Perry, Mark. Four Stars. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989. 412 pages.

This is a history of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, established in 1947 and consisting of the four-star leaders of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, and a chairman and vice chairman. These six men meet three times a week in the Pentagon "tank" where they coordinate the nation's military forces. Each of the four services is in also cross-organized into seven "unified" operational commands that have regional responsibilities and are controlled by a CINC, or commander in chief. And each service also has a civilian secretary, who is responsible for the maintenance of readiness and for waging budget battles in Congress.

The President's formal command authority bypasses the JCS, but in practice his decisions, or those of the Secretary of Defense acting on his behalf, are routed through them on their way to the CINC unified commands.

Inter-service rivalry is one recurring problem within the JCS, but the most serious incident was a conflict between the JCS and civilian leaders. It occurred in August 1967, when the Joint Chiefs threatened to resign over civilian handling of the war in Vietnam. Sixteen years later, with the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, it was clear that the JCS still hadn't achieved their goal of holding civilians accountable for the use of troops abroad.
ISBN 0-395-42923-4

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