Protocol State Drift: Why Declarative Procedures Fail at the Transition
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Declarative procedures fail not because steps are absent or unknown, but because execution state is not structurally coupled to protocol state. This paper names and defines Protocol State Drift as a distinct failure class — separate from hallucination, from checklist omission, and from intent loss. The mechanism operates across domains: healthcare staffing, military accountability structures, autonomous agent pipelines, and operational protocol systems. A diagnostic distinction is developed between transition gates (which protect linear execution) and state gates (which protect non-linear invocation). The paper argues that checklist architecture — the dominant model for procedural reliability — cannot prevent this class of failure by design.
Author: Kir, Roman
Language: English
Subfield: Control and Systems Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7161114017
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