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The military is under civilian control in the sense that oversight is held by civilians giving some guidance/orders to the Joint Chiefs of Staff via the various
by Bahamut 10y ago
The military is under civilian control in the sense that oversight is held by civilians giving some guidance/orders to the Joint Chiefs of Staff via the various branch Secretaries and the Secretary of Defense, and is head at the top by the President, but otherwise the military answers to an internal chain of command, where the Secretaries and the President are the only civilians at the top. The word control may not be the best descriptor of this relationship.
- nicobn 10y agoI don't mean to nitpick but your explanation is missing a critical detail. The chain of command for operational purposes (military operations) completely bypasses the Joints Chiefs of Staff and goes directly to the Unified Combatant Commands. By design, there is no military leader that has operational control over more than a fraction of US forces at a time, which further improves civilian control over the military. The JCS have a very important role but their control is mostly administrative (doctrine, assignments, equipment, promotions, etc.).