National Command Authority

The president and the secretary of defense or their duly deputized alternates or successors.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

The national command authorities of a nation are the persons or officeholders (or their duly deputized alternates or successors) who have the legal power to direct military activities. In almost all national governments, ultimate national command authority rests in a single office or individual, but there are almost always others involved in carrying out military policy. In the United States, the national command authorities are the president, the secretary of defense, and/or their duly deputized alternates or successors.

One of the hallmarks of the American system, and that of virtually all constitutional democracies, is civilian control over the military. Therefore, ultimate military authority rests in the civilian chain of command, the national command authority. Highest in the chain of command, of course, is the president. However, the chief executive oversees so many aspects of national policy that even in wartime, his duties necessarily force his attention to be directed toward other matters. Therefore, the secretary of defense plays a critical role in the oversight of military action. He or she answers to the president, and in turn guides military action along two lines of authority.

On the one hand are military forces not specifically assigned to combatant commands. These answer to the chiefs of the services, who report to the secretaries of the military departments (Army, Navy, and Air Force). The secretaries are in turn subordinate to the secretary of defense. On the other hand, there are combatant commands, whose commanders answer directly to the secretary of defense. During the Persian Gulf War of 1991, the distinction between these two lines of authority became particularly noticeable in the form of the war's two most prominent military figures: General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of allied forces on the ground, and General Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Further Reading

Books

Gilmour, Robert S., and Alexis A. Halley. Who Makes Public Policy? The Struggle for Control Between Congress and the Executive. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers, 1994.

Richelson, Jeffrey T. The U.S. Intelligence Community, 4th ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999.

Trask, Roger R., and Alfred Goldberg. The Department of Defense, 1947–1997: Organization and Leaders. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1997.

(DOD) The President and the Secretary of Defense or their duly deputized alternates or successors. Also called NCA.

National Command Authority (NCA) is a term used by the United States military and United States government to refer to the ultimate lawful source of military orders. The term refers collectively to the President of the United States (as commander-in-chief) and the United States Secretary of Defense.

The use of the term dates from the Cold War, when the United States and Soviet Union both had nuclear missiles on constant alert and a responsible official had to be available to authorize a retaliatory strike within a matter of minutes. Detailed Continuity of Operations Plans provided for monitoring the whereabouts of certain key government officials who would assume the National Command Authority if the President were killed in an enemy attack.

Only the NCA can order the use of nuclear weapons, including the Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP). Neither individual can unilaterally order that strategic nuclear weapons be used; if the NCA determines that a nuclear strike is necessary, they must jointly inform the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who in turn will direct a general officer on duty in the National Military Command Center (NMCC) at the The Pentagon to execute the SIOP.

The term also refers to communications with the commanding officers of the Unified Combatant Commands to put U.S. forces into action.

See also

• Designated survivor

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