High Command (Barrayar)

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The High Command of the Imperial Service is the senior military body in the Barrayaran Imperial Military Service. It meets to advise His Imperial Majesty the Emperor on matters concerning the command, control and administration of the Service, the Barrayaran defence, other important military and non-military strategic matters. Such advices are not legally binding, but are usually followed.

The High Command is chaired by the Emperor or by the Regent and consists of the Chief of General Staff, the Vice Chief of the General Staff, the heads of each of the commands of the Service, as well as other senior officers. The General Staff is formally part of High Command itself.

Membership of the High Command

The membership of the High Command is defined by statute. It is presided over by the Emperor of Barrayar, as Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Military Service, while the executive chairmanship is dealt with by the Chief of the General Staff. The High Command includes the Vice Chief of the General Staff and heads of the major branches. Currently, members are:

  • Emperor Serg Vorbarra — Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Military Service
  • General Nikolai Vordarian (Executive Chairman) — Chief of the General Staff
  • Admiral Gregor Valentine — Vice Chief of the General Staff
  • Admiral Alexis Koupadopolous — Chief of the Space Forces Staff
  • General Etienne Adamamelon — Chief of the Ground Forces Staff
  • Lieutenant General Aral Byerly Phourthonous - Chief of the Orbital Forces Staff
  • Vice-Admiral Cyrill Loyd - Chief of Landing Staff
  • General Lucas Dredd - Chief of Imperial Security
  • Lieutenant General Paul Cotineau — Chief of Military Intelligence Service (formally a department within the General Staff, but admitted to High Command)
  • Lieutenant General Mikhail Vormoncrief — Chief of Military Personnel
  • Vice-Admiral David Vorparadjis — Chief of Reserves and Cadets
  • Lieutenant General David Lloyd - Inspector General of Service Security
  • Major General Arthur Gottyan — Judge Advocate General

Brigadier General Alois Vorberg is the Chief of the Support Organization of the High Command.

Executive Chairman of the High Command

The Executive Chairman of the High Command is, by law, the Chief of the General Staff, who in turn is the highest-ranking military officer of the Imperial Service, and the principal military adviser to the Emperor of Barrayar. He actually leads the meetings and coordinates the efforts of the High Command. The Executive Chairman outranks all respective heads of each service branch, but, in his capacity as Executive Chairman itself, does not have command authority over them, their service branches or the combatant commands.
The Vice Chief of the General Staff assists the Chief of the General Staff in his capacity as Executive Chairman with the management and organization of the High Command activities. The Vice Chief of the General Staff also chairs meetings of the Deputies Council, a subsidiary body comprising the Vice Chief of the General Staff and a delegate from each branch who preview or resolve issues before they are escalated to the High Command level. In the absence of the Executive Chairman, the Vice Chief of the General Staff presides over the meetings of the High Command.

Supreme Military Council

The Supreme Military Council is a 28-members body responsible for the most senior promotions and retirements in the Imperial Military Service. The Supreme Military Council is chaired by the Emperor or by the Prime Minister, assisted by the War Minister (with very little operational power), and consists of the members of the High Command and of 15 fourth-level generals and admirals who have the final say — all being subject to the Emperor’s approval.

Support Organization of the High Command

The Support Organization of the High Command provides assistance to the Executive Chairman of the High Command through management, planning and direction of support activities including correspondence administration, budget and finance, action management and archiving, information technology, services, resources and all aspects of staff and information security. Though the Chief of the Support Organization, the Organization is under the immediate supervision and guidance of the Executive Chairman of the High Command.

The Support Organization provides essential support services: subdivisions include the High Command Comptroller, Secretariat, High Command Support Services Office, High Command Security Office, and Office of the Chief Information Officer:

  • High Command Comptroller: the comptroller manages allocated High Command financial resources, financial resources and High Command input to the planning system. The comptroller also oversees internal management and quality management.
  • Secretariat: the Secretariat establishes information management requirements and manages the corporate decision process to include developing action processing policy and procedures and related administrative systems.
  • High Command Support Services Office: the High Command Support Services Office provides administrative and logistical support and services, including graphic arts, forms and publications management, facilities management, travel, transportation support, document distribution and mail services. The support services staff also provides varied supply support.
  • High Command Security Office: the High Command Security Office is a detachment of the Service Security tasked with developing and implementing personnel and physical security policies and procedures.
  • Office of the Chief Information Officer: the Office is responsible for the strategic management of information technology and capabilities required to support the diverse missions of the High Command.

Place of Emperor Serg Vorbarra in the High Command

Barrayar's military commanders are responsible directly to Emperor Serg Vorbarra, who is their commander-in-chief. Unlike titular and ceremonial commanders-in-chief armed forces, Emperor Serg does head the chain of command of the Barrayaran military. He gives orders to his generals and admirals that they have to obey. He fully retains the power to approve or reject military strategies.

Role

The High Command does not have any operational command authority as unified body over the Imperial Service, this authority being vested in the General Staff. Instead, the High Command is a principal military advisory body, carries out Imperial Service's functions towards external entities and coordinates command operations between the services. In its capacity as military adviser, the High Command assists the Emperor and the Government of Barrayar in exercising their command functions.
The High Command of Staff Committee deals with suggesting directives and guidelines about joint military planning, training, logistics, and provides strategic directions of the Imperial Service. The High Command also reviews periodically the role, size, and shape of the Imperial Service and advise the government on strategic communications, industrial mobilisations plans, and formulating the defence plans. Further, the High Command reviews programs designated as matter of interest and supports the acquisition review process. The High Command accomplishes this by reviewing all relevant documents for acquisitions. Moreover, the High Command charters lead coordinating bodies to ensure that the Imperial Service is best served throughout the integration and acquisition processes.
The High Command is also mandated to provide military consent on all policies deemed falling under the purview of national security. Thus, it is the High Command, or more correctly the Orbital Traffic Control Command trough the High Command and the Ministry of War, which handles the issuance of aviation licenses to private individuals and companies who want to operate any airborne vehicle on any of the planets of the Barrayaran Empire; similarly, all private radio station licenses are issued by the Ground Forces Command, while spectrum sale for mobile communications are issued by the Orbital Forces Command. The scope of High Command's licensing powers during peacetime allows it to wield wide economic and political influence.

Political significance of the High Command

In many ways, the High Command provides an important compensation chamber to understand, maintain balance, and resolve conflicts in the civil-military relations between military and political circles and between different branches of the military.
The strength and the autonomy of the High Command against the Government protects the Imperial Service and establishes a direct line between the Officers (and the Vor caste) and the Emperor. In the face of any attempt by the Council of the Little People or the (potentially pacifist) Government to intervene in military matters with an hostile intent, the General Staff and the High Command may address the Emperor directly, in defence of their prerogatives and autonomy. The Emperor, in turn, can rely on a direct relationship of trust with most of the forces of State power, overcoming the moment of political mediation.
The High Command therefore provides the political cover for the running of the Imperial Service's State-within-a-State - whose executive authority is the General Staff. The traditional influence of the military, as well as the deep compenetration with District Counts and High Vors, make nearly impossible to achieve a result on security policy issues without working through the military and intelligence services.On a lower level, courts and local authorities are sometimes unable to know what is happening within their own areas of jurisdiction, because the Imperial Service is actually calling the shots.
In case of extremely sensitive affairs, even civilian senior security political officials like the Minister of War may have no actual control over the institutions they are nominally responsible for: on such circumstances, information travels only up to the Assistant Minister level (usually a reliable career officer on active service), and the Minister himself is not kept in the loop all the time. Such Assistant Ministers or Presidents of Department are the principal officer in the Ministry and files are normally moved up to his level only, after which they were returned to the Imperial Service. On the other hand, in case the Minister is a senior military officer (even if retired) these precautions do not apply. In the majority of cases, the Minister actually is a military officer.

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