# PAT-0120 — Missing Authority

## Ontology Metadata

Code: PAT-0120
Version: PAT-0120@0.1.0
Ontology release: 0.1.0
Updated: 2026-05-10T00:00:00Z
Canonical URL: /workbench/patterns/missing-authority/

## Summary

A structural condition where a region, action, state, or decision path exists without a declared governing authority.

## Primary Lenses

- LEN-0110 — Authority Overlay Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/authority-overlay-lens/
  - Summary: Maps declared authority hierarchies onto observed structure to detect absence, override, or conflict.
- LEN-0100 — Absence Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/absence-lens/
  - Summary: Detects structurally required elements that are missing from the observed structure.

## Secondary Lenses

- LEN-0150 — Conflict Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/conflict-lens/
  - Summary: Detects mutually incompatible constraints, claims, states, or declarations that cannot be simultaneously satisfied.
- LEN-0270 — Reconciliation Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/reconciliation-lens/
  - Summary: Evaluates whether structural changes align with declared authority updates, version changes, or reconciliation rules.

## Primary Issue Matches

- ISS-0109 — AI Memory Has No Governance
  - URL: /workbench/issues/ai-memory-has-no-governance/
  - Summary: Saved or persistent AI memory affects output without clear rules for ownership, scope, review, update, expiry, or removal.
- ISS-0114 — AI Memory Updated Without Asking
  - URL: /workbench/issues/ai-memory-updated-without-asking/
  - Summary: AI memory, saved context, preference, or durable state is updated without the user clearly asking for or approving that update.
- ISS-0111 — Automation Skips Required Approval
  - URL: /workbench/issues/automation-skips-required-approval/
  - Summary: An automated AI or workflow step proceeds past an approval gate that should have been required before action.
- ISS-0014 — Fallback Authority Is Missing
  - URL: /workbench/issues/fallback-authority-is-missing/
  - Summary: The system does not declare who or what has authority when the primary owner, rule, tool, source, or decision path is unavailable or inconclusive.
- ISS-0012 — No Owner for Agent Action
  - URL: /workbench/issues/no-owner-for-agent-action/
  - Summary: An agent action can affect the system without a declared responsible owner, authority, or accountable decision path.
- ISS-0108 — Tool Can Act Without Responsible Authority
  - URL: /workbench/issues/tool-can-act-without-responsible-authority/
  - Summary: A tool, connector, function, or integration can perform an action without a declared responsible authority for that action.
- ISS-0013 — Workflow Step Has No Decision Owner
  - URL: /workbench/issues/workflow-step-has-no-decision-owner/
  - Summary: A workflow step requires a decision, approval, judgment, or routing choice, but no owner is declared for making it.

## Supporting Issue Matches

- ISS-0064 — Action Triggered by Confidence Score
  - URL: /workbench/issues/action-triggered-by-confidence-score/
  - Summary: A confidence score, certainty label, risk level, or probability-like value triggers an action without enough approval, calibration, or authority control.
- ISS-0087 — Agent Cannot Choose Tool Without Tool Result
  - URL: /workbench/issues/agent-cannot-choose-tool-without-tool-result/
  - Summary: The agent needs a tool result to choose the right tool, but cannot obtain that result without choosing a tool first.
- ISS-0099 — Agent Permission Expands Over Steps
  - URL: /workbench/issues/agent-permission-expands-over-steps/
  - Summary: An agent begins with limited permission but gains, assumes, or exercises broader authority as the workflow continues.
- ISS-0088 — Approval Depends on Output That Needs Approval
  - URL: /workbench/issues/approval-depends-on-output-that-needs-approval/
  - Summary: A required approval depends on an AI output or workflow result that itself cannot be produced or trusted until approval is granted.
- ISS-0085 — Cannot Identify Authoritative State
  - URL: /workbench/issues/cannot-identify-authoritative-state/
  - Summary: The user or workflow cannot tell which state, version, review result, decision, source, or output is currently authoritative.
- ISS-0015 — Declared Owner Cannot Control Outcome
  - URL: /workbench/issues/declared-owner-cannot-control-outcome/
  - Summary: A person, role, system, or policy is declared responsible for an outcome but does not have the actual authority or control needed to govern it.
- ISS-0074 — Missing Fallback for Unavailable Information
  - URL: /workbench/issues/missing-fallback-for-unavailable-information/
  - Summary: The task does not declare what the AI should do when required information, sources, tools, fields, or evidence are unavailable.
- ISS-0050 — Model Output Triggers Unapproved Action
  - URL: /workbench/issues/model-output-triggers-unapproved-action/
  - Summary: AI output causes, recommends, or triggers an action that has not passed the required approval, permission, or authority check.
- ISS-0065 — Risk Score Triggers Wrong Escalation
  - URL: /workbench/issues/risk-score-triggers-wrong-escalation/
  - Summary: A risk score, severity label, confidence value, or threshold result triggers the wrong escalation path.
- ISS-0095 — Risk Signal Escalates Beyond Evidence
  - URL: /workbench/issues/risk-signal-escalates-beyond-evidence/
  - Summary: A risk signal, warning, score, or concern escalates farther than the available evidence supports.
- ISS-0102 — Severity Increases Without New Evidence
  - URL: /workbench/issues/severity-increases-without-new-evidence/
  - Summary: The severity, risk, confidence, or escalation level increases even though no new evidence has been added.
- ISS-0103 — Single Step Carries Too Many Decisions
  - URL: /workbench/issues/single-step-carries-too-many-decisions/
  - Summary: One prompt, workflow step, review stage, or agent action carries too many decisions for the system or user to evaluate cleanly.