Established during World War II to advise the President regarding
the strategic direction of the armed forces of the United States,
the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) continued in existence after the
war and, as military advisers and planners, have played a
significant role in the development of national policy. Knowledge
of JCS relations with the President, the National Security Council,
and the Secretary of Defense in the years since World War II is
essential to an understanding of their current work. An account of
their activity in peacetime and during times of crisis provides,
moreover, an important series of chapters in the military history
of the United States. For these reasons, the Joint Chiefs of Staff
directed that an official history be written for the record. Its
value for instructional purposes, for the orientation of officers
newly assigned to the JCS organization, and as a source of
information for staff studies will be readily recognized. The
series, The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, treats the
activities of the Joint Chiefs of Staff since the close of World
War II. Because of the nature of the activities of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff as well as the sensitivity of the sources, the volumes of
the series were originally prepared in classified form.
Classification designations, in text and footnotes, are those that
appeared in the original classified volume. Following review and
declassification, the initial four volumes, covering the years 1945
to 1952 and the Korean War, were distributed in unclassified form
within the Department of Defense and copies were deposited with the
National Archives and Records Administration. These volumes are now
being made available as official publications. Volume II describes
JCS activities during the period 1947 to 1949 except for activities
related to Indochina which are covered in a separate series. This
volume is the work of Mr. Kenneth W. Condit of the Historical
Division, Joint Secretariat; he developed the volume's concept and
outline, performed the research, and wrote the chapters. The
initial draft of Chapter 8 was prepared by Miss Judith A. Walters.
Mr. William J. Tobin contributed to the production of Chapter 14.
Final revision and historical editing proceeded under the
supervision of the Chief, Histories Branch, Dr. Robert J. Watson.
Resource constraints have prevented revision to reflect recent
scholarship. Readers familiar with the present-day operations of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff will note that the activities described
in this volume reflect a somewhat different organization and set of
procedures-those existing some years before the implementation of
the Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1958. As organized
under the National Security Act of 1947, the Joint Staff had three
main components: the Joint Strategic Plans Group, the Joint
Intelligence Group, and the Joint Logistics Plans Group. At an
organizational level above the three Joint Staff Groups were three
joint committees composed of Service representatives (such as the
Joint Strategic Plans Committee overseeing the work of the Joint
Strategic Plans Group). The Joint Chiefs of Staff normally assigned
tasks to one of the committees, which in turn called on its
corresponding Joint Staff Group for a report. The resulting paper
passed to the joint committee for review, amendment, and approval
for return with instructions for revision) before being submitted
to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The JCS Committees and Groups that
were established under the National Security Act of 1947 were
direct successors of elements of the wartime JCS organization that
had continued to function in the postwar period. The transition
from old forms to new occurred during October 1947 and involved
extensive changes in titles.
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