Beyond Goldwater-Nichols

Abstract

Service chiefs wear two hats: as advisors to the National Command Authorities and as advocates of parochial service interests. As a result divided loyalties have traditionally barred the Joint Chiefs of Staff from providing timely and effective advice to the President and the Secretary of Defense. After troubling operational experiences in Korea, Vietnam, and the Iranian hostage rescue mission, a hue and cry arose over reforming--or even replacing--JCS as an institution. Following years of congressional hearings the Goldwater-Nichols DOD Reorganization Act neither ended dual-hatting nor replaced JCS. It has, however, strengthened the role of the Chairman and promoted jointness. Organizational realignment under Goldwater-Nichols has not offset resource allocation problems which are "what the services do 90 percent of the time." Replacing JCS with a National Military Advisory Council, and the Joint Staff with a general staff, are two long overdue reforms.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1993
Accession Number
ADA528859

Entities

People

  • Peter W. Chiarelli

Organizations

  • National Defense University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Defense
  • Air Force
  • Budgets
  • Cold War
  • Congress
  • Department Of Defense
  • Law
  • Military Education
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Organizational Realignment
  • Personnel Management
  • Students
  • Training
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation and International Security