1-83. Mission command is the exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission orders to enable disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent to empower subordinates in the conduct of unified land operations. Mission command is a principle of unified land operations that enables commanders to blend the art of command and the science of control while integrating the warfighting functions during operations.

1-84. Mission command requires an environment of mutual trust and shared understanding among commanders, staffs, and subordinates. It requires a command climate in which commanders encourage subordinates to accept prudent risk and exercise disciplined initiative to seize opportunities and counter threats within the commander’s intent. Using mission orders, commanders focus their orders on the purpose of an operation rather than on the details of how to perform assigned tasks. Doing this minimizes detailed control and allows subordinates the greatest possible freedom of action. Finally, when delegating authority to subordinates, commanders set conditions for success by allocating adequate resources to subordinates based on assigned tasks.

2-36. Mission command is an approach that empowers subordinates and is necessary for success in complex and ambiguous environments. Two hundred years ago, commanders could generally see the entire battlefield on which they fought as well as the friendly and enemy forces on that ground. This meant that commanders could personally observe situations, make decisions, and closely control their forces during battle.

2-40. Mission command requires leaders at the lowest practical echelon to seize, retain, and exploit the initiative by directing action under varying degrees of uncertainty. Commanders seek to counter the uncertainty of an environment by empowering subordinates at the lowest level to make decisions, act, and quickly adapt to changing circumstances. These situations may lead a subordinate to deviate from the initial directive as long as it is within the desired commander’s intent. Mission command is based on mutual trust and a shared understanding of purpose among commanders, subordinates, and unified action partners. In 1941 Admiral E. J. King stressed the importance of training leaders and units in mission command:

2-41. Mission command requires a command climate in which commanders encourage subordinates to accept risk and exercise disciplined initiative to seize opportunities and to counter threats, all within the commander’s intent. Commanders realize that subordinates will make errors. Successful commanders allow subordinates to learn through their mistakes and develop experience. With an accepting command climate, subordinates gain the experience required to operate on their own. Using mission orders, commanders focus on the purpose of the operation rather than on the details of how to perform assigned tasks. This focus minimizes centralized control and allows subordinates the greatest freedom of action. When delegating authority to subordinates, commanders set the necessary conditions for success by allocating appropriate resources to subordinates based on assigned tasks and conducting shaping operations that enable their subordinates’ success.

3-39. Mission command is the Army’s approach to command and control that empowers subordinate decision making and decentralized execution appropriate to the situation (ADP 6-0). Mission command enables the Army’s operational concept of unified land operations and its emphasis on seizing, retaining, and exploiting the initiative. Mission command has seven fundamental principles:

3-41. Mission command helps commanders capitalize on subordinate ingenuity, innovation, and decision making to achieve the commander’s intent when conditions change or current orders are no longer relevant. It requires subordinates who seek opportunities and commanders who accept risk for subordinates trying to meet their intent. Subordinate decision making and decentralized execution appropriate to the situation help manage uncertainty and enable necessary tempo at each echelon during operations.

3-10. Mission command is the Army’s approach to command and control that empowers subordinate decision making and decentralized execution appropriate to the situation (ADP 6-0). It allows sustainment leaders to anticipate and improvise methods for providing support as conditions change and based on the tactical situation. Mission command also helps sustainment commanders exercise better control of sustainment forces as they receive feedback. Successful mission command is enabled by: competence, trust, shared understanding, commander’s intent, mission orders, initiative, and risk acceptance. For additional information see ADP 6-0.

1-12. Mission command is the Army’s approach to command and control that empowers subordinate decision making and decentralized execution appropriate to the situation (ADP 6-0). Mission command is based on the Army’s view that war is inherently chaotic and uncertain. No plan can account for every possibility and most plans must change rapidly during execution if they are to succeed. No single person is ever well-enough informed to make every important decision, nor can a single person manage the number of decisions that need to be made during combat. As such, mission command empowers subordinate leaders to make decisions and act within the commander’s intent to exploit opportunities and counter threats.

1-13. Mission command requires an environment of trust and shared understanding among commanders, staffs, and subordinates. It requires building effective teams and a command climate in which commanders encourage subordinates to accept risk and exercise initiative to seize opportunities and counter threats within the commander’s intent. Through mission orders, commanders focus leaders on the purpose of the operation rather than on the details of how to perform assigned tasks. Doing this minimizes detailed control and allows subordinates the greatest possible freedom of action to accomplish tasks. Finally, when delegating authority to subordinates, commanders set the necessary conditions for success by allocating appropriate resources to subordinates based on assigned tasks.

2-83. Mission command requires that commanders and subordinates accept risk, exercise initiative, and act decisively, even when the outcome is uncertain. Commanders focus on creating opportunities rather than simply preventing defeat—even when preventing defeat appears safer. Reasonably estimating and intentionally accepting risk is not gambling. Gambling is making a decision in which the commander risks the force without a reasonable level of information about the outcome. Therefore, commanders avoid gambles. Commanders carefully determine risks, analyze and minimize as many hazards as possible, and then accept risk to accomplish the mission.

1-14. Mission command is the Army’s approach to command and control that empowers subordinate decision making and decentralized execution appropriate to the situation. Mission command supports the Army’s operational concept of unified land operations and its emphasis on seizing, retaining, and exploiting the initiative.

1-16. Mission command helps commanders capitalize on subordinate ingenuity, innovation, and decision making to achieve the commander’s intent when conditions change or current orders are no longer relevant. It requires subordinates who seek opportunities and commanders who accept risk for subordinates trying to meet their intent. Subordinate decision making and decentralized execution appropriate to the situation help manage uncertainty and enable necessary tempo at each echelon during operations. Employing the mission command approach during all garrison activities and training events is essential to creating the cultural foundation for its employment in high-risk environments.

1-26. Mission command requires competent forces and an environment of mutual trust and shared understanding among commanders, staffs, and subordinates. It requires effective teams and a command climate in which subordinates are required to seize opportunities and counter threats within the commander’s intent. Commanders issue mission orders that focus on the purpose of an operation and essential coordination measures rather than on the details of how to perform assigned tasks, giving subordinates the latitude to accomplish those tasks in a manner that best fits the situation. This minimizes the number of decisions a single commander makes and allows subordinates the greatest possible freedom of action to accomplish tasks. Finally, when delegating authority to subordinates, commanders set the necessary conditions for success by allocating appropriate resources to subordinates based on assigned tasks. Successful mission command is enabled by the principles of—

1-51. Mission command requires that subordinates use their judgment and initiative to make decisions that further their higher commander’s intent. Subordinates use the commander’s intent, together with the mission statement and concept of the operation, to accomplish the mission. Empowered with trust, shared understanding, and commander’s intent, they can develop the situation, adapt, and act decisively in uncertain conditions.

1-53. Mission command requires commanders to issue mission orders. Mission orders are directives that emphasize to subordinates the results to be attained, not how they are to achieve them. Mission orders enable subordinates to understand the situation, their commander’s mission and intent, and their own tasks. Subordinate commanders decide how to accomplish their own mission. The commander’s intent and concept of operations set guidelines that provide unity of effort while allowing subordinate commanders to exercise initiative in planning, preparing, and executing their operations.

1-74. Mission command is the Army’s approach to command and control. Command and control is the exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commander over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of mission (JP 1). Command and control (also known as C2) is fundamental to the art and science of warfare. No single activity in operations is more important than command and control. Command and control by itself will not secure an objective, destroy an enemy target, or deliver supplies. Yet none of these activities could be coordinated towards a common objective, or synchronized to achieve maximum effect, without effective command and control. It is through command and control that the countless activities a military force must perform gain purpose and direction. The goal of command and control is mission accomplishment.

4-82. Mission command requires commanders to have authority over or access to all resources required to accomplish the mission. Accordingly, commanders organize resources as well as forces when making organizational decisions. This resource organization may be implicit in the command and support relationships established; however, it may differ partly or completely from them, as in establishing priorities including fires, work, or sustainment. In any case, the resource organization must not violate unity of command and should support unity of effort. Further, this organization or allocation of resources should have minimum restrictions on their use, permitting subordinates to further reallocate or to employ them as the tactical situation requires.

4-86. Mission command requires subordinate commands capable of operating in the absence of detailed orders. Forming such task-organizations increases each commander’s freedom of action. Effective commanders are flexible: they task-organize forces to suit the situation. This might include creating nonstandard, temporary teams or task forces. However, commanders reconcile the need for organizational flexibility with the requirement to create shared understanding and mutual trust. These characteristics result from familiarity and stable working relationships.

3-11. Mission command as the approach to commanding and controlling Army forces is grounded in the Army’s understanding of the nature of warfare. The basic ideas of mission command have been part of every capstone publication since 1905. The term itself is relatively new in doctrine, but the idea is not. The 1905 FSR included these sentences: “An order should not trespass on the province of the subordinate. It should contain everything which is beyond the independent authority of the subordinate, but nothing more…. It should lay stress upon the object to be attained, and leave open the means to be employed.” By 1914, this had been expanded to include—