gress, April 3, 1958, The Department of Defense 1944-1978, page 175) To implement this thesis, President Eisenhower proposed that the operational commanders report directly to the Secretary of Defense. The Military Departments and the Service Chiefs were eliminated from the chain of command, and the executive agent arrangement was ended. This was accomplished in the 1958 Reorganization Act and remains in force today. Specifically, Section 2 of the Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1958 declared that it was national policy "...to provide for the establishment of unified and specified combatant commands, and a clear and direct line of command to such commands..." Later in the same Act (Section 202(j)), the authority for the President to establish operational commands is set forth with some specificity: (j) With the advice and assistance of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the President, through the Secretary of Defense, shall establish unified or specified combatant commands for the performance of military missions, and shall determine the force structure of such combatant commands to be composed of forces of the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Air Force, which shall then be assigned to such combatant commands by the departments concerned for the performance of such military missions. Such combat commands are responsible to the President and the Secretary of Defense for such military missions as may be assigned to them by the Secretary of Defense, with the approval of the President. Forces assigned to such unified combatant commands or specified combatant commands shall be under the full operational command of the commander of the unified combatant command or the commander of the specified combatant command. All forces not so assigned remain for all purposes in their respective departments. Under the direction, authority, and control of the Secretary of Defense each military department shall be responsible for the administration of the forces assigned from its department to such combatant commands. The responsibility for the support of forces assigned to combatant commands shall be vested in one or more of the military departments as may be directed by the Secretary of Defense. Forces assigned to such unified or specified combatant commands shall be transferred therefrom only by authority of and under procedures established by the Secretary of Defense, with the approval of the President. Essentially, this same provision has been codified as section 124 of title 10, United States Code, and remains the basis for the current operational command structure. C. KEY TRENDS 1. Changes in the Operational Command Structure a. Original Operational Commands The original operational commands were essentially those in place at the end of World War II. The first peacetime "unified com mand" to be established, U.S. Forces, European Theater was created when General Eisenhower's Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force was dissolved on July 14, 1945. The basic charter of the original seven unified commands and two specified commands was the Unified Command Plan prepared by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and approved by President Truman on December 14, 1946. Under this plan, the following commands were to be established; the date that each command was actually established is shown. Unified Commands • Far East Command (U.S. forces in Japan, Korea, the Ryukyus, the Philippines, the Marianas Islands, and the Bonins) -January 1, 1947 • Pacific Command -January 1, 1947 • Alaskan Command-January 1, 1947 • European Command (In effect, the European Command (EUCOM) was only a new title for U.S. Forces, European Theater which had existed since July 1945. While nominally a unified command, EUCOM was almost wholly of Army composition.) -March 15, 1947 • Atlantic Fleet (The Atlantic Fleet was made a command on November 1, 1947, but one month later the Atlantic Command was established.) • Caribbean Command -November 1, 1947 • Northeast Command (forces assigned to Newfoundland, Labrador, and Greenland) -October 1, 1950 Specified Commands • Strategic Air Command-December 14, 1946 • U.S. Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean (CINCNELM) -November 1, 1947 The Strategic Air Command became the first example of what was later designated a specified command, though the term did not come into use until 1951. b. Changes in the 1950's and 1960's There was relatively little change in the operational command structure in the two decades following the creation of the original peacetime commands. There were only two major changes: establishment of the Continental Air Defense Command and U.S. Strike Command as unified commands. The changes during this 20-year period were: • in 1951, U.S. Air Forces, Europe was established as a specified command; 。 in 1952, the U.S. European Command became a full-fledged unified command; o in 1954, the Continental Air Defense Command was established as a joint command and made a unified command in 1958; 。 in 1956, U.S. Air Forces, Europe was disestablished as a specified command; 。 in 1956, the Northeast Command was disestablished; 。 in 1957, the Far East Command was disestablished and its forces were placed under the Pacific Command; 。 in 1961, the U.S. Strike Command was established as a unified command; • in 1963, the Caribbean Command was redesignated the U.S. Southern Command; and • in 1963, U.S. Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean was disestablished as a specified command and served only as U.S. Naval Forces, Europe under the European Command. c. Changes in the 1970's and 1980's There have been only six changes to the operational commands since 1970: 。 in 1971, the U.S. Strike Command was renamed the U.S. Readiness Command; o in 1975, the Alaskan Command was disestablished; 。 in 1975, the U.S. Continental Air Defense Command was designated a specified command and renamed the Aerospace Defense Command; 。 in 1977, the Military Airlift Command was given the status of a specified command; 。 in 1983, the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force was designated a unified command and renamed the U.S. Central Command; and o in 1984, President Reagan approved the establishment of the U.S. Space Command. d. Summary Since 1945, there have been 11 different unified commands (including the U.S. Space Command) and five different specified commands. Between 1947 and 1950, the original seven unified commands were created. Four of these -European Command, Atlantic Command, Pacific Command, and the Caribbean Command now entitled the Southern Command —remain in existence today. The other three initial commands (Far East Command, Northeast Command, and Alaskan Command) were incorporated respectively into the Pacific, Atlantic, and Readiness Commands. (The Alaskan Air Command also reports to the Aerospace Defense Command in connection with its air defense mission.) The Continental Air Defense Command was a unified command for 17 years beginning in 1958. Two new unified commands have been created and remain in existence today: the Readiness Command/Strike Command in 1961 and the Central Command in 1983. Presidential approval of the U.S. Space Command was given in 1984 and that command was formally established in September 1985. Of the two initial specified commands, only the Strategic Air Command remains. The other, U.S. Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, was incorporated into the European Command as was U.S. Air Forces, Europe which was a specified command for 5 years. Two new specified commands have been created and remain in existence today: the Aerospace Defense Command in 1975 (after its predecessor organization, Continental Air Defense Command, served as a unified command for 17 years) and the Military Airlift Command in 1977. |
