China’s accelerated and expansive approach to military activities requires a revamp to Goldwater Nichole Act. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) role as advisor can be better informed if the CJCS is actually responsible for integrating the actions of all the combatant commanders to ensure they are integrating efforts and not operating in stovepipes. This is not in name only but actually integrates all actions. The CJCS has been named “integrator” but seems to be more hands off on actually integrating.
The Secretary of Defense staff and CJCS staff in some areas do the same thing (way too many policy directives). Goldwater Nichols II would use existing CJCS staff to help the Chairman integrate combatant command activities to maximize effectiveness and capability.