I know that the President is the Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces, and everyone answers to him, but how do the rest of these positions line up with respect to “whom answers to whom” -
Secretary of Defense
Secretary of State
National Security Advisor
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
CIA Director
CentCom Commander
For example, does Tommy Franks answer directly to Donald Rumsfeld? Or does Tommy answer to Richard B. Myers? Does Condoleeza Rice answer to Donald Rumsfeld?
Thanks
The Secretaries of State and Defense are both Department heads and thus report directly to the President. The Departments of State and Defense are completely seperate.
The National Security Advisor sits on the National Security Council, which contains the heads of various intelligence and securiity services in the government. Her job is to advise the President on national security matters, since he cannot attend every NSC meeting. She doesn’t have any particular command authority that I know of.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff are made up of a chief for each of the Armed Services and the Marine Corps, and a chairman, who is the boss. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs reports to the Secretary of Defense. The purpose of the Joint Chiefs is to be the offical military advisors to the President and the NSC. (The Joint Chiefs also sit on the NSC.) Military command, as far as I know, does not involve them but goes directly from the Secretary of Defense to the various US Combat Commands, of which CENTCOM is one.
The Director of Central Intelligence heads the CIA and as near as I can tell reports directly to the President and the NSC.
CENTCOM is headed by Tommy Franks who reports directly to the Secretary of Defense.
Donald Rumsfeld is the Secretary of Justice and as such is the boss of all stuff in the Dept of Justice, which is totally seperate from the Dept of Defense.
Ack! Completely ignore the last sentence. Major brainfart caused by copying and pasting stuff all over the place. That should read:
Donald Rumsfeld is the Secretary of Justice and as such oversees the entire Dept of Defense. John Ashcroft is the Attorney General (head of Dept of Justice) and oversees all domestic federal law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI.
Ack! Completely ignore the last sentence. Major brainfart caused by copying and pasting stuff all over the place. That should read:
Donald Rumsfeld is the Secretary of Defense. and as such oversees the entire Dept of Defense. John Ashcroft is the Attorney General (head of Dept of Justice) and oversees all domestic federal law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI.