rules of engagement

In military or police operations, the rules of engagement (ROE) determine when, where, and how force shall be used (for example, a submarine of country A cannot open fire on the shipping vessels of country B without an official declaration of war). Such rules are both general and specific, and there have been large variations between cultures throughout history. The rules may be made public, as in a martial law or curfew situation, but are typically only fully known to the force that intends to use them. The ROE should comply with the generally accepted martial law. Contents [hide] 1 Examples 1.1 NATO - ROE 1.2 British Military ROE 1.3 U.S. Military ROE 1.4 ROE failures 2 Current Issues 3 See also 4 References //

Examples

NATO - ROE

The most widespread and most accepted ROE exist within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and are generally designed as operational rules for commanders from batallion level and higher and Commanding Officers of warships. In times of rising numbers of terrorist attacks and piracy they get more importance outside of declared war situations.

British Military ROE

The British Ministry of Defence officially defines ROE as: "Directives issued by competent military authority which delineate the circumstances and limitations under which UK forces will initiate and/or continue combat engagement with other forces encountered." [1]

The ROE deal with four issues: When military force may be used, Where military force may be used, Against whom force should be used in the circumstances described above, and How military force should be used to achieve the desired ends.

The ROE take two forms: Actions a military commander may take without consulting a higher authority, unless explicitly forbidden (sometimes called 'command by negation') and second, actions that may only be taken if explicitly ordered by a higher authority (sometimes called 'positive command'). Also, in the event that there is a clear and present danger.

In addition to a typically large set of standing orders, military personnel will be given additional rules of engagement before performing any mission or military operation. These can cover circumstances such as how to retaliate after an attack, how to treat captured targets, which territories the soldier is bound to fight into, and how the force should be used during the operation.

The ROE are extremely important: They provide a consistent, understandable and repeatable standard on how forces act. Typically they are carefully thought out in detail well in advance of an engagement and may cover a number of scenarios, with different rules for each. They assist in the synchronization of political-diplomatic and military components of a strategy by allowing political commanders to better understand, forecast and tailor the actions of a force.

The first rule of engagement