Combined Chiefs of Staff
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In the Second World War, the Combined Chiefs of Staff were the unified planning function between the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and their British counterpart, the Chiefs of Staff Committee. The members were coequals; neither the role of the President's Chief of Staff, William Leahy, nor Churchill's Secretary, Hastings Ismay, had the seniority of today's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or Chief of Defence Staff.
| Role | American | British |
|---|---|---|
| Joint | Fleet Admiral William Leahy | General Hastings Ismay |
| Army | General of the Army George C. Marshall | Field Marshal Alan Brooke |
| Navy | Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King | Fleet admiral Dudley Pound, followed by Andrew Cunningham |
| Air | General of the Army Henry Arnold | Marshal of the RAF Charles Portal |
A secretariat, the Joint Staff Mission, was based in Washington, DC.