The President of UN-GODI Doron exercises command-in-chief of the UN-GODI Doronian Defence Force (UDDF). Therefore, the President holds the title of Commander-in-Chief of the UN-GODI Doronian Defence Force.

The President ensures there is civilian control of the UDDF, as the President must not have been a serving member of the military for 10 years prior to election. As Commander-in-Chief, the President may issue commands, on the advice of the government, to military officers. However, for most Presidents, the duties of Commander-in-Chief is purely ceremonial with the senior UDDF officers managing operational matters.

History Link to heading

By convention, the President must operate on the advice of their executive councillors. For defence, this is usually done through the Prime Minister or Minister for Defence. However, as was done during the 2025 UN-GODI Doronian–American War, the President may delegate all powers of Commander-in-Chief of the UDDF to another individual—during the War, this position was titlted “Commander-in-Chief of the UN-GODI Doronian Defence Force”.

This individual does not need to operate on the advice of the government. When this was done, the President retained the power to override and dismiss the appointed Commander-in-Chief of the UDDF. Since that war, UDDF doctrine has been changed so that the President would now delegate command-in-chief to a Commander-in-Chief, Operations while the President remains the Commander-in-Chief of the UDDF. On reflection, it was likely unconstitutional for the President to have someone else exercise command-in-chief.

Rank insignia Link to heading

The President cannot be a serving officer of the UDDF. However, as Commander-in-Chief, they may wear the rank insignia of a Air Chief Marshal of the Air Force, Field Marshal of the Army, or Fleet Admiral of the Navy. The President wears the relevant uniform when acting as Commander-in-Chief during ceremonies. In the event that they are addressing all military uniformed services or the Joint Support Service, the President will usually stay in civilian clothing.

The Commander-in-Chief can wear these three rank insignias:

Other Commanders-in-Chief Link to heading

There are other officers in the UDDF who are titled “commander-in-chief”. These senior officers are usually three- or four-star air, general, or flag officers. Despite their title, these commanders-in-chief are always subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief of the UDDF.

Currently, the only other active commander-in-chief is the Commander-in-Chief, First Doronian Army, who is responsible for the territorial defence of UN-GODI Doron. While the UDDF has not required it, any other four-star operational commanders will hold the title of “Commander-in-Chief”.

In the past, there was a Commander-in-Chief, Doronian Fleet, who was the Vice Admiral commanding naval operations. The position was renamed “Commander of the Doronian Fleet”.

Even when the COMDORFLT was promoted to a four-star Admiral posting, it was not renamed to “Commander-in-Chief, Doronian Fleet”. Any hopes of the old title being revived was quashed when the CMDORFLT returned to being a Vice Admiral posting.