Strategy

• The commander in chief is charged with making specific strategic decisions regarding the U.S. armed forces and directing the overall course of military action.
  
  

Militia

• In addition to the formal military, the commander in chief also commands the state militias, as dictated by Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution.
  
  

Personal Command

• The president has the power to assume personal command of any U.S. military force on the battlefield.
  
  

Occupied Territory

• The president serves as the de facto head of any government in an area occupied by U.S. troops. A prominent example would be West Germany in the days immediately following World War II.
  
  

Branches

• Although the Constitution stipulates only that the president act as commander in chief of the Army and Navy, additional laws and acts have clarified this role to include new branches of the military. Most notably, the 1947 National Security Act made the president commander in chief of the Air Force.