Joint Staff Information Management Division (United States)

Last updated

The Joint Staff Information Management Division (IMD) is one of two divisions which make up the Joint Staff Secretariat (SJS) of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff currently located in the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia (USA). The other division is called Actions Division (AD) which manages the daily workflow of the staff. [1]

Contents

Mission: To support the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by providing information management services that include Joint Staff and Combatant Command records management policy and oversight; forms, directives, and NATO document management; staff action research, archiving, and content management; mandatory and automatic declassification and security reviews; and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request processing.

Information Management Division has approximately thirty personnel divided into two branches: the Records, Research and Content Branch (RRCB), and the Declassification Branch (DB). The division chief position is held by a Department of Defense civil servant of GS-15 pay grade. The division also has a military officer as a deputy with the rank of O-5, but all other personnel are civilians, a mix of federal and contract workers. The SJS falls within the Joint Staff's Directorate of Management (DOM) [2] headed by an officer of two-star flag rank.

Records, Research and Content Branch

This branch maintains the corporate archive of record of the top five general officers of the Joint Staff: The Chairman (CJCS), the Assistant to the Chairman, the Vice Chairman (VCJCS), the Director (DJS), and Vice Director (VDJS). They are referred to collectively as the "Top Five." The VDJS is dual hatted as the Director of Management of the Joint Staff. The records maintained within this archive are available for Action Officers (AOs) on the Joint Staff to conduct research as a part of processing current business actions on the staff. They are also available for the Joint Staff History Office to prepare official historical accounts of the actions of the Joint Staff. An electronic searchable archive of these actions is maintained within internal staff electronic servers for AO convenience, although the actual record copy of all actions is maintained as a paper file.

Additionally, this branch is charged by the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer [3] with records management oversight responsibility for the offices of the Top Five, all the staff's directorates, and, on behalf of the CJCS, with oversight of the Records Management Program (RMP) of all combatant commands. [4] These commands include: US Central Command (USCENTCOM), US Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), US Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), United States Pacific Command (USPACOM), US European Command (USEUCOM), and the new US Africa Command (USAFRICOM) which achieved full fledged Unified Combatant Command status in October 2008.

Official records of the Joint Staff and combatant commands are managed in accordance with internally developed policy [5] and procedures [6] using a disposition schedule [7] which has been approved by the Archivist of the United States—which makes it law, in effect. Records are managed by the Joint Staff or originating combatant command's records officer throughout their lifecycle until the disposition schedule calls for them to be accessioned to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), at which time NARA assumes physical and legal custody of those records which have been deemed permanent.

Also, the Records, Research and Content Branch is responsible for Enterprise Content Management policy for the Joint Staff.

Finally, the RRC Branch maintains the system of directives for the Joint Staff. [8] It also maintains an official repository of NATO documents for staff reference.

Declassification Branch

This branch processes Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and conducts declassification review of Joint Staff records as part of the Automatic Declassification requirements mandated by Executive Order 12958 as amended. The branch conducts Mandatory Declassification Reviews (MDRs) when required outside of FOIA, as well as Security Reviews of scholarly works with potential Joint Staff classified equities written by DOD members for publication or for educational purposes. Members of the public who wish access to Joint Staff records must make their requests via the DOD's Freedom of Information Office. [9] This group of government and contract civilians works to insure the public has access to Joint Staff unclassified information as an informed (and supportive) polity is critical for successful democratic government. The Declassification Branch is also bound to protect classified information to protect the security interests of the country and its citizens both at home and abroad, whether they be civilian or military.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Secretary of Defense</span> Leader of the US armed forces following the president

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joint Chiefs of Staff</span> Senior-most military leaders who advise U.S. executive government

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. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DEFCON</span> Alert posture used by the United States Armed Forces

The defense readiness condition (DEFCON) is an alert state used by the United States Armed Forces. For security reasons, the US military does not announce a DEFCON level to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff</span> Highest ranking military officer in the United States

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goldwater–Nichols Act</span> 1986 U.S. law strengthening civilian authority in the Department of Defense

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval Criminal Investigative Service</span> Law enforcement agency of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps

The United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is the primary investigative law enforcement agency of the U.S. Department of the Navy. Its primary function is to investigate major criminal activities involving the Navy and Marine Corps, though its broad mandate includes national security, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, cyberwarfare, and the protection of U.S. naval assets worldwide. NCIS is the successor organization to the former Naval Investigative Service (NIS), which was established by the Office of Naval Intelligence after the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staff (military)</span> Management personnel of a military unit

A military staff or general staff is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military unit in their command and control role through planning, analysis, and information gathering, as well as by relaying, coordinating, and supervising the execution of their plans and orders, especially in case of multiple simultaneous and rapidly changing complex operations. They are organised into functional groups such as administration, logistics, operations, intelligence, training, etc. They provide multi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer, subordinate military units and other stakeholders. A centralised general staff results in tighter top-down control but requires larger staff at headquarters (HQ) and reduces accuracy of orientation of field operations, whereas a decentralised general staff results in enhanced situational focus, personal initiative, speed of localised action, OODA loop, and improved accuracy of orientation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Information Security Oversight Office</span> Office of the National Archives of the United States

The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) is responsible to the President for policy and oversight of the government-wide security classification system and the National Industrial Security Program in the United States. The ISOO is a component of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and receives policy and program guidance from the National Security Council (NSC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Military Command Center</span> Main war rooms for the President and Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon

The National Military Command Center (NMCC) is a Pentagon command and communications center for the National Command Authority. Maintained by the Department of the Air Force as the "DoD Executive Agent" for NMCC logistical, budgetary, facility, and systems support; the NMCC operators are in the Joint Staff's J-3 (Operations) Directorate. "The NMCC is responsible for generating Emergency Action Messages (EAMs) to missile launch control centers, nuclear submarines, recon aircraft, and battlefield commanders".

The Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) is the formal United States Department of Defense (DoD) process which defines acquisition requirements and evaluation criteria for future defense programs. JCIDS was created to replace the previous service-specific requirements generation system that allowed redundancies in capabilities and failed to meet the combined needs of all US military services. In order to correct these problems, JCIDS is intended to guide the development of requirements for future acquisition systems to reflect the needs of all five services by focusing the requirements generation process on needed capabilities as requested or defined by one of the US combatant commanders. In an ideal implementation of the JCIDS process, regional and functional combatant commanders give early and continuous feedback into the acquisition and sustainment processes to ensure their current and evolving requirements are known and met.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security</span>

The under secretary of defense for intelligence and security or USD(I&S) is a high-ranking civilian position in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) that acts as the principal civilian advisor and deputy to the secretary of defense (SecDef) and deputy secretary of defense (DepSecDef) on matters relating to military intelligence and security. The under secretary is appointed as a civilian by the president and confirmed by the Senate to serve at the pleasure of the president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Department of Defense</span> Executive department of the US federal government

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 June 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense is the largest employer in the world, with over 1.34 million active-duty service members, 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 2.87 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 Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) is an advisory committee established by the United States Congress with the official mandate of promoting the fullest possible public access to a thorough, accurate, and reliable documentary record of significant U.S. national security decisions and activities. The Board is composed of nine individuals: five appointed by the President of the United States and one each appointed by the Speaker of the House, House Minority Leader, Senate Majority Leader, and Senate Minority Leader. Appointees must be U.S. citizens preeminent in the fields of history, national security, foreign policy, intelligence policy, social science, law, or archives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman</span> Senior enlisted advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

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 National Program Office (NPO) was an office of the United States Government, established to ensure continuity of government in the event of a national disaster. The NPO was established by a secret executive order signed on 14 September 1982 by President Ronald Reagan during the Cold War in preparation for a nuclear war, presumably with the Soviet Union.

A foreign area officer (FAO) is a commissioned officer from any of the six branches of the United States Armed Forces who is a regionally focused expert in political-military operations. Such officers possess a unique combination of strategic focus and regional expertise, with political, cultural, sociological, economic, and geographic awareness. Foreign language proficiency is necessary in at least one of the dominant languages in their specified region.

The Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Oversight, formerly the Senior Intelligence Oversight Official, or SIOO, was responsible to the U.S. Secretary of Defense for the independent oversight of all intelligence, counterintelligence, and intelligence-related activities in the Department of Defense. The organization's charter is articulated in DoD Directive 5148.13. The ATSD(IO) ensures that all activities performed by intelligence, counterintelligence, and intelligence related units are conducted in accordance with Federal law, Executive Orders, DoD directives, regulations and policies. In July 2014, this position was retitled as the Department of Defense Senior Intelligence Oversight Official, after the position was aligned within the Office of the Deputy Chief Management Officer (DCMO). On January 11, 2021, the Acting Secretary of Defense directed the "re-establishment" of the ATSD(IO) office and title. On September 1, 2021, the Department of Defense disestablished the ATSD (IO) and subordinated the DoD Intelligence Oversight function under a new Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Privacy, Civil Liberties & Transparency, ASTD (PCLT).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organizational structure of the United States Department of Defense</span>

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.

The Operations (J3) directorate is the Continental Staff System branch of the U.S. DOD Joint Staff responsible for military operations.

The Chief of Joint Capabilities (CJC) is the head of the Joint Capabilities Group (JCG) in the Australian Department of Defence, part of the Australian Defence Organisation. This position was created on 1 July 2017. The current chief is Lieutenant General John Frewen, who was appointed to the position in September 2021.

References

  1. ↑ "Joint Staff Action Processing Instruction" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-14. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  2. ↑ Joint Staff Directorate of Management Archived 2008-07-28 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Department of Defense Chief Information Officer
  4. ↑ Department of Defense Directive 5015.2
  5. ↑ "Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction 5760.01" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-03-31. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
  6. ↑ "Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Manual 5760.01 Volume I - Procedures" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-03-30. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
  7. ↑ "Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Manual 5760.01 Volume II - Disposition Schedule" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-03-30. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
  8. ↑ "Joint Staff Manual - Formats and Procedures for Development of CJCS, Joint Staff, and J-Directorate Directives" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-14. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  9. ↑ Department of Defense Freedom of Information Office
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.