Higher direction of war |
The Joint Chiefs of Staff military system first came into being in the US in 1947. It saw a major overhaul and a redefinition through the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986. Failure of the Grenada invasion rekindled failures from the past, especially in the Vietnam War, when it was led and fought from the Oval Office by President Lyndon Johnson and his firebrand Secretary of War, Robert McNamara.
Together, they would pore over maps, study the state of war thousands of miles away, and allocate missions to American forces in Vietnam under their chosen commander of the forces, General Westmoreland. Eventually, he relinquished command under the weight of speculative performance. Post-war analysis suggested that the absence of professional and institutional advice to the President was the key to America's loss of face and the eventual shameful defeat.
The Joint Chiefs system was remodeled to provide the President with active advice on all military matters. The Chairman led a Committee consisting of the four Service Chiefs from the Army, Air Force, Navy and the Marines. Below the President, directly answerable to him on all operational matters, were regionally appointed unified force commanders — responsible for all military forces in their geographical area, eliminating service-specific command structure. They held the same rank as the respective chiefs of the services on the Joint Chiefs Committee. Respective geographical commands acted in response to direct Presidential orders on all operational matters. These actions followed directives advised by the Joint Chiefs to the President in Washington and authorized by Congress.
A better check and balance system perhaps is not possible. The respective Chiefs of Staff of the four services were primarily responsible for development, equipment,........