PAT-0120
Missing Authority
A structural condition where a region, action, state, or decision path exists without a declared governing authority.
Primary Lenses
Authority Overlay Lens
Maps declared authority hierarchies onto observed structure to detect absence, override, or conflict.
Lens Application
The Authority Overlay Lens is a primary inspection mechanism for Missing Authority because it overlays declared authority hierarchies onto the structure being examined. It helps identify areas where activity, decision flow, or state change exists without a corresponding authority assignment, or where authority is ambiguous, bypassed, or undeclared.
Inspect For
- Actions or decisions without named owners
- Regions or states outside declared authority paths
- Overrides that lack an authorized source
- Authority assignments that are absent, ambiguous, or bypassed
Avoid
Treat missing or unclear authority as an inspection signal requiring further review rather than evidence that Missing Authority has been established.
Absence Lens
Detects structurally required elements that are missing from the observed structure.
Lens Application
The Absence Lens is a primary inspection mechanism for Missing Authority because it focuses attention on expected governing roles, rules, or ownership that should be present in the structure. It helps surface places where control is implied by activity but not explicitly assigned.
Inspect For
- Decisions with no named owner
- Actions permitted without governing rules
- States lacking approval or escalation authority
- Regions operating without declared oversight
Avoid
Treat missing authority indicators as inspection signals rather than confirmation that Missing Authority has been established.
Secondary Lenses
Conflict Lens
Detects mutually incompatible constraints, claims, states, or declarations that cannot be simultaneously satisfied.
Lens Application
As a secondary lens, the Conflict Lens helps inspect Missing Authority by highlighting conflicting decisions, permissions, obligations, or states that remain unresolved because no authority is named to govern them. It supports the pattern indirectly by showing where authority gaps may be contributing to incompatibility.
Inspect For
- Conflicting permissions with no named decision owner
- Rules or states that cannot both apply
- Disputes resolved by assumption rather than authority
- Decision paths lacking escalation control
Avoid
Treat conflicts as signals for further authority inspection rather than confirmation that authority is missing.
Reconciliation Lens
Evaluates whether structural changes align with declared authority updates, version changes, or reconciliation rules.
Lens Application
As a secondary lens, the Reconciliation Lens supports inspection of Missing Authority by comparing changed regions, actions, states, or decision paths against authority declarations, version records, and reconciliation rules. It may surface places where governance did not move with the structure.
Inspect For
- Structural changes without matching authority updates
- Version changes that leave authority references unchanged
- Reconciliation rules that omit new decision paths
- Changed states governed only by inherited or unclear authority
Avoid
Treat missing reconciliation evidence as a signal for further authority inspection, not as proof that authority is absent.
Primary Issue Matches
AI Memory Has No Governance
Saved or persistent AI memory affects output without clear rules for ownership, scope, review, update, expiry, or removal.
AI Memory Updated Without Asking
AI memory, saved context, preference, or durable state is updated without the user clearly asking for or approving that update.
Automation Skips Required Approval
An automated AI or workflow step proceeds past an approval gate that should have been required before action.
Fallback Authority Is Missing
The system does not declare who or what has authority when the primary owner, rule, tool, source, or decision path is unavailable or inconclusive.
No Owner for Agent Action
An agent action can affect the system without a declared responsible owner, authority, or accountable decision path.
Tool Can Act Without Responsible Authority
A tool, connector, function, or integration can perform an action without a declared responsible authority for that action.
Workflow Step Has No Decision Owner
A workflow step requires a decision, approval, judgment, or routing choice, but no owner is declared for making it.
Supporting Issue Matches
Action Triggered by Confidence Score
A confidence score, certainty label, risk level, or probability-like value triggers an action without enough approval, calibration, or authority control.
Agent Cannot Choose Tool Without Tool Result
The agent needs a tool result to choose the right tool, but cannot obtain that result without choosing a tool first.
Agent Permission Expands Over Steps
An agent begins with limited permission but gains, assumes, or exercises broader authority as the workflow continues.
Approval Depends on Output That Needs Approval
A required approval depends on an AI output or workflow result that itself cannot be produced or trusted until approval is granted.
Cannot Identify Authoritative State
The user or workflow cannot tell which state, version, review result, decision, source, or output is currently authoritative.
Declared Owner Cannot Control Outcome
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.
Missing Fallback for Unavailable Information
The task does not declare what the AI should do when required information, sources, tools, fields, or evidence are unavailable.
Model Output Triggers Unapproved Action
AI output causes, recommends, or triggers an action that has not passed the required approval, permission, or authority check.
Risk Score Triggers Wrong Escalation
A risk score, severity label, confidence value, or threshold result triggers the wrong escalation path.
Risk Signal Escalates Beyond Evidence
A risk signal, warning, score, or concern escalates farther than the available evidence supports.
Severity Increases Without New Evidence
The severity, risk, confidence, or escalation level increases even though no new evidence has been added.
Single Step Carries Too Many Decisions
One prompt, workflow step, review stage, or agent action carries too many decisions for the system or user to evaluate cleanly.