Joint Chiefs of Staff | |
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JCS | |
Role | Advisory board providing professional military advice to the secretary of defense and the president |
Established in practice | 1942 |
Constituting instrument | National Security Act of 1947 currently codified at 10 U.S.C. § 151 |
Predecessor entities | Joint Board (1903–1942) |
Members | |
Chairman | Gen Charles Q. Brown Jr., USAF |
Vice Chairman | ADM Christopher W. Grady, USN |
Number of members | Eight |
Administration | |
Parent agency | U.S. Department of Defense |
Staff organization | The Joint Staff (for the chairman and the vice chairman; the service chiefs and the National Guard Bureau chief have their own staffs assisting them) |
Seat | The Pentagon |
United States Armed Forces |
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Executive departments |
Staff |
Military departments |
Military services |
Command structure |
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, which advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the National Security Council on military matters. The composition of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is defined by statute and consists of a chairman (CJCS), a vice chairman (VJCS), the chiefs of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the chief of the National Guard Bureau. [1] [2] Each of the individual service chiefs, outside their JCS obligations, works directly under the secretaries of their respective military departments, e.g. the secretary of the Army, the secretary of the Navy, and the secretary of the Air Force. [3] [4] [5] [6]
Following the Goldwater–Nichols Act in 1986, the Joint Chiefs of Staff do not have operational command authority, either individually or collectively, as the chain of command goes from the president to the secretary of defense, and from the secretary to the regional combatant commanders. [7] Goldwater–Nichols also created the office of vice chairman, and the chairman is now designated as the principal military adviser to the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the president. [8]
The Joint Staff (JS) is a headquarters staff in the Pentagon, composed of personnel from each of the six service branches, that assists the chairman and the vice chairman in discharging their responsibilities and is managed by the director of the Joint Staff (DJS). [9]
After the 1986 reorganization of the Armed Forces undertaken by the Goldwater–Nichols Act, the Joint Chiefs of Staff does not possess operational authority over troops or other units. Responsibility for conducting military operations goes from the president to the secretary of defense directly to the commanders of the unified combatant commands and thus bypasses the Joint Chiefs of Staff completely.
Today, their primary responsibility is to ensure personnel readiness, policy, planning and training of their respective services for the combatant commanders to utilize. In addition, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff acts as the chief military advisor to the president and the secretary of defense. In this strictly advisory role, the Joint Chiefs constitute the third-highest deliberative body for military policy, after the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council, which includes the president and other officials besides the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
While serving as the chairman or vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, chief of staff of the Army, commandant of the Marine Corps, Chief of Naval Operations, chief of staff of the Air Force, or commandant of the Coast Guard, basic pay is $18,491.70 a month, [10] plus a $4,000 per year personal money allowance. [11]
Position | Photograph | Name | Service | Serving since | Nominated by | Flag |
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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff | General Charles Q. Brown Jr. | United States Air Force | 1 October 2023 | Joseph R. Biden | ||
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff | Admiral Christopher W. Grady | United States Navy | 20 December 2021 | Joseph R. Biden | ||
Chief of Staff of the Army | General Randy A. George | United States Army | 21 September 2023 | Joseph R. Biden | ||
Commandant of the Marine Corps | General Eric M. Smith | United States Marine Corps | 22 September 2023 | Joseph R. Biden | ||
Chief of Naval Operations | Admiral Lisa M. Franchetti | United States Navy | 2 November 2023 | Joseph R. Biden | ||
Chief of Staff of the Air Force | General David W. Allvin | United States Air Force | 2 November 2023 | Joseph R. Biden | ||
Chief of Space Operations | General B. Chance Saltzman | United States Space Force | 2 November 2022 | Joseph R. Biden | ||
Chief of the National Guard Bureau | General Steven S. Nordhaus | United States Air Force | 2 October 2024 | Joseph R. Biden |
Position | Photograph | Name | Service | Serving since | Nominated by | Flag |
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Commandant of the Coast Guard | Admiral Linda L. Fagan | United States Coast Guard | 1 June 2022 | Joseph R. Biden |
Although it is a branch of the Armed Forces pursuant to 14 U.S.C. § 101, the Coast Guard operates under the Department of Homeland Security rather than the Department of Defense, except when the president (e.g., in times of war or national emergency) transfers it to the Department of the Navy. [12] The commandant of the Coast Guard is not a de jure member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff but is sometimes regarded as a de facto member, being entitled to the same supplemental pay as the Joint Chiefs, [13] and occasionally will attend meetings of the JCS by invitation. [14] Unlike the Joint Chiefs, who are not actually in the military's operational chain of command, the commandant is both the administrative and the operational commander of the Coast Guard.
As the U.S. military grew in size following the American Civil War, joint military action between the Army and Navy became increasingly difficult. The Army and Navy were unsupportive of each other at either the planning or operational level and were constrained by disagreements during the Spanish–American War in the Caribbean campaigns. [15] [16] The Joint Army and Navy Board was established in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, comprising representatives from the military heads and chief planners of both the Navy's General Board and the Army's General Staff. The Joint Board acting as an "advisory committee" was created to plan joint operations and resolve problems of common rivalry between the two services. [15] [16]
Yet the Joint Board accomplished little since its charter gave it no authority to enforce its decisions. The Joint Board also lacked the ability to originate its own opinions and was thus limited to commenting only on the problems submitted to it by the secretaries of war and Navy. As a result, the Joint Board had little to no impact on the manner in which the United States conducted World War I.
After World War I, the two secretaries agreed in 1919 to reestablish and revitalize the Joint Board. The mission of the General Staff was to develop plans for mobilization for the next war. In these, the U.S. was always designated "blue" and potential enemies were assigned various other colors. [17]
Now, the Joint Board's membership was to include the chiefs of staff, their deputies, and the chief of war plans division for the Army and the director of plans division for the Navy. Under the Joint Board was to be a staff called the Joint Planning Committee to serve the board. Along with new membership, the Joint Board could initiate recommendations on its own initiative. However, the Joint Board still did not possess the legal authority to enforce its decisions.
U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill established the Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) during the 1942 Arcadia Conference. [18] The CCS would serve as the supreme military body for strategic direction of the joint U.S.–UK war effort.
The UK portion of the CCS would be composed of the British Chiefs of Staff Committee, but the United States had no equivalent body. The Joint Board's lack of authority made it of little use to the CCS, although its 1935 publication, Joint Action of the Army and Navy, did give some guidance for the joint operations during World War II. The Joint Board had little influence during the war and was ultimately disbanded in 1947.
As a counterpart to the UK's Chiefs of Staff Committee in the CCS, and to provide better-coordinated effort and coordinated staff work for America's military effort, Admiral William D. Leahy proposed a "unified high command" in what would come to be called the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Modeled on the British Chiefs of Staff Committee, the JCS' first formal meeting was held on 9 February 1942, to coordinate operations between War and Navy Departments. [18] [19] The official history of the Army Air Forces noted that although there was "no official charter establishing this committee...by the end of February it had assumed responsibilities toward the American war effort comparable to the CCS on the combined level." [20] On 20 July 1942, Admiral Leahy became the "Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief", with all individual service chiefs operating under his authority.
The first members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were: [21]
Name | Service | Position |
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Admiral William D. Leahy | USN | Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy and Special Presidential Military Advisor |
General George C. Marshall | USA | Chief of Staff of the United States Army (CSUSA) |
Admiral Ernest J. King | USN | Commander in Chief of the United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations (COMINCH-CNO) |
General Henry H. 'Hap' Arnold | USA | Chief of the Army Air Forces and Deputy Chief of Staff for Air |
Each of the members of the original Joint Chiefs was a four-star flag or general officer in his service branch. By the end of the war each had been promoted: Leahy and King to fleet admiral; Marshall and Arnold to general of the Army. Arnold was later appointed to the grade of general of the Air Force.
One of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's committees was the Joint Strategic Survey Committee (JSSC). The JSSC, "one of the most influential planning agencies in the wartime armed forces", was an extraordinary JCS committee that existed from 1942 until 1947. [22] Members included Lieutenant General Stanley D. Embick, U.S. Army, chairman, 1942–1946, Vice Admiral Russell Willson, U.S. Navy, 1942–1945, Vice Admiral Theodore Stark Wilkinson, U.S. Navy, 1946, and Major General Muir S. Fairchild, U.S. Army Air Force, 1942–?.
With the end of World War II, the Joint Chiefs of Staff was officially established under the National Security Act of 1947. Per the National Security Act, the JCS consisted of a chairman, the chief of staff of the Army, the chief of staff of the Air Force (which was established as a separate service by the same Act), and the chief of naval operations. The commandant of the Marine Corps was to be consulted on matters concerning the Corps, but was not a regular member; General Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr., Commandant in 1952–55, was the first to sit as an occasional member. The law was amended during the term of General Louis H. Wilson, Jr. (1975–79), making the commandant a full-time JCS member in parity with the other three DoD services.
The position of vice chairman was created by the Goldwater–Nichols Act of 1986 to complement the CJCS, as well as to delegate some of the chairman's responsibilities, particularly resource allocation through the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC).
General Colin L. Powell (Chairman, 1989–1993) was the first African American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he became the 12th Chairman of the JCS in 1989. General Charles Q. Brown Jr. was the first African American appointed to lead a service branch when he became the Chief of Staff of the Air Force in 2020. On May 25, 2023, President Joe Biden nominated General Brown to become the 21st Chairman of the JCS. General Brown was subsequently confirmed and took up the post of chairman on October 1, 2023. General Richard B. Myers (Chairman, 2001–2005) was the first vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Peter Pace (Vice Chairman 2001–2005; Chairman, 2005–2007) was the first Marine to serve in either position. Admiral Lisa Franchetti became the first woman to serve on the JCS when she took over as Chief of Naval Operations on November 2, 2023. [23] [24]
A provision in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act added the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Guard historians called it the "most significant development" for the National Guard since the Militia Act of 1903. [1]
The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act established the U.S. Space Force on 20 December 2019. The Space Force is headed by the chief of space operations, who reports directly to the secretary of the Air Force. Pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 9082, the chief of space operations became a statutory member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 20 December 2020. [25]
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is, by law, the highest-ranking military officer of the United States Armed Forces, [26] and the principal military adviser to the president of the United States. He leads the meetings and coordinates the efforts of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, comprising the chairman, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief of staff of the United States Army, the commandant of the United States Marine Corps, the chief of naval operations, the chief of staff of the United States Air Force, the Chief of Space Operations (statutory member after December 2020), and the chief of the National Guard Bureau. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have offices in the Pentagon. The chairman outranks all service chiefs, [27] but does not maintain authority over them, their branches or the Unified Combatant Commands. [27] All combatant commanders receive their orders directly from the secretary of defense. [28]
On 20 July 1942, Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy became Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief (20 July 1942 – 21 March 1949). He was not technically the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Leahy's office was the precursor to the post of "Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff". That post was established and first held by General of the Army Omar Bradley in 1949.
The current and 21st chairman is General Charles Q. Brown Jr., who began his tenure on 29 September 2023.
The position of Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was created by the Goldwater–Nichols Act of 1986. The vice chairman is a four-star-general or admiral and, by law, is the second highest-ranking member of the U.S. Armed Forces (after the chairman). In the absence of the chairman, the vice chairman presides over the meetings of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He may also perform such duties as the chairman may prescribe. It was not until the National Defense Authorization Act in 1992 that the position was made a full voting member of the JCS. [29]
The current vice chairman is Admiral Christopher W. Grady, who began his tenure on 20 December 2021.
The senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (SEAC) advises on all matters concerning joint and combined total force integration, utilization, development, and helps develop noncommissioned officers related joint professional education, enhance utilization of senior NCOs on joint battle staffs, and support the chairman's responsibilities as directed.
Command Sergeant Major William Gainey, was the first SEAC, serving from 1 October 2005. The current SEAC is Troy E. Black, who was sworn in by General Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on 3 November 2023, replacing SEAC Ramón Colón-López.
Agency overview | |
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Formed | 1949 |
Headquarters | The Pentagon |
Employees | Approx. 1,500 |
Agency executive |
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Parent agency | Department of Defense |
The Joint Staff (JS) [30] [31] is a military headquarters staff based at The Pentagon (with offices in Hampton Roads, Virginia; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Lackland Air Force Base, Texas; Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington and Fort McNair, District of Columbia) composed of personnel from all the six armed services, assisting the chairman and the vice chairman in discharging their responsibilities. They work closely with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the military department staffs, and the Combatant Command staffs.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is assisted by the director of the Joint Staff (DJS), a three-star officer who assists the chairman with the management of the Joint Staff, an organization composed of approximately equal numbers of officers contributed by the Army, the Navy and Marine Corps, the Air Force, the Space Force, and the Coast Guard, who have been assigned to assist the chairman in providing to the secretary of defense unified strategic direction, operation, and integration of the combatant land, naval, space, and air forces. The director is assisted by the vice director of the Joint Staff, a two-star officer.
Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper tasked the Joint Staff with developing a Joint Warfighting Concept [JadConcept 1] for the services by December 2020. [32] Developing Joint all-domain command and control (JADC2) as a concept [JadConcept 1] is a key goal of the 20th CJCS. [32] An OSD/Joint Staff Cross-Functional Team for JADC2 is underway. [33] [34] Esper ordered the four services and the Joint Staff to create a new joint warfighting concept for All-domain operations, operating simultaneously in the air, land, sea, space, cyber, and the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS). [35] The Joint Chiefs and Combatant Commanders witnessed demonstrations of the concept in September 2020. [36]
The Joint Staff includes the following departments where all the planning, policies, intelligence, manpower, communications and logistics functions are translated into action. [37]
The Joint Staff includes the following departments where all the planning, policies, intelligence, manpower, communications and logistics functions are translated into action. [37]
The Joint Chiefs may recognize private citizens, organizations or career civilian government employees for significant achievements provided to the joint community with one of the following decorations/awards. [42]
Although, as discussed above, the commandant of the Coast Guard is not an ex officio member of the JCS like the other service chiefs, Coast Guard officers are legally eligible to be appointed as Chairman and Vice Chairman, pursuant to and respectively, which use the collective term "armed forces" rather than listing the eligible services, as well as to other positions on the Joint Staff. As of 2020 [update] , no Coast Guard officer has been appointed Chairman or Vice Chairman, but Coast Guard officers routinely serve on the JCS staff, including one vice admiral who was appointed to serve as J6 in 2016.
Richard Bowman Myers is a retired United States Air Force general who served as the 15th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As chairman, Myers was the highest ranking uniformed officer of the United States military forces. He also served as the 14th president of Kansas State University from 2016 to 2022.
The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high-ranking member of the federal cabinet. The secretary of defense's position of command and authority over the military is second only to that of the president of the United States, who is the commander-in-chief. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a defense minister in many other countries. The secretary of defense is appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, and is by custom a member of the Cabinet and by law a member of the National Security Council.
The National Security Act of 1947 was a law enacting major restructuring of the United States government's military and intelligence agencies following World War II. The majority of the provisions of the act took effect on September 18, 1947, the day after the Senate confirmed James Forrestal as the first secretary of defense.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces and the principal military advisor to the president, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and the secretary of defense. While the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff outranks all other commissioned officers, the chairman is prohibited by law from having operational command authority over the armed forces; however, the chairman assists the president and the secretary of defense in exercising their command functions.
The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (VJCS) is, by U.S. law, the second highest-ranking military officer in the United States Armed Forces, ranking just below the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The vice chairman outranks all respective heads of each service branch, with the exception of the chairman, but does not have operational command authority over their service branches. The vice chairman assists the chairman in exercising their duties. In the absence of the chairman, the vice chairman presides over the meetings of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and performs all other duties prescribed under 10 U.S.C. § 153 and may also perform other duties that the president, the chairman, or the secretary of defense prescribes.
The several branches of the United States Armed Forces are represented by flags. Within the U.S. military, various flags fly on various occasions, and on various ships, bases, camps, and military academies.
The title chief of staff identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide-de-camp to an important individual, such as a president, or a senior military officer, or leader of a large organization.
The Goldwater–Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of October 4, 1986 made the most sweeping changes to the United States Department of Defense since the department was established in the National Security Act of 1947 by reworking the command structure of the U.S. military. It increased the powers of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and implemented some of the suggestions from the Packard Commission, commissioned by President Reagan in 1985. Among other changes, Goldwater–Nichols streamlined the military chain of command, which now runs from the president through the secretary of defense directly to combatant commanders, bypassing the service chiefs. The service chiefs were assigned to an advisory role to the president and the secretary of defense, and given the responsibility for training and equipping personnel for the unified combatant commands.
The chief of staff of the Air Force is the service chief of the United States Air Force. They are the principal military advisor to the secretary of the Air Force on matter pertaining to the Air Force. They are a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and thereby a military adviser to the National Security Council, the secretary of defense, and the president. The chief of staff is typically the highest-ranking officer on active duty in the Air Force, unless the chairman and/or the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are Air Force officers.
A unified combatant command, also referred to as a combatant command (CCMD), is a joint military command of the United States Department of Defense that is composed of units from two or more service branches of the United States Armed Forces, and conducts broad and continuing missions. There are currently 11 unified combatant commands, and each is established as the highest echelon of military commands, in order to provide effective command and control of all U.S. military forces, regardless of branch of service, during peace or during war time. Unified combatant commands are organized either on a geographical basis or on a functional basis, e.g., special operations, force projection, transport, and cybersecurity. Currently, seven combatant commands are designated as geographical, and four are designated as functional. Unified combatant commands are "joint" commands and have specific badges denoting their affiliation.
Admiral is a four-star commissioned officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps with the pay grade of O-10. Admiral ranks above vice admiral and below fleet admiral in the Navy; the Coast Guard and the Public Health Service do not have an established grade above admiral. Admiral is equivalent to the rank of general in the other uniformed services. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps has never had an officer hold the grade of admiral. However, 37 U.S.C. § 201 of the U.S. Code established the grade for the NOAA Corps, in case a position is created that merits the four-star grade.
In the United States military, a general is the most senior general-grade officer; it is the highest achievable commissioned officer rank that may be attained in the United States Armed Forces, with exception of the Navy and Coast Guard, which have the equivalent rank of admiral instead. The official and formal insignia of "general" is defined by its four stars.
Pay grades are used by the eight structurally organized uniformed services of the United States, as well as the Maritime Service, to determine wages and benefits based on the corresponding military rank of a member of the services. While different ranks may be used among the eight uniformed services, pay grades are uniform and equivalent between the services and can be used to quickly determine seniority among a group of members from different services. They are also essential when determining a member's entitlements such as basic pay and allowances.
Part of the United States Department of Defense acquisition process, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) reviews programs designated as JROC interest and supports the acquisition review process in accordance with law. The JROC accomplishes this by reviewing and validating all Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System documents for Acquisition Category I and IA programs, and other programs designated as high-interest. For Acquisition Category ID and IAM programs, the JROC makes recommendations to the Defense Acquisition Board or Information Technology Acquisition Board, based on such reviews. The JROC is chaired by the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who also serves as the co-chair of the Defense Acquisition Board. The other JROC members are the Vice Chiefs of each military service: Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Vice Chief of Space Operations, and Vice Chief of the National Guard Bureau.
The United States Department of Defense is an executive branch department of the federal government of the United States charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the U.S. government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces. As of November 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense is the second largest employer in the world—After India; and potentially China, if including the Central Military Commission. With over 1.4 million active-duty service personnel, including soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and guardians. The Department of Defense also maintains over 778,000 National Guard and reservists, and over 747,000 civilians bringing the total to over 2.91 million employees. Headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., the Department of Defense's stated mission is "to provide the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security".
The senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (SEAC) is the most senior non-commissioned officer (NCO) position overall in the United States Armed Forces. The SEAC is appointed by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to serve as a spokesperson to address the issues of enlisted personnel to the highest positions in the Department of Defense. As such, the SEAC is the primary enlisted advisor to the chairman, and serves at the pleasure of the secretary of defense. The SEAC's exact duties vary, depending on the chairman, though the SEAC generally devotes much of their time traveling throughout the Department of Defense, to observe training and communicating to service members and their families. The SEAC's normal term of assignment runs concurrently with the chairman, but an incumbent may be reappointed to serve longer. The first member to hold this post was William Gainey. The current SEAC is Troy E. Black, USMC who assumed the duties on 3 November 2023.
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) has a complex organizational structure. It includes the Army, Navy, the Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, the Unified combatant commands, U.S. elements of multinational commands, as well as non-combat agencies such as the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. The DoD's annual budget was roughly US$496.1 billion in 2015. This figure is the base amount and does not include the $64.3 billion spent on "War/Non-War Supplementals". Including those items brings the total to $560.6 billion for 2015.
From 1981, four-star appointments in the United States were governed by the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act (DOPMA), which established the first unified framework for officer promotions in every armed service.
Modern four-star officer appointments are governed by the unified officer promotion framework established by the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act (DOPMA) of 1980, as amended.