A unified combatant command, also referred to as a combatant command, is a joint military command of the United States Department of Defense that is composed of units from two or more service branches
Commanders of unified and specified combatant command during an annual meeting with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at The Pentagon, Joint Chiefs of Staff Room (also known as "The Tank") on 15 January 1981.
President George W. Bush (sitting third from the right) and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (sitting second from the left) meeting with the joint chiefs and combatant commanders
Gen Dagvin R. M. Anderson
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, which advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, t
The Joint Chiefs of Staff in January 2026
United States Secretary of Defense Harold Brown and United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Charles W. Duncan Jr with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General George S. Brown and the other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon in 1977
Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting (c. 1943). From left to right are: Gen. Henry H. Arnold, Chief of the Army Air Forces; Adm. William D. Leahy, Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy; Adm. Ernest J. King, Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations; and Gen. George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1959. From left to right: Gen. Lyman L. Lemnitzer, USA; Adm. Arleigh A. Burke, USN; Gen. Nathan F. Twining, USAF (chairman); Gen. Thomas Dresser White, USAF; and Gen. Randolph M. Pate, USMC