The Role of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Congressional and Executive Budget Process

Abstract

In September 1998, the Joint Chiefs of Staff appeared before the Senate Committee on Armed Services to testify on the status of U.S. Military Forces. During the hearing, the Service Chiefs where harshly criticized by several senators for, what the Senators believed to be, less than forthright testimony during previous hearings. The men and women of the Armed Forces were heartened to hear the joint chiefs champion the cause of readiness and fight for increased funding. However, it was disturbing to hear the integrity of the service chiefs questioned. Most service members do not have a clear understanding of the role of the joint chiefs and there are many misconceptions about the political forces that shape the defense budget. The goal of this paper is to provide a context for the September hearing by describing the role of the joint chiefs in producing the defense budget and some of the political forces that shape it. The paper also investigates the history of the JCS to provide an historical context to the current role of the chiefs.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1999
Accession Number
ADA529538

Entities

Organizations

  • Marine Corps War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Congress
  • Department Of Defense
  • Federal Budgets
  • Government Procurement
  • Governments
  • Law
  • Management Personnel
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Navy
  • Political Systems
  • Procurement
  • Public Policy
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Educational Psychology
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.