Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

The principal deputy to the chairman is the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (VCJCS), another four-star general or admiral, who among many duties chairs the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC).

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is assisted by the Joint Staff, led by the director of the Joint Staff, a three-star general or admiral. The Joint Staff is an organization composed of approximately equal numbers of officers contributed by the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force who have been assigned to assist the chairman with the unified strategic direction, operation, and integration of the combatant land, naval, air, and space forces. The National Military Command Center (NMCC) is part of the Joint Staff operations directorate (J-3).

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is also advised on enlisted personnel matters by the senior enlisted advisor to the chairman, who serves as a communication conduit between the chairman and the senior enlisted advisors (command sergeants major, command master chief petty officers, and command chief master sergeants) of the combatant commands.

Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, USN, served as the chief of staff to the commander in chief from 20 July 1942 to 21 March 1949. He presided over meetings of what was called the Joint Chiefs of Staff,[8] and Leahy's office was the precursor to the post of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, created in 1949.

The chairman is nominated by the president for appointment and must be confirmed via majority vote by the Senate.[2] The chairman and vice chairman may not be members of the same armed force service branch.[9] However, the president may waive that restriction for a limited period of time in order to provide for the orderly transition of officers appointed to serve in those positions.[9] The chairman serves a single four-year term of office[2][10] at the pleasure of the president,[2] with reappointment to additional terms only possible during times of war or national emergency.[2] Historically, the chairman has served two two-year terms, until the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 amended the chairman's term of office to a single four-year term.[10] By statute, the chairman is appointed as a four-star general or admiral while holding office[2] and assumes office on October 1st of odd-numbered years.[2]

Although the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Omar Bradley, was eventually awarded a fifth star, the CJCS does not receive one by right, and Bradley's award was so that his subordinate, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, would not outrank him.[11][12]

In the 1990s, there were proposals in Department of Defense academic circles to bestow on the office of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a five-star rank.[13][14][15]

Previously during the presidency of Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff position was rotated in accordance with the incumbent chairman's armed force service branch. In this rotation, the incoming chairman would be from a different service branch. For example, in 1957, following the retirement of Admiral Arthur W. Radford as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, President Eisenhower nominated United States Air Force general Nathan F. Twining as Radford's successor. When General Twining retired, Eisenhower nominated Army general Lyman Lemnitzer to succeed Twining as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.[16]

However in October 1962, when President Kennedy appointed Army general Maxwell Taylor as General Lemnitzer successor, Kennedy eventually broke the traditional rotation for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff position between the Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Army. Kennedy replaced a chairman who was from the Army with a general who was also from the Army. At that time, Kennedy should have appointed either Air Force chief of staff General Curtis E. LeMay, Chief of Naval Operation Admiral George Whelan Anderson Jr., or Commandant of the Marine Corps General David M. Shoup to succeed General Lemnitzer as the fifth chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Since that, the traditional rotation was abolished.[17][18][16]

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was an Army general for three consecutive terms from 1960 to 1970: Army general Lyman Lemnitzer served as chairman from 1960 until 1962. Lemnitzer was replaced by Army general Maxwell Taylor, who served from 1962 until 1964. Taylor was replaced by Army general Earle Wheeler, who served from 1964 until 1970.[18][19] The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was also an Army general for three consecutive terms from 1989 to 2001: Army general Colin Powell served as chairman from 1989 until 1993 and was succeeded by Army general John Shalikashvilli, who served from 1993 until 1997. When General Shalikashvilli retired in 1997, he was also succeeded by Army general Hugh Shelton, who served from 1997 until 2001.[20] With Army general Mark Milley assuming the position of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in October 2019, exactly half of the chairmen—10 out of 20—have been Army generals.[21]

According to the 2020 Monthly Rates of Basic Pay (Commissioned Officer) - effective January 1, 2020), basic pay is limited to the rate of basic pay for level II of the Executive Schedule in effect during calendar year 2020, which is $16,441.80 per month for officers at pay grades O-7 through O-10. This includes officers serving as chairman or vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, chief of staff of the Army, chief of naval operations, chief of staff of the Air Force, chief of space operations, commandant of the Marine Corps, commandant of the Coast Guard, chief of the National Guard Bureau, or commander of a unified or specified combatant command.[22]

• Chief of Defence
  • Chief of the Defence Force
  • Chief of the Defence Staff
  • Chief of the General Staff
• National Command Authority
• National Military Strategy (United States)
• Single Integrated Operational Plan
• Unified Command Plan

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  Air Force General Nathan F. Twining took the oath of office as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1957.
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  General Henry H. Shelton hosted on 1 December 2000 a conference in the Pentagon for former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Standing from left to right are: Gen. Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret); Gen. John W. Vessey, USA (Ret); Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, USN (Ret); Gen. Shelton, USA; Gen. David C. Jones, USAF (Ret); Adm. William J. Crowe, Jr., USN (Ret); and Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, USA (Ret).
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  The Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1981, with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General David C. Jones seated in the middle, in between all of the service chiefs. At that time, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff position had not yet been established.
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  The Joint Chiefs of Staff photographed in the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gold Room, also known as "The Tank," in The Pentagon on 2001. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force General Richard B. Myers and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine general Peter Pace seated in the middle, in between all of the service chiefs.
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  Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General George S. Brown during a press conference at The White House in 1975.
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  Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard B. Myers during a Press Briefing at The Pentagon in 2005.
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  Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff General David C. Jones (Second from Left, in The United States Air Force uniform) accompanying U.S. President Jimmy Carter at the signing of the SALT II treaty, in Vienna, Austira, June 18, 1979.
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  Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General David C. Jones with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General of the army Omar Bradley on January 20, 1981.

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