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Perennial disputes between the services over strategy, force levels, and funds fostered neither the unity nor the flexibility that the Unit- ed States required of its armed services during the period. Seeking a remedy, President Eisenhower decided to lessen the autonomy of the military departments, to strengthen the authority of the Secretary of Defense, and to provide a more direct chain of command from the Commander in Chief downward. Congress approved the reorganiza- tion in August 1958.
Sweeping changes followed. The new arrangement abolished the system that made the military departments executive agents for opera- tions in the field. Instead, most of the nation's active combat forces came under unified commands that answered to the President and the Secretary of Defense through the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As part of his en- larged role, the Secretary of Defense received greater freedom to transfer functions within the services. In doing so, he was to have the assistance of a new Directorate of Research and Development that would oversee all military research and development programs.