The History of the Unified Command Plan, 1946 - 1993

Faced with the need to establish unified command of US military forces in peacetime, the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1946 created an organizational directive, the "Outline Command Plan," which was the first in a series of documents known as Unified Command Plans. Approved by the President, the Unified Command Plan prescribes high level command arrangements for operational forces on a global basis; its structure and the organizational philosophies that structure represents have had a major impa...