newest recruits. [2] [3] The United States Armed Forces are organized through the United States Department of Defense, which oversees a complex structure of joint command and control functions with many units reporting to various commanding officers.
Article II Section 2 of the Constitution designates the President as "Commander in Chief" of the Army, Navy and state militias. [2] The President exercises this supreme command authority through the civilian Secretary of Defense, who by federal law is the head of the department, has authority direction, and control over the Department of Defense, and is the principal assistant to the President ...
Nuclear command and control (NC2) is the command and control of nuclear weapons.The U. S. military's Nuclear Matters Handbook 2015 defined it as the "activities, processes, and procedures performed by appropriate military commanders and support personnel that, through the chain of command, allow for senior-level decisions on nuclear weapons employment."
Beginning late on January 1, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized and in an intensive care unit, yet no one in the military chain of command seemed to know about it until January 5.
Up to 95% of all supplies needed to sustain the U.S. military can be moved by Military Sealift Command. [21] MSC operates approximately 120 ships with 100 more in reserve. Ships of the command are not crewed by active duty Navy personnel, but by civil service or contracted merchant mariners.
"Command is exercised by virtue of office and the special assignment of members of the Armed Forces holding military rank who are eligible to exercise command." [2] In general, military personnel give orders only to those directly below them in the chain of command and receive orders only from those directly above them.
Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper tasked the Joint Staff with developing a Joint Warfighting Concept [JadConcept 1] for the services by December 2020. [32] Developing Joint all-domain command and control as a concept [JadConcept 1] is a key goal of the 20th CJCS. [32] An OSD/Joint Staff Cross-Functional Team for JADC2 is underway.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff, although outside the operational chain of command, is the senior-most military body in the United States Armed Forces. It is led by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , who is the military head of the armed forces and principal advisor to the president and secretary of defense on military matters.