Joint Staff

General Richard Myers, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, conducts a meeting of the senior directors of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. [George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, 8/3/2012] Earlier this evening, Myers participated in a secure video teleconference with other members of the Deputies Committee of the National Security Council in which the US’s response to today’s terrorist attacks was discussed (see 6:30 p.m. September 11, 2001). [Myers and McConnell, 2009, pp. 160-161] He now holds a “war council” with the senior directors of the Joint Staff. Details of what is discussed at the meeting will be unstated. However, Colonel Matthew Klimow, his executive assistant, will later determine that the meeting is “where we made the switch from thinking of the events of 9/11 that day to [beginning] planning for future action.” [George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, 8/3/2012] The Joint Staff assists the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in achieving his various responsibilities. It is composed of roughly equal numbers of officers from the Army, the Navy and the Marine Corps, and the Air Force. [Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2/20/2010]