American General Staff: An Idea Whose Time Has Come.

摘要

The purpose of this monograph is to examine the adequacy of the current national military command and control structure, analyze examples of various European general staffs, and determine whether a general staff system would best suit America's future military requirements. The monograph first examines the history, of the European General Staff systems with an emphasis on the Prussian-German General Staff. The monograph then examines the effectiveness of these staffs, again with emphasis on the Prussian-German model, in the preparation for and the conduct of war. The monograph analyzes the current American Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and examines the contemporary shortcomings that led to periodic revisions. The monograph determines that the Prussian-German system did a superlative job of preparing its officers for war, and when military interests were properly subordinated to political concerns, this system performed as designed. Joint staff, German general staff, Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, JCS, European staff systems, Military history, World war I/II.