- Joined
- Feb 21, 2002
- Messages
- 4,358
- Reaction score
- 4,703
The ranking officer is the Joint Chief, but this is SecDef who directs the uniformed services on behalf of the CiC directly to the combatant commands bypassing the advisory JCS. The US has an unusual organization to separate staff from field operations.I mean ultimately, yes, it is the CiC. However on the military side of things, the Chief of Staff of the Army is the highest ranking officer in that particular branch.
However, that does not apply for this. For civil insurrection, Homeland Security runs the show with the FBI as partner. Even under a martial law circumstance, without an invader, USNORTHCOM subordinates itself to Homeland Security and does not have independent field action. Trump is going to test the 2007 Warner Act by taking involuntary control of the National Guard, and I am curious how it will interact with Posse Comitatus.