The Office of the Chief of Defence Staff (OCDS) is the
Sri Lanka Armed Forces
The Sri Lanka Armed Forces is the overall unified military of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka encompassing the Sri Lanka Army, the Sri Lanka Navy, and the Sri Lanka Air Force; they are governed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). T ...
operational level headquarters of the
Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), responsible for coordinating joint armed force's operations. However the respective service commands have much autonomy for their deployments.
It was formerly known as the ''Joint Operations Headquarters (JOH)''. The JOH was created in 1999 replacing the civilian ''Joint Operations Bureau'' which had existed briefly in 1999. The origins of the JOH could be traced back to the
Joint Operations Command (JOC) established in 1985 due to the need of co-ordination of operations among the tri-services and the police with the escalation of the
Sri Lankan Civil War. The head of the JOC is the
Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), currently. The duties of the CDS was extended by the ''Chief of Defence Staff Act No. 35 of 2009''.
Sweeping powers for Chief of Defence Staff
/ref> JOH is located in Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...
.
See also
* Chief of the Defence Staff
References
External links
Daluwatte given over-riding powers over services chiefs
{{Sri Lankan security forces
1999 establishments in Sri Lanka
Defence agencies of Sri Lanka
Government agencies established in 1999
Military of Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan commands