What This Field Means
The department, service, command, law, order, or official body that established or recognized the organization.
This identifies who had the recognized power to constitute, establish, activate, commission, organize, or officially recognize the unit. It helps distinguish a formally created organization from a convenient label used only by a source or later writer.
How to Read It Correctly
The authorizing authority is not necessarily the unit’s parent command, present administrative command, operational commander, or the publisher of the source. Those roles can belong to different organizations.
Example
Department of the Air Force, Secretary of the Navy, or an identified headquarters order.
Technical Specification
The database column is [USMIL-Unit].[Unit].[AuthorizingAuthority]. Optional evidence-backed narrative identifying the authority behind constitution, establishment, activation, commissioning, or formal recognition.
Name the department, service, command, office, statute, or other competent authority as specifically as the retained evidence permits. Do not invent an authority from general organizational practice.
| Property | Definition or current value |
|---|---|
| Database column | AuthorizingAuthority |
| Column order | 10 |
| SQL data type | nvarchar(1024) |
| Kind of information | Evidence-derived text |
| Cardinality | One stored value per Unit row. |
| Required | No; NULL is permitted |
| Database default | No database default |
| Key or relationship | None |
| Database check constraint | ([CurrentStatus]=N'Planned' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Status unknown' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Historical' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Inactive' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Current') |
| Live population | 9341 of 9341 Unit records (100%) |
| Distinct nonblank values in the live table | 601 |
| Live profile measured | September 2, 2026, 20:43 UTC |
Allowed Values and Definitions
No preset menu applies to this field. It stores an identifier, relationship, measurement, date, timestamp, or evidence-derived narrative. Valid content is governed by the SQL type, key relationship, nullability, retained evidence, and the field-specific recording rule above. A list of observed contents would be data, not a list of allowed options.
Missing, Unknown, and Conflicting Information
A database NULL is permitted and means that no value is presently stored. It does not prove that the fact never existed, that the answer is no, or that the concept does not apply. Missing information must remain visibly different from a supported negative or inapplicable conclusion.
Connections to Other Fields
- Authorization Document — The official order, directive, roster, law, or other record that supports the unit’s creation or recognition.
- Constitution Status — What is known about how the unit was constituted, organized, activated, commissioned, or otherwise formally brought into being.
- Activation or Commission Date — The documented date the unit was activated or a ship or cutter command was commissioned.
- Administrative Command — The service-side organization responsible for administration, readiness, personnel, training, and support.
- Primary Evidence — The principal retained source supporting the unit’s identity in this record.