I.

CHAIN OF COMMAND
a. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
i. Definition
1. The federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and
functions of the government relating directly to national security and the military.
ii. History
1. President Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 on July 26, which set up the
National Military Establishment.
a. The abbreviation was “NME” (the obvious pronunciation being “enemy”) and
was renamed the Department of Defense (DOD) on August 10, 1949.
2. The command structure of the DOD is defined by the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986.
iii. Military Expenditures for the DOD for Fiscal Year 2007
1. Totaled at $439.3 billion. (The War on Terror, Iraq and Afghanistan are not included.)
2. In terms of per capita spending, the United States ranks 3rd only behind Israel and
Singapore.
3. Only China has more standing troops than the United States.
b. MILITARY DEFINITION
i. The chain of command is the line of authority and responsibility along which orders are passed
within a military unit and between different units.
1. Within combat units, line officers are in the chain of command, but officers in specialists
fields (such as medical, dental, legal, supply and chaplain) are not, except within their
own specialty.
ii. The Chain
1. President of the United States: George W. Bush
2. Secretary of Defense: Robert Geren
a. They are the principal defense policy advisor to the President.
b. Any military action taken by the President is passed through this Cabinet
position.
3. Secretaries of the Military Departments
a. They assign all forces to combatant commands.
i. Secretary of the Army: Pete Geren
ii. Secretary of the Navy (Marines and Coast Guard): Donald C. Winter
iii. Secretary of the Air Force: Michael Wynne
4. Unified and Specified Operations Commander
a. Commanders of unified commands are military officers who are placed in
command of two or more services assigned under one command.
5. Combined Operations Commander
a. Conducted by forces of two or more nations, acting together toward the same
objective.
6. Administrative Positions [Supplementing the official military chain of command are
some administrative bodies and positions which are not actually part of any soldier’s
chain of command. But, any major military action will be coordinated through them.]
a. National Security Council
i. Consists of the President, Vice-President, Secretary of State and
Secretary of Defense.
ii. The Chairman of the joint chiefs of staff serves as the military advisor,
and the CIA is the intelligence adviser.
b. Joint Chiefs of Staff
i. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff may transmit communications
to the Commanders of the Unified Combatant Commands from the
President and the Secretary of Defense, but does not exercise military
command over any combatant forces.

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 ii. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the service Chiefs of Staff
are responsible for readiness of the military and serve as the President’s
military advisers, but are not in the chain of command.
1. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is by law the highest
ranking military officer in the United States.
a. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff = Adm. Michael G.
Mullen (USN)
b. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff = Gen. James
E. Cartwright (USMC)
c. Chief of Staff of the United States Army = Gen. George
W. Casey Jr.
d. Commandant of the Marine Corps = Gen. James T.
Conway
e. Chief of Naval Operations = Adm. Gary Roughead
f. Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force = Gen. T.
Michael Moseley
c. COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
i. The commander of a nation’s military forces, who need not be or have been a commissioned
officer or even a veteran.
ii. The term “commander-in-chief” was first used by King Charles I of England in 1639.
iii. United States
1. Governors of Individual States
a. The governors of the several states are commanders-in-chief of their states’
respective National Guard and other military forces, except when those forces are
called into active federal service.
2. President of the United States
a. The Constitution of the United States gives the title to the President of the United
States, who “shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United
States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service
of the United States.”
b. In 1867, Congress attempted to limit the President’s powers as Commander-in-
Chief by passing the Army Appropriations Act, signed by President Andrew
Johnson.
i. The Act included the “command of the army” provisions, which required
that the president issue all commands to the army through the General of
the Army.
c. Authority as Commander-in-Chief on the Battlefield
i. The President outranks any military officer and so has the inherent right
to assume command on the battlefield.
ii. Only 2 Presidents have ever done so.
1. George Washington personally led a federalized militia force of
approximately 70,000 troops to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion
during his second term.
2. James Madison was under enemy fire on August 24, 1814,
during the War of 1812, when American forces were routed by
British troops in Bladensburg, Maryland. Madison assumed
command (because he thought his generals were incompetent) of
a naval batter commanded by Commodore Joshua Barney and
attempted to stall the British invasion of the American capital.
But, his efforts were unsuccessful, and the British burned
Washington over the next 2 days.
3. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln considered assuming
the battlefield in command of the Union Army when he became
frustrated with his generals incompetence but never actually
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 exercised his right to battlefield authority as commander-in-chief
at any time.
d. War on Terrorism
i. President George W. Bush has used his commander-in-chief powers to
justify several acts including:
1. National Security Agency (NSA) Electronic Surveillance
Program
2. Enhanced Interrogation
ii. The administration has used the legal theory known as the unitary
executive theory.
1. With the President’s commander-in-chief inherent powers, he
cannot be bound by any law or by Congress. And, since the
primary task of the President during times of war is protecting
citizens, anything hindering him in that capacity can be
considered unconstitutional.
a. With the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, this
theory was used to suggest he was not required to abide
by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
b. The same rationale was used to deny “War on Terror”
detainees protection by the Geneva Conventions.
d. GOLDWATER-NICHOLS DEFENSE REORGANIZATION ACT OF 1986
i. History
1. Previous to this Act, there was intense inter-service rivalry, which emerged during World
War II because there were 2 independent lines of command flowing from the President,
one through the Secretary of the Navy to naval forces, and the other through the Secretary
of War to land and air forces.
2. The rivalry grew worse during the Vietnam War and contributed to the catastrophic
failure of the Iranian hostage rescue mission in 1980.
3. It was even still evident in the invasion of Grenada in 1983.
4. The first successful test of Goldwater-Nichols was the 1991 Gulf War (“Operation Desert
Storm.”)
ii. Explanation
1. The Act is named after Senator Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) and Representative
William Flynt “Bill” Nichols (D-Alabama).
a. It passed the House of Representatives, 383-27, and the Senate, 95-0.
b. President Reagan signed it into law on October 1, 1986.
2. Reworked the command structure of the United States military and increased the powers
of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and added a new level of commanders-in-chief
(CINC).
3. Essentially, military advice was centralized in the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs as
opposed to the service chiefs.
a. The Chairman was designated as the principal military advisor to the President of
the United States, the National Security Council and the Secretary of Defense.
iii. Combatant Commanders (Previously CINCs)
1. On October 24, 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld announced that the title
“Commander-in-Chief” is reserved for the President, consistent with the terms of Article
II of the United States Constitution.
2. So, CINCs were renamed “combatant commanders,” when applied to unified regional
organizations (USCENTCOM) or commanders when applied to specified units
(USSTRATCOM). These commanders head Unified Combatant Commands.
a. Unified Combatant Command (COCOM)
i. A joint military command composed of forces from 2 or more services,
has a broad and continuing mission and is organized either on a

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 geographical basis (known as “Area of Responsibility,” AOR) or on a
functional basis.
1. All COCOMs are commanded by either a four star general or
admiral and are considered “joint” commands. They are selected
by the Secretary of Defense and President, then confirmed by
Congress.
ii. As of February 6, 2007, there are 10 Unified Combatant Commands. 6
have regional responsibilities, and 4 have functional responsibilities.
1. Regional Responsibilities
a. US Africa Command (USAFRICOM)
i. This command was approved February 6, 2007
and will be established by September 30, 2008.
b. US Central Command (USCENTCOM)
i. These forces are currently deployed primarily in
Iraq and Afghanistan in combat roles and have
bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United
Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, Djibouti and
central Asia in support roles.
ii. Israel, which is surrounded by CENTCOM
countries remains in EUCOM, “because it is
more politically, militarily and culturally aligned
with Europe,” according to American military
officials.
c. US European Command (USEUCOM)
d. US Pacific Command (USPACOM)
e. US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM)
f. US Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM)
2. Functional Responsibilities
a. US Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM)
b. US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)
c. US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM)
d. US States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM)
II. THE VICE PRESIDENT
a. CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS
i. Article I, Section 3
1. “The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have
no vote, unless they be equally divided.”
ii. Amendment 25, Section 1
1. “In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the
Vice President shall become President.”