The Impact of the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 on Civilian/Military Relations

Abstract

Abstract : This paper will examine the impact of this historic piece of legislation, the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act (GNA) of 1986, upon the relationship between civilian and military leaders. To provide some necessary background, it will first look at the historic evolution of U.S. civilian/military relations and the changing roles of defense leadership. Then, using the comparison and contrast method, it will examine two periods on opposite sides of the law's passage - the Vietnam War and the Gulf War - to see whether the relationship between top civilian and military leaders was helped or hindered by this legislation. It will specifically conduct a detailed examination of the relationship between the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), along with a brief look at the roles of the Service Secretaries and the Service Chiefs. A major thesis of this paper was that the success or failure of most of these regional conflicts were driven not only by the personalities of the civilian and military leaders of each period but also by the evolving defense organizational structure. The realignment of making the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff the single military adviser did prove far more successful in the Gulf War than the diversified advisory role of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Vietnam War. However, primary credit for the different outcomes in the Vietnam War and the Gulf War must be given to the leaders in each period.