Editing NATO (section)

===Legal authority of NATO commanders===
[[File:The Foreign Secretary Attends NATO FM's Meeting in Brussels (52793288103).jpg|thumb|Flags of NATO member countries outside the NATO headquarters in [[Brussels]].]]

NATO is an alliance of 32 sovereign states and their individual sovereignty is unaffected by participation in the alliance. NATO has no parliaments, no laws, no enforcement, and no power to punish individual citizens. As a consequence of this lack of sovereignty the power and authority of a NATO commander are limited. NATO commanders cannot punish offences such as failure to obey a lawful order; dereliction of duty; or disrespect to a senior officer.<ref name="terla">{{cite journal |last1=Randall |first1=Thomas E. |title=Legal Authority of NATO Commanders |journal=NATO Legal Gazette |date=July 2014 |issue=34 |pages=39–45 |url=https://www.act.nato.int/application/files/1016/0999/3864/legal_gazette_34.pdf |access-date=29 August 2021 |archive-date=29 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829212244/https://www.act.nato.int/application/files/1016/0999/3864/legal_gazette_34.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> NATO commanders expect obedience but sometimes need to subordinate their desires or plans to the operators who are themselves subject to sovereign codes of conduct like the [[UCMJ]]. A case in point was the clash between General [[Mike Jackson (British Army officer)|Sir Mike Jackson]] and General [[Wesley Clark]] over [[Incident at Pristina airport|KFOR actions at Pristina Airport]].<ref name="gsmjdt">{{cite news |last1=Jackson |first1=General Sir Mike |title=Gen Sir Mike Jackson: My clash with Nato chief |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1562161/Gen-Sir-Mike-Jackson-My-clash-with-Nato-chief.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1562161/Gen-Sir-Mike-Jackson-My-clash-with-Nato-chief.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |publisher=Telegraph Media Group Limited |date=4 September 2007}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

NATO commanders can issue orders to their subordinate commanders in the form of operational plans (OPLANs), operational orders (OPORDERs), tactical direction, or fragmental orders (FRAGOs) and others. The joint rules of engagement must be followed, and the [[Law of Armed Conflict]] must be obeyed at all times. Operational resources "remain under national command but have been transferred temporarily to NATO. Although these national units, through the formal process of transfer of authority, have been placed under the operational command and control of a NATO commander, they never lose their national character." Senior national representatives, like [[Chief of the Defence Staff (disambiguation)|CDS]], "are designated as so-called red-cardholders". Caveats are restrictions listed "nation by nation... that NATO Commanders... must take into account".<ref name="terla"/>