Diplomacy, Force, and Leadership: Essays in Honor of Alexander L. George by Dan Caldwell

Author:Dan Caldwell [Caldwell, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367007676
Google: -wk4xgEACAAJ
Goodreads: 50893717
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

Standing Orders and Mission Orders

Standing orders are detailed guidance on operational procedures prepared on a routine basis during peacetime. Although they are revised periodically, they are intended to provide stable guidance, thereby minimizing uncertainty over operational procedures and facilitating the exercise of delegated control. Standing orders can include doctrinal publications, routine operations orders or plans, and other operational instructions or regulations. Mission orders are operations plans and orders issued to initiate and govern the conduct of a specific mission or operation. Standing orders and mission orders provide indirect control by specifying in advance the details of an operation's execution. They define the scope of authority delegated to subordinate commanders, specifying which decisions must be referred to higher authority.

Mission orders were used in the 1958 Taiwan Straits Crisis to exercise indirect control of local operations. The principal JCS operational directives for the crisis, approved by President Eisenhower, were sent to CINCPAC on August 26 and 29. The first directive authorized reinforcement of U.S. air defenses on Taiwan, preparations to assume total responsibility for the air defense of Taiwan, preparations to escort Nationalist resupply convoys to the offshore islands, augmentation of the Seventh Fleet, preparations to assist in the defense of the offshore islands against invasion, and preparations for air attacks on mainland air bases in the event of an invasion (initially only with conventional weapons, but with preparations to use atomic weapons). The second directive authorized escort of Nationalist convoys if deemed necessary by the Commander of the U.S. Taiwan Defense Command, naval and air patrols in the international waters of the Taiwan Straits, assuming full responsibility for the air defense of Taiwan so that Nationalist planes would be free to defend the offshore islands, and providing landing craft to the Nationalists.56 With only minor changes, these were the operations carried out by U.S. forces during the crisis.

In the Cuban Missile Crisis, the president and his advisors paid close attention to mechanisms of indirect control. Rather than allow the Navy to carry out the quarantine in accordance with its standing orders, the president and McNamara had the CNO prepare mission orders specifying how the quarantine was to be conducted, then carefully reviewed and approved them.57

CINCLANTFLT Operations Order (OPORD) 45-62 outlined the procedures for the quarantine. These procedures were based on the JCS quarantine directive drafted by the CNO's staff, reviewed by the president and approved by Secretary of Defense McNamara. CINCLANTFLT would designate which ships were to be intercepted, and would order ships believed to be carrying prohibited material to Cuba to be searched. Ships proceeding to non-Cuban ports were to be released without being boarded; ships that failed to proceed as directed or attempted to proceed to Cuba were to be boarded. Ships not carrying prohibited material would be permitted to proceed to Cuba; ships carrying prohibited material were to be directed to proceed to a non-Cuban port. If a ship failed to stop for boarding, warning shots were to be fired across the bow. If the vessel failed to

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