Doctrine Authority

UNITAF recognises a hierarchy of authority when clear direction is needed:

• Written Doctrine: The Force Manual, which you are reading is the primary source of established doctrine. It contains written policies, procedures, guides, skills and standards that have been formally approved by Central Command (CC) FM/BG-611.
• Verbal or Written Instruction: 
  • When the Force Manual is silent on a specific issue, direction from Officers (whether verbal or written) constitutes de facto doctrine. 
  • While best practice encourages incorporating these instructions into the Force Manual, this is not always feasible or necessary. 
  • Officer instruction should generally not contradict written doctrine, but exceptions can be made by Central Command (CC) FM/BG-611. In such cases, Officers should clarify written doctrine as soon as practical.
• Precedent: If neither written doctrine nor Officer instruction provide clear guidance, precedent may be considered. If a specific action or behaviour has been consistently permitted or prohibited in the past, this may serve as a guideline. The more recent and the more consistently a specific action or behaviour has been treated as precedent, the stronger its indication. However, members should always seek clarification rather than assuming precedent is binding. Precedent is a good starting point but not always a definitive answer.

For more information about Officers within Unit Command, see: Unit Structure FM/G58