The National Security Act of 1947 was a major strategic realignment of the U.S. government's military and intelligence systems after World War II. The bill was enacted by the 80th Congress, first introduced in the Senate on March 3, 1947, by Republican Senator John Gurney of South Dakota, then chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and voted through on July 26, 1947, the same day, then President Harry S. Truman signed the bill on Air Force One, and most of the bill began to be put into practice on September 18, 1947, the day James Forrestal became secretary of defense.
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The National Security Act of 1947 laid the foundation for the postwar U.S. military and intelligence system, and the 1949 amendment was amended, and the biggest adjustment to the military system after that was the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, which focused on the joint operations system, and made major adjustments to the chain of command related to joint operations, the positioning of JCS functions, and the appointment of officers in cross-service positions, greatly enhancing the joint combat capability of the U.S. military.
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The biggest change to the intelligence field after the National Security Act of 1947 was the Intelligence Reform and Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2004, which created the post of Director of National Intelligence, replacing the former Director of Central Intelligence, who was also the Director of Central Intelligence, as the general coordinator of the intelligence community and the intelligence adviser to the National Security Council. The National Security Act of 1947, along with the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, became the main strategy of the Truman administration.
James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was an American politician, retired captain in the U.S. Navy, the first secretary of defense after the establishment of the U.S. Department of Defense, as well as Secretary of the Navy and Undersecretary of the Navy. From May 19, 1944 to September 17, 1947, he served as U.S. Secretary of the Navy, the last Cabinet Secretary of the Navy. From September 17, 1947 to March 28, 1949, he served as the first Secretary of Defense of the United States, where he worked to promote the development of aircraft carriers. At Truman's request, Forrestal submitted a letter of resignation on March 28, 1949, and was admitted to Pista Naval Hospital five days later, where he committed suicide by jumping off a building in the early morning of May 22. To this day, the exact cause of Forest's death remains inconclusive and has been the focus of public attention for more than half a century, with some conspiracy theorists claiming that he was assassinated, and many even believing that Forestal learned a lot of UFO secrets during his lifetime, thus linking Forest's death to the Rozwell affair.
In 1954, the world's first superaircraft carrier, USS Forrestal, was named after James Forest; The U.S. Department of Energy headquarters building is also named after it.
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- The United States Air Force was formed, the Act separated the Army Air Force and other Army Air Forces from the Army, established the United States Air Force, transferred all the functions of the former Army Air Commander to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and established the Department of the Air Force as the service department in charge of the Air Force.
The first Secretary of Defense, James Vincent Forrestal, was in office
- A unified defense department was established. The Act authorizes the establishment of the National Military Agency and the creation of the post of Minister of Defence as the head of the State Military Establishment. The War Department, the command unit of the Army after the separation of the Air Force, was renamed the War Department, which was responsible only for Army affairs, and was brought under the jurisdiction of the National Military Agency together with the Department of the Navy and the newly established Air Force Department as its service headquarters, and the National Military Agency became a unified military body in charge of the three branches of the army, navy and air force, but the ministers of the three services remained quasi-cabinet members. The 1949 amendment renamed the national military establishment to its current name Ministry of Defense and removed three service ministers from their cabinet membership.
- The Joint Chiefs of Staff were formally established. Although the Joint Chiefs of Staff held its first meeting on February 9, 1942, it never had legal status as an inter-service coordination staff established by then-President Roosevelt under the prerogatives of the president during wartime, and the members at that time included Admiral Lacey, Army Chief of Staff Admiral Marshall, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral King, and Army Air Corps Commander Admiral Arnold, and on July 20, 1942, Lacey had the official position of Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief）。 The National Security Act of 1947 formally authorized the establishment of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, clarified its functions, stipulated that the statutory members were three chiefs of service, did not provide for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but continued the title of Lacey, stipulated that if there was a commander-in-chief, the Chief of Staff was also a statutory member, and authorized the establishment of a joint staff of no more than 100 officers as a subsidiary body of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The 1949 amendment authorized the creation of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , but the position was only presiding over and not having the right to vote, and Army General Bradley became the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and took office on August 19, 1949, and the amendment also changed the number of officers to 200 officers in the Joint Staff. In 1974, the Commander of the Marine Corps became a full member, and the current role of the Chairman and the setting of the Vice Chairman were set out in the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, and in 2012, the Director of the National Guard was made a general and became a statutory member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Cemington was sworn in as the first Secretary of the Air Force
- The National Security Council was established as the President's interagency coordinating staff body in the field of national security, with statutory members including the President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the three service secretaries, and the Chairman of the National Security Resource Committee. The 1949 amendment made the Vice President a statutory member second only to the President and removed the statutory membership of three service ministers, making JCS a statutory adviser.
- The CIA was established. During World War II, the first independent intelligence agency in U.S. history, the Directorate of Strategic Intelligence, was abolished by executive order after the war, and its main units were dispersed to the Departments of State and War. The National Security Act of 1947 authorized the establishment of the CIA as a subordinate agency of the National Security Council, with the Director of Central Intelligence as the Director of Central Intelligence, the Intelligence Advisor to the National Security Council, and the overall coordinator of the intelligence community as a whole. The CIA Act of 1949 authorized the CIA to use secret financial and personnel organization. The Intelligence Reform and Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2004 created the post of Director of National Intelligence, replacing the Director of Central Intelligence as the general coordinator of the intelligence community and intelligence adviser to the National Security Council.