Editing Commander-in-chief (section)

===Sri Lanka===
As head of state, the [[president of Sri Lanka]], is nominally the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The [[National Security Council of Sri Lanka|National Security Council]], chaired by the president is the authority charged with formulating and executing defence policy for the nation. The highest level of military headquarters is the [[Ministry of Defence (Sri Lanka)|Ministry of Defence]], since 1978 except for a few rare occasions the president retained the portfolio defence, thus being the minister of defence. The ministry and the armed forces have been controlled by the during these periods by either a [[Minister of State|minister of state]], [[Deputy Minister|deputy minister]] for defence, and of recently the [[Permanent Secretary|permanent secretary]] to the Ministry of Defence. Prior to 1978 the [[Prime Minister of Sri Lanka|prime minister]] held the portfolio of minister of defence and external affairs, and was supported by a [[Parliamentary Secretary|parliamentary secretary]] for defence and external affairs.

Responsibility for the management of the forces is Ministry of Defence, while the planning and execution of [[combined operations]] is the responsibility of the Joint Operations Command (JOC). The JOC is headed by the [[Chief of the Defence Staff (Sri Lanka)|chief of the defence staff]] who is the most senior officer in the Armed Forces and is an appointment that can be held by an [[Air Chief Marshal|air chief marshal]], [[admiral]], or [[general]]. The three services have their own respective professional chiefs: the [[Commander of the Army (Sri Lanka)|commander of the Army]], the [[Commander of the Navy (Sri Lanka)|commander of the Navy]] and the [[Commander of the Air Force (Sri Lanka)|commander of the Air Force]], who have much autonomy.