1-60. Although Army special operations personnel must be included in centralized planning at the combatant commander and subordinate joint task force commander levels, successful special operations require decentralized planning. Army special operations forces command, plan, and conduct operations through the mission command approach by conducting decentralized planning and execution of special operations down to the team level. Mission command enables special operations units down to the team level to conduct planned operations that higher echelons account for. Colloquially, this is called bottoms up planning. When the executing special operations unit is charged with conducting a critical mission that higher echelons depend on, particularly when these missions are unilateral, commanders provide their mission statement and intent and let the operators plan the mission. This is an inherent element of the mission command approach, which allows those commanders with the best situational understanding to plan and—once a mission is approved for execution—make rapid decisions without waiting for higher echelon commanders to assess the situation and issue orders.