Joint Chiefs of Staff

Joint Chiefs of Staff. In January 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill created the Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) to direct global military strategy in World War II. The American contingent on the CCS, faced with the highly organized British Chiefs of Staff Committee as its counterpart, responded by forming the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), which first met on 9 February 1942. In addition to the military heads of the army, navy, and army air forces, the JCS included the presidential chief of staff as chairman. Supporting the body was an extensive committee system. The Joint Chiefs advised the president, served on the CCS, and, for the first time in American history, attempted to coordinate the work of the different military services.

The key role of the JCS in the Allied victory contributed to its continuation after the war, but its limited success in achieving interservice cooperation led to the creation of the Department of Defense by the National Security Act of 1947. This act officially established the JCS as the military advisers to the president and the secretary of defense. Amendments specified that its chairman come from one of the services and work independently of the president's staff. In later legislation, civilian control over the JCS increased. The Marine Corps commandant, granted a partial vote in 1952, became a full member in 1978. A major reorganization in 1986 designated the chairman of the JCS, instead of the entire body, as the primary military adviser to the president, the secretary of defense, and the National Security Council.
See also Federal Government, Executive Branch: Department of Defense; Military, The.

Bibliography

Lawrence J. Korb , The Joint Chiefs of Staff: The First Twenty‐five Years, 1976.
Grace Person Hayes , The History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in World War II, 1982.

Anne Sharp Wells