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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated
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To: KLP who wrote (202681)4/15/2007 4:15:22 PM
From: unclewest  Read Replies (1) of 793891
 
Is the info in wiki correct re the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act?

It seems pretty accurate to me. especially this:

"Among other changes, Goldwater-Nichols streamlined the military chain of command, which now runs from the President through the Secretary of Defense directly to unified combat commanders, bypassing the service chiefs who were assigned an advisory role."

Except for one little omitted detail - the "stream lining" has been a disaster. For proof I offer this thought. If the system is working so well, why do we now have Admirals in charge of ground forces?

and this:

"The Goldwater-Nichols Act was an attempt to fix problems caused by inter-service rivalry, which had emerged during the Vietnam War, contributed to the catastrophic failure of the Iranian hostage rescue mission in 1980, and which was still evident in the invasion of Grenada in 1983 [1] [2]."

I am intimately familiar with what caused the Desert One mission (Iran hostage rescue) to fail. It was a real screw up involving the Navy and USMC. Tis a lengthy story. I'll consider writing about it later.

Exception: Wiki's insinuation that the JCS Chairman is the primary spokesman to the civilian government is a stretch. Congressional committees by-pass the chain of command regularly and often to subpoena any military officer they desire. IMO the JCS position under Rumsfeld was a mere handmaiden.
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