Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater sponsored a key piece of Department of Defense reform, the Goldwater-Nichols Act. The passage of the act is an example for the Republican Party today. (Wikimedia Commons/Yoichi Okamoto)

Why the Goldwater-Nichols Act Matters

Share this link on Facebook

Share this page on X (Twitter)

Share this link on LinkedIn

Share this page on Reddit

Email a link to this page

Republicans in Congress ensured the passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act in the face of opposition from the president.

In today’s partisan debate over whether to implement major reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security, Republicans would do well to remember the precedent of the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols reforms of the Department of Defense. These streamlined military command and control strengthened the advisory role of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as the regional commanders at places like Central Command, and paved the way for much greater collaboration between the military services.

Then, as now, a powerful Republican president and much of his administration took proposed reforms as an affront to their track record and a challenge to their power. But then, as now, change made sense. It ultimately served the administration and the relevant government department. Republicans in Congress should think about the issue less in terms of partisan politics and more as a proper exertion of independent action by the legislative branch of government, as specified in Article I of the US Constitution.

By the mid-1980s, defense officials and military leaders in the Reagan administration were........

© The National Interest