One of the major lessons of World War II was the need for the military services, both in the United States and elsewhere, to work together in mutually supporting ways to defeat an enemy. Changing technology and the worldwide character of the war altered the traditional boundaries between land and sea warfare, and the new elements of air power and atomic weapons even further called into question the traditional roles and missions of the armed services. In 1947, the U.S. Air Force became independent of the Army and a National Military Establishment (which became the Department of Defense in 1949) was formed to coordinate and, after 1949, to control the services. Yet, disagreements over roles and missions continued, often exacerbated by the fiscal limitations of the post-war era. But not all roles and missions disagreements were caused by financial struggles. Genuine differences of opinion over doctrinal issues and the best means to accomplish missions often divided the services, and on many occasions the Secretary of Defense had to assign missions and adjudicate roles amid a blizzard of conflicting claims. Dr. Richard Wolf of the Office of Air Force History has collected in this volume the most significant documents which have determined the roles and missions of the Air Force, from its birth in 1947 to the present. The documents themselves only tell part of the story, of course. Dr. Wolf provides an introductory essay to each document so that readers can comprehend the context in which the decisions over roles and missions took place. The result is a convenient and useful reference tool for anyone working with, or studying, the organizational and doctrinal basis of the United States Air Force.

This volume is a compilation of the major documents which codified the Air Force's roles and missions since the Second World War. Documentary volumes such as this are useful in bringing together a series of original references to illustrate the evolutionary pattern of development in the contemporary writings of the participants. While and effort has been made to provide a context for each document by including introductions, interpretation of the meaning and effect of each document rests with the reader. Included are four basic categories of documents: Legislation; executive orders; Department of Defense (DOD) memoranda and directives; and military department executive directives and agreements. An introductory essay precedes each document describing the document's contents and significance. Each essay contains a footnote providing reference sources for further study, except in cases where the essay is drawn solely form the document's contents. Roles and missions is a term which encompasses the broad range of service activities and specific tasks within several categories. With the overall role of air operations, the Army Air Forces (AAF) after World War II possessed four main missions: strategic bombardment, support of ground operations, air defense, and air transport. These missions proved essential to the war effort and were necessarily carried over into the peace-time organization.

The Office of Air Force History has collected in this volume the most significant documents which have determined the roles and missions of the Air Force, from its birth in 1947 to the present. The documents themselves only tell part of the story, of course. Dr. Wolf provides an introductory essay to each document so that readers can comprehend the context in which the decisions over roles and missions took place. The result is a convenient and useful reference tool for anyone working with, or studying, the organizational and doctrinal basis of the United States Air Force. One of the major lessons of World War II was the need for the military services, both in the United States and elsewhere, to work together in mutually supporting ways to defeat an enemy. Changing technology and the worldwide character of the war altered the traditional boundaries between land and sea warfare, and the new elements of air power and atomic weapons even further called into question the traditional roles and missions of the armed services. In 1947, the U.S. Air Force became independent of the Army and a National Military Establishment (which became the Department of Defense in 1949) was formed to coordinate and, after 1949, to control the services. Yet, disagreements over roles and missions continued, often exacerbated by the fiscal limitations of the post-war era. But not all roles and missions disagreements were caused by financial struggles. Genuine differences of opinion over doctrinal issues and the best means to accomplish missions often divided the services, and on many occasions the Secretary of Defense had to assign missions and adjudicate roles amid a blizzard of conflicting claims. 1. Army Adjutant General Letter Reorganizing the Army Air Forces, 21 March 1946 * 2. War Department Circular 138, 14 May 1946 * 3. Outline Command Plan, 14 December 1946 * 4. National Security Act, 26 July 1947 * 5. Executive Order 9877, 26 July 1947 * 6. Army-Air Force Implementation Agreements, 15 September 1947 * 7. Key West Agreement, 21 April 1948 * 8. Executive Order 9950, 21 April 1948 * 9. Secretary of Defense Forrestal's Memorandum Creating the Military Air Transport Service (MATS), 3 May 1948 * 10. Newport Agreement, 21 August 1948 * 11. National Security Act Amendments of 1949, 10 August 1949 * 12. Army and Air Force Authorization Act of 1949, 10 July 1950 * 13. Secretary of Defense Johnson's Guided Missile Memorandum, 21 March 1950 * 14. Vandenberg-Collins Agreement, 1 August 1950 * 15. Air Force Organization Act, 19 September 1951 * 16. Pace-Finletter Agreement, 2 October 1951 * 17. Pace-Finletter Agreement, 4 November 1952 * 18. Reorganization Plan Number 6 of 1953, 30 April 1953 * 19. Department of Defense Directive 5100.1, 16 March 1954 * 20. Establishment of Continental Air Defense Command, 1 September 1954 * 21. Secretary of Defense Wilson's Memorandum, 26 November 1956 * 22. Secretary of Defense Wilson's Directive (5160.2) on Single Manager Assignment for Airlift Service, 7 December 1956 * 23. Secretary of Defense Wilson's Directive (5160.22), 18 March 1957 * 24. Department Of Defense Reorganization Act of 1958, 6 August 1958 * 25. Department Of Defense Directive 5100.1, 31 December 1958 * 26. Assignment of Operational Control of Space Detection and Tracking System to North American Air Defense Command, 7 November 1960 * 27. Secretary of Defense McNamara's Directive Assigning Space System's Development to the Air Force, 6 March 1961 * 28. LeMay-Decker Agreement, 12 July 1962 * 29. Redesignation of Military Air Transport Service to Military Airlift Command, 11 October 1965. * 30. Secretary of Defense McNamara's Memorandum for Navy withdrawal from Military Airlift Command, 5 April 1966 * 31. McConnell-Johnson Agreement, 6 April 1966 * 32. Deputy Secretary of Defense Directive on Space System Development, 8 September 1970 * 33. Consolidation of Airlift Forces, 1974 * 34. Memorandum of Agreement on the Concept of Operations for USAF

Traces the usage of- and meaning given to- the terms "roles and missions" relating to the armed forces and particularly to the United States Air Force, from 1907 to the present.

When this volume was conceived, no official definition of roles and missions existed. As the volume progressed, however, intense scrutiny of the subject emanating from the Goldwater-Nichols Reorganization Act of 1986 and the winding down of the Cold War stimulated an active interest in formal terminology. The search for formal definition added to the roles and missions lore, but it did not affect this work. The popular military usage and meaning of roles and missions long ago became commonplace in official documents and military literature. Accepted usage dating from the post-World War II period established the synonymity of the phrase roles and missions with the legally framed functions of the armed forces, as set forth by executive order pursuant to the National Security Act of 1947. Approved by President Harry S. Truman on July 28, 1947, that landmark legislation created the United States Air Force and unified the armed forces under the National Military Establishment and later the Department of Defense (DOD). The Act failed, however, to end bitter interservice feuding over roles and missions which began with the birth of military aviation in 1907 and intensified over the intervening years. The phrase roles and missions actually predates the National Security Act of 1947---appearing often in unification debates which preceded the law's enactment. Documents from this period show military officers using the phrase frequently when expressing their views on the functions of the armed forces. While defending the Army Air Forces before congressional hearings in March 1947, Gen. Carl A. Spaatz challenged a Navy proposal to delineate the services' functions in pending legislation---arguing persuasively that the President "prescribes the roles and missions of the Army, Navy, and Air Forces." When Dwight D. Eisenhower and other top Army generals agreed, Spaatz's argument prevailed.