Goldwater-Nichols Act

The Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 (PL 99-433) was a reorganization plan which focused the chain of command in military operations undertaken by the United States Department of Defense. It passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 383-27 and the Senate by a vote of 95-0. It was signed into law by President Reagan on October 1, 1986. The bill is named after Senator Barry Goldwater and Representative Bill Nichols.

The Goldwater-Nichols Act was motivated by major problems that inter-service rivalry had caused during United States military operations in the 1970s and 1980s. These had emerged as a problem during the Vietnam War, had contributed to the catastrophic failure of the Iranian hostage rescue mission in 1980, and were still evident in the invasion of Grenada in 1983.

Under the provisions of the Goldwater-Nichols Act, operational authority was centralized through the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs as opposed to the service chiefs. The chairman was designated as the principal military advisor to the President of the United States, National Security Council and Secretary of Defense. The act also established the position of Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and simplified the chain of command, increased the ability of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to direct overall strategy, and provided far greater power to "Unified and Specified" field commanders.

The first successful test of Goldwater-Nichols was the 1991 Gulf War ("Operation Desert Storm"), where it functioned exactly as planned, allowing the U.S. commander General Norman Schwarzkopf full control over over Army, Air Force and Navy assets without having to negotiate with the individual services.