The Key West Agreement is the colloquial name for the policy paper Functions of the Armed Forces and the Joint Chiefs of Staff drafted by James V. Forrestal, the first

United States Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The se ...

. Its most prominent feature was an outline for the division of

air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...

assets between the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

, and the newly created

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

which, with modifications, continues to provide the basis for the division of these assets in the U.S. military today. The basic outline for the document was agreed to at a meeting of the United States service chiefs that took place from March 11 to March 14, 1948 in

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, and was finalized after subsequent meetings in Washington, D.C. President Harry S. Truman approved the agreement on April 21, 1948, which was revised in 1954 by the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration.

Background

The_Joint_Chiefs_of_Staff_(uploaded_by_nrln)

The Key West Agreement is a revised version of a collection of documents approved by President Harry S. Truman, and the more popular version as well. Initially, Secretary Forrestal told General

Omar N. Bradley Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893April 8, 1981) was a senior officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army. Bradley was the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and ove ...

, shortly after the latter became Chief of Staff of the Army in February 1948, that the large aircraft carrier had already been approved and would be built. Secretary Forrestal, nevertheless, concluded that the time had come to decide the basic roles and missions of aviation in each service and which branch would control which assets. On 11 March 1948 he assembled the Joint Chiefs of Staff at Key West, Florida, to thrash out the roles and missions. As basic guidance, Forrestal demanded that the three services each recognize the need for mutual support of each other’s legal missions. According to Forrestal, the

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...

reached basic agreement that the Navy (including the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through c ...

) would maintain a separate Naval Aviation force – to include the 65,000-ton " super-carrier" and nuclear bombs that could be transported on naval aircraft – provided that the Navy would not develop a separate strategic air force. The Air Force recognized the right and need for the Navy to participate in an all-out air campaign and to attack inland enemy targets, for example, air fields from which hostile aircraft might be launched to attack a fleet. The formal agreements of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were subsequently approved by President Truman on 21 April 1948 and issued under the title of ''Functions of the Armed Forces and the Joint Chiefs of Staff''. In turn, President Truman revoked Executive Order 9877, in which he prescribed the primary functions and responsibilities of the Armed Forces, and Secretary Forrestal issued the “functions paper” in its stead April 21. The paper, which became known as “Key West Agreement,” reaffirmed primary service responsibilities and assigned secondary or “collateral” missions. A memorandum formally recording these understandings, was sent to the Secretary of Defense by the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 29 April 1948. After amending one paragraph that dealt with research and development, the Secretary of Defense formally approved it on 1 July 1948.

Functions

Less than a year after Truman’s executive order was issued, the Key West Agreement listed service functions in greater detail and distinguished between primary and collateral functions as illustrated by the following list of Air Force functions: * Gain/maintain air superiority * Air defense of the United States * Strategic air warfare * Interdiction of enemy land power and communications * Close combat and logistical air support * Intelligence (including tactical intelligence) and

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing airc ...

* Airlift, air transport and resupply, and support for airborne and amphibious operations * Interdict enemy sea power *

Antisubmarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are ty ...

and shipping protection * Aerial mine-laying

Consequences

From the Army’s perspective,

close air support In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movemen ...

(CAS) is one of the primary support functions that the U.S. Air Force provides to Army combat operations. A benchmark 1948 policy agreement among the services, the Key West Agreement, originally delineated this function. This agreement integrated the Armed Forces into an “efficient team of land, naval, and air forces,” and, within that arrangement, the Air Force was given a primary mission to furnish close combat and logistical air support to the Army, to include air lift, support, and resupply of airborne operations,

, tactical reconnaissance, and interdiction of enemy land power and communications. Historically, CAS has been a function assigned to Air Force

fixed wing aircraft A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinc ...

. Assignment of CAS responsibility to the Air Force grew out of the Key West Agreement of 1948. Since that time, however, the nature of combat and weaponry has evolved to a high level of technological sophistication. This was illustrated in combat experiences, as in Just Cause in Panama and the

Persian Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

. A similar conference to revise the agreement was proposed in 1993.

Key points

* The Navy would be allowed to retain its own combat air arm ''"''...to conduct air operations as necessary for the accomplishment of objectives in a naval campaign...''"'' * The Army would be allowed to retain aviation assets for

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops ( skirmishe ...

and

medical evacuation Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to wounded being evacuated from a battlefield, to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of a ...

purposes. * The Air Force would have control of all strategic air assets, and most tactical and logistic functions as well.

Legacy

The Key West Agreement of 1948 was therefore vital in keeping the roles and missions of naval aviation under the control of the Navy. The Key West Agreement gave the Navy written verification that it controlled all aspects of its aviation arm, from the roles and missions, research and development, and utilization in combat. Though historians often cite the passage of the National Security Act and the

Revolt of the Admirals The "Revolt of the Admirals" was a policy and funding dispute within the United States government during the Cold War in 1949, involving a number of retired and active-duty United States Navy admirals. These included serving officers Admiral L ...

as the key points in saving naval aviation, the agreement was just as important in the keeping land- and carrier-based naval aviation from being incorporated into the United States Air Force. Without the Key West Agreement, naval aviation might have developed under Air Force control during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

years. The terms of the Key West Agreement were considered a tremendous victory for the Navy. The Navy in the Key West Conference stopped the Air Force from controlling the roles and missions of naval aviation.

References

Primary sources

* Wolf, Richard I. (1987).
The United States Air Force: Basic Documents on Roles and Missions
'. Office of Air Force, United States Air Force, Washington D.C., p. 151.

External links

''Functions of the Armed Forces and the Joint Chiefs of Staff'' 1948, Combined Arms Research Library Digital Library, Fort Leavenworth, KS
{{Harry S. Truman, state=collapsed
United States documents 1948 in the United States