| Joint Chiefs of Staff | |
|---|---|
| JCS | |
.svg) Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge | |
| Role | Advisory board providing professional military advice to thesecretary of defense and thepresident |
| Established in practice | 1942 |
| Constituting instrument | National Security Act of 1947 currently codified at 10 U.S.C. § 151 |
| Predecessor entities | Joint Board (1903–1942) |
| Members | |
| Chairman | GenDan Caine,USAF |
| Vice Chairman | GenChristopher J. Mahoney,USMC |
| Number of members | Eight |
| Administration | |
| Parent agency | U.S. Department of Defense |
| Staff organization | The Joint Staff (for the chairman and the vice chairman; the service chiefs and theNational Guard Bureau chief have their own staffs assisting them) |
| Seat | The Pentagon |
| United States Armed Forces |
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| Executive departments |
| Staff |
| Military departments |
| Military services |
| Command structure |
TheJoint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within theUnited States Department of Defense, which advises thepresident of the United States, thesecretary of defense, theHomeland Security Council and theNational Security Council on military matters. The composition of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is defined bystatute and consists of achairman, avice chairman, the chiefs of theArmy,Marine Corps,Navy,Air Force, andSpace Force, and thechief of the National Guard Bureau.[1][2] Each of the individual service chiefs, outside their Joint Chiefs obligations, works directly under the secretaries of their respective military departments, e.g. thesecretary of the Army, thesecretary of the Navy, and thesecretary of the Air Force.[3][4][5][6]
Following theGoldwater–Nichols Act in 1986, the Joint Chiefs of Staff do not have operational command authority, either individually or collectively, as thechain of command goes from the president to the secretary of defense, and from the secretary to the regionalcombatant commanders.[7] Goldwater–Nichols also created the office of vice chairman, and the chairman is now designated as the principal military adviser to the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the president.[8]
TheJoint Staff is a headquarters staff inthe Pentagon, composed of personnel from each of the six service branches, that assists the chairman and the vice chairman in discharging their responsibilities and is managed by thedirector of the Joint Staff.[9]
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After the 1986 reorganization of theArmed Forces undertaken by theGoldwater–Nichols Act, the Joint Chiefs of Staff does not possess operational authority over troops or other units. Responsibility for conducting military operations goes from thepresident to thesecretary of defense directly to the commanders of theunified combatant commands and thus bypasses the Joint Chiefs of Staff completely.[citation needed]
Today, their primary responsibility is to ensure personnel readiness, policy, planning and training of their respective services for the combatant commanders to utilize. In addition, thechairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff acts as the chief military advisor to the president and the secretary of defense. In this strictly advisory role, the Joint Chiefs constitute the third-highest deliberative body for military policy, after theNational Security Council and theHomeland Security Council, which includes the president and other officials besides the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.[citation needed]
While serving as the chairman or vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, chief of staff of the Army, commandant of the Marine Corps, chief of naval operations, chief of staff of the Air Force, or commandant of the Coast Guard, basic pay is $18,808.20 a month,[10] plus a $4,000 per year personal money allowance.[11]
| Position | Photograph | Name | Service | Serving since | Nominated by | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff |  | General J. Daniel Caine |  United States Air Force | 11 April 2025 | Donald Trump |  |
| Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff | .jpg) | General Christopher J. Mahoney |  United States Marine Corps | 1 October 2025 | Donald J. Trump |  |
| Chief of Staff of the Army | .jpg) | General Randy A. George |  United States Army | 21 September 2023 | Joseph R. Biden |  |
| Commandant of the Marine Corps |  | General Eric M. Smith | United States Marine Corps | 22 September 2023 | Joseph R. Biden |  |
| Chief of Naval Operations | .jpg) | Admiral Daryl L. Caudle |  United States Navy | 25 August 2025 | Donald J. Trump |  |
| Chief of Staff of the Air Force | _(cropped).jpg) | General Kenneth S. Wilsbach | United States Air Force | 3 November 2025 | Donald J. Trump |  |
| Chief of Space Operations | _(cropped).jpg) | General B. Chance Saltzman |  United States Space Force | 2 November 2022 | Joseph R. Biden |  |
| Chief of the National Guard Bureau |  | General Steven S. Nordhaus |  United States Air Force | 2 October 2024 | Joseph R. Biden |  |
| Position | Photograph | Name | Service | Serving since | Nominated by | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commandant of the Coast Guard | .jpg) | Admiral Kevin E. Lunday Acting |  United States Coast Guard | 21 January 2025 | None |  |
Although it is a branch of the Armed Forces pursuant to14 U.S.C. § 101, the Coast Guard operates under theDepartment of Homeland Security rather than theDepartment of Defense, except when the president (e.g., in times of war or national emergency) transfers it to theDepartment of the Navy.[12] Thecommandant of the Coast Guard is not ade jure member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff but is sometimes regarded as ade facto member, being entitled to the same supplemental pay as the Joint Chiefs,[13] and occasionally will attend meetings of the JCS by invitation.[14] Unlike the Joint Chiefs, who are not actually in the military's operational chain of command, the commandant is both the administrative and the operational commander of the Coast Guard.
As theU.S. military grew in size following theAmerican Civil War, joint military action between theArmy andNavy became increasingly difficult. The Army and Navy were unsupportive of each other at either the planning or operational level and were constrained by disagreements during theSpanish–American War in theCaribbean campaigns.[15][16] The Joint Army and Navy Board was established in 1903 by PresidentTheodore Roosevelt, comprising representatives from the military heads and chief planners of both the Navy'sGeneral Board and the Army'sGeneral Staff. The Joint Board acting as an "advisory committee" was created to plan joint operations and resolve problems of commonrivalry between the two services.[15][16]
Yet the Joint Board accomplished little since its charter gave it no authority to enforce its decisions. The Joint Board also lacked the ability to originate its own opinions and was thus limited to commenting only on the problems submitted to it by thesecretaries of war andNavy. As a result, the Joint Board had little to no impact on the manner in which the United States conducted World War I.
After World War I, the two secretaries agreed in 1919 to reestablish and revitalize the Joint Board. The mission of the General Staff was to develop plans for mobilization for the next war. In these, the U.S. was always designated "blue" andpotential enemies were assigned various other colors.[17]
Now, the Joint Board's membership was to include the chiefs of staff, their deputies, and the chief of war plans division for the Army and the director of plans division for the Navy. Under the Joint Board was to be a staff called the Joint Planning Committee to serve the board. Along with new membership, the Joint Board could initiate recommendations on its own initiative. However, the Joint Board still did not possess the legal authority to enforce its decisions.
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U.S. presidentFranklin D. Roosevelt and British prime ministerWinston Churchill established theCombined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) during the 1942Arcadia Conference.[18] The CCS would serve as the supreme military body for strategic direction of the joint U.S.–UK war effort.
The UK portion of the CCS would be composed of the BritishChiefs of Staff Committee, but the United States had no equivalent body. The Joint Board's lack of authority made it of little use to the CCS, although its 1935 publication, Joint Action of the Army and Navy, did give some guidance for the joint operations during World War II. The Joint Board had little influence during the war and was ultimately disbanded in 1947.
As a counterpart to the UK's Chiefs of Staff Committee in the CCS, and to provide better-coordinated effort and coordinated staff work for America's military effort,AdmiralWilliam D. Leahy proposed a "unified high command" in what would come to be called the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Modeled on the British Chiefs of Staff Committee, the JCS' first formal meeting was held on 9 February 1942, to coordinate operations between War and Navy Departments.[18][19] The official history of the Army Air Forces noted that although there was "no official charter establishing this committee...by the end of February it had assumed responsibilities toward the American war effort comparable to the CCS on the combined level."[20] On 20 July 1942, Admiral Leahy became the "Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief", with all individual service chiefs operating under his authority.
The first members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were:[21]
| Name | Service | Position |
|---|---|---|
| AdmiralWilliam D. Leahy | USN | Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy and Special Presidential Military Advisor |
| GeneralGeorge C. Marshall | USA | Chief of Staff of the United States Army (CSUSA) |
| AdmiralErnest J. King | USN | Commander in Chief of theUnited States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations (COMINCH-CNO) |
| GeneralHenry H. 'Hap' Arnold | USA | Chief of the Army Air Forces and Deputy Chief of Staff for Air |
Each of the members of the original Joint Chiefs was a four-star flag or general officer in his service branch. By the end of the war each had been promoted: Leahy and King tofleet admiral; Marshall and Arnold togeneral of the Army. Arnold was later appointed to the grade ofgeneral of the Air Force.
One of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's committees was the Joint Strategic Survey Committee. This commmittee, "one of the most influential planning agencies in the wartime armed forces", was an extraordinary JCS committee that existed from 1942 until 1947.[22] Members included Lieutenant GeneralStanley D. Embick, U.S. Army, chairman, 1942–1946, Vice AdmiralRussell Willson, U.S. Navy, 1942–1945, Vice AdmiralTheodore Stark Wilkinson, U.S. Navy, 1946, and Major GeneralMuir S. Fairchild, U.S. Army Air Force, 1942–?.
With the end of World War II, the Joint Chiefs of Staff was officially established under theNational Security Act of 1947. Per the National Security Act, the JCS consisted of a chairman, thechief of staff of the Army, thechief of staff of the Air Force (which was established as a separate service by the same Act), and thechief of naval operations. Thecommandant of the Marine Corps was to be consulted on matters concerning the Corps, but was not a regular member; GeneralLemuel C. Shepherd, Jr., Commandant in 1952–55, was the first to sit as an occasional member. The law was amended during the term of GeneralLouis H. Wilson, Jr. (1975–79), making the commandant a full-time JCS member in parity with the other three DoD services.
The position of vice chairman was created by theGoldwater–Nichols Act of 1986 to complement the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as to delegate some of the chairman's responsibilities, particularly resource allocation through theJoint Requirements Oversight Council.
GeneralColin L. Powell (Chairman, 1989–1993) was the first African American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he became the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs in 1989. GeneralCharles Q. Brown Jr., the second African American to serve as chairman, was the first African American appointed to lead a service branch when he became the Chief of Staff of the Air Force in 2020. On 25 May 2023, President Joe Biden nominated General Brown to become the 21st Chairman of the JCS. General Brown was subsequently confirmed and took up the post of chairman on 1 October 2023. Controversially,[23] he was later terminated by President Trump's Secretary of DefensePete Hegseth on 21 February 2025, soon after Hegseth's confirmation.
GeneralRichard B. Myers (Chairman, 2001–2005) was the firstvice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to serve aschairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. GeneralPeter Pace (Vice Chairman 2001–2005; Chairman, 2005–2007) was the first Marine to serve in either position.
AdmiralLisa Franchetti became the first woman to serve on the JCS when she took over as Chief of Naval Operations on 2 November 2023.[24][25] Like African American JCS chairman, GeneralCharles Q. Brown Jr., Franchetti was also fired byHegseth on 21 February 2025.[26]
Both the firings of Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, Brown, and the Chief of Naval Operations, Franchetti, "mark[ed] the first time that two members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had been dismissed from their senior military roles"[27] since the creation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1947.
A provision in the2012 National Defense Authorization Act added the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Guard historians called it the "most significant development" for the National Guard since theMilitia Act of 1903.[1]
The2020 National Defense Authorization Act established theU.S. Space Force on 20 December 2019. The Space Force is headed by the chief of space operations, who reports directly to thesecretary of the Air Force. Pursuant to10 U.S.C. § 9082, the chief of space operations became a statutory member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 20 December 2020.[28]
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is, by law, the highest-ranking military officer of theUnited States Armed Forces,[29] and the principal military adviser to the president of the United States. He leads the meetings and coordinates the efforts of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, comprising the chairman, thevice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, thechief of staff of the United States Army, thecommandant of the United States Marine Corps, thechief of naval operations, thechief of staff of the United States Air Force, theChief of Space Operations (statutory member after December 2020), and thechief of the National Guard Bureau. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have offices inthe Pentagon. The chairman outranks all service chiefs,[30] but does not maintain authority over them, their branches or theUnified Combatant Commands.[30] All combatant commanders receive their orders directly from thesecretary of defense.[31]
On 20 July 1942,Fleet AdmiralWilliam D. Leahy became Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief (20 July 1942 – 21 March 1949). He was not technically the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Leahy's office was the precursor to the post of "Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff". That post was established and first held by General of the ArmyOmar Bradley in 1949.
The position ofVice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was created by theGoldwater–Nichols Act of 1986. The vice chairman is a four-star-general oradmiral and, by law, is the second highest-ranking member of the U.S. Armed Forces (after the chairman). In the absence of the chairman, the vice chairman presides over the meetings of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He may also perform such duties as the chairman may prescribe. It was not until the National Defense Authorization Act in 1992 that the position was made a full voting member of the JCS.[32]
The current vice chairman is GeneralChristopher J. Mahoney, who began his tenure on 1 October 2025.
The senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (SEAC) advises on all matters concerning joint and combined total force integration, utilization, development, and helps develop noncommissioned officers related joint professional education, enhance utilization of senior NCOs on joint battle staffs, and support the chairman's responsibilities as directed.
Command Sergeant MajorWilliam Gainey, was the first SEAC, serving from 1 October 2005. The current SEAC isDavid Isom, who was sworn in on June 20, 2025, replacing former SEACTroy E. Black.[33]
| |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1949 |
| Headquarters | The Pentagon |
| Employees | Approx. 1,500 |
| Agency executive | |
| Parent agency | Department of Defense |
TheJoint Staff[34][35] is a military headquarters staff based atThe Pentagon (with offices inHampton Roads, Virginia;Fort Leavenworth, Kansas;Lackland Air Force Base, Texas;Fort Belvoir, Virginia;Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington andFort McNair, District of Columbia) composed of personnel from all the six armed services, assisting the chairman and the vice chairman in discharging their responsibilities. They work closely with theOffice of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the military department staffs, and thecombatant command staffs.[citation needed]
Thechairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is assisted by thedirector of the Joint Staff, a three-star officer who assists the chairman with the management of the Joint Staff, an organization composed of approximately equal numbers of officers contributed by the Army, the Navy and Marine Corps, the Air Force, the Space Force, and the Coast Guard, who have been assigned to assist the chairman in providing to thesecretary of defense unified strategic direction, operation, and integration of the combatant land, naval, space, and air forces. The director is assisted by thevice director of the Joint Staff, a two-star officer.[citation needed]
Former Secretary of DefenseMark Esper tasked the Joint Staff with developing aJoint Warfighting Concept[JadConcept 1] for the services by December 2020.[36] Developing Joint all-domain command and control (JADC2) as a concept[JadConcept 1] is a key goal of the20th Chief of the joint Chiefs of Staff.[36] AnOSD/Joint StaffCross-Functional Team forJADC2 isunderway.[37][38] Esper ordered the four services and the Joint Staff to create a new joint warfighting concept for All-domain operations, operating simultaneously in the air, land, sea, space, cyber, and the electromagnetic spectrum.[39] The Joint Chiefs and Combatant Commanders witnesseddemonstrations of the concept in September 2020.[40]
The Joint Staff includes the following departments where all the planning, policies,intelligence,manpower, communications and logistics functions are translated into action.[41]
The Joint Chiefs may recognize private citizens, organizations or career civilian government employees for significant achievements provided to the joint community with one of the following decorations/awards.[46]
Although, as discussed above, thecommandant of the Coast Guard is not anex officio member of the JCS like the other service chiefs, Coast Guard officers are legally eligible to be appointed as Chairman and Vice Chairman, pursuant to10 U.S.C. § 152(a)(1) and10 U.S.C. § 154(a)(1) respectively, which use the collective term "armed forces" rather than listing the eligible services, as well as to other positions on the Joint Staff. As of 2025[update], no Coast Guard officer has been appointed Chairman or Vice Chairman, but Coast Guard officers routinely serve on the JCS staff, including onevice admiral who was appointed to serve as J6 in 2016.[citation needed]
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