Title 10, United States Code — Armed Forces

Title 10 is the principal statutory authority for the U.S. Armed Forces. Key sections for defense programs work:

Critical Sections

• §162 — Combatant Commands: assignment of forces
• §164 — Commanders of combatant commands: authority and responsibilities
• §167 — Unified combatant command for special operations forces (USSOCOM authority)
• §167a — Unified combatant command for cyber operations
• §2302-2339 — Defense acquisition authorities
• §2366a-b — Milestone decision reviews
• §2371-2371b — Other Transaction Authority (OTA)
• §4901-4907 — Major Defense Acquisition Programs

§167 — SOCOM Authority

Grants USSOCOM Commander unique authorities:

• Develop and acquire SOF-peculiar equipment, materiel, supplies, services
• Develop SOF strategy, doctrine, and tactics
• Train assigned forces
• Monitor SOF officer and enlisted promotions, assignments, schools
• Establishes SOF_AT_L acquisition authority

Goldwater-Nichols Act (1986)

Title 10 was reshaped by the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act:

• Strengthened Joint Chiefs Chairman role
• Empowered Combatant Commanders
• Created current COCOM structure
• Required joint duty for flag officer promotion

See Also

• Title_10_Structure — companion page: the full statutory architecture of DoD, verified section by section. Start there for anything about authority, command relationships, or where an organization sits.
• Goldwater_Nichols_Act | Unified_Command_Plan | DOTMLPF-P

Citation audit pending on this page

The acquisition citations above predate two renumberings and need verification before reuse. Pub. L. 116-283 (FY21 NDAA) moved the chapter 137 acquisition provisions effective January 1, 2022: Other Transaction Authority is now 10 U.S.C. § 4022, not § 2371b. The organizational citations were separately renumbered by Pub. L. 115-232 § 808(a) effective February 1, 2019. See Title_10_Structure for the verified organizational sections.