William S. Cohen Papers | Senate Materials on Defense

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MS 106.3.3.5.1 Bodner and Mellon 1983-1992 4 boxes

The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), under the chairmanship of Senator John Tower, held hearings in 1983 to review the organization of the Department of Defense. By 1985, Senator Barry Goldwater, then chair of the SASC, and ranking minority leader, Senator Sam Nunn, were taking the Committee's conclusions to the Senate floor in a series of speeches arguing for reorganization of the DoD which was eventually achieved through the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986. Senator Bill Cohen, again with the support of Senator Sam Nunn, proposed legislation in 1986 to reform the U.S. military response to low intensity conflicts and unconventional warfare such as terrorism, insurgency, and guerrilla activities. Their amendment to the National Defense Authorization bill unified the special operations forces and established the office of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict. As a member of the subcommittee on Seapower and Force Projection, which he chaired from 1983 until 1987 and later the Projection Forces and Regional Defense subcommittee, Cohen continued to monitor the DoD restructuring, particularly with regard to preparations for unconventional warfare.

Jim Bodner and Chris Mellon were Cohen's legislative assistants handling terrorism and defense reorganization issues for this period. Arranged chronologically, the materials in this subseries include testimony by Joint Chiefs of Staff with perspectives on reorganization from the different branches of the military, staff memos, talking points for Cohen's interviews and meetings, Dear Colleague letters seeking support for proposals, government publications on DoD reorganization, transcripts of hearings held to approve appointment of the first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity conflict, and briefing books.

Box 1

01 Cohen-Edward M. Kennedy letter 1987
02 Assistant Secretary of Defense Office 1987 3 folders
05 Assistant Secretary of Defense Office 1988-90
06 Case for Special Operations Agency, Armed Forces Journal 1985-86
07 Cohen statements on Special Operations Forces, 1986
08 Defense reorganization, Chiefs of Staff 1985-86
09 Defense reorganization - Goldwater-Nichols 1985
10 Defense reorganization Task Force - Joint Chiefs of Staff, Unified and Specified Command 1986
11 Defense reorganization - testimony 1985-66
12 Low intensity conflict 1988-89
13 Major Force Program, 1988-90

Box 2

01 Senate Armed Services Committee, hearing, Sept. 20, 1983
02 Senate Armed Services Committee, hearing, Sept. 28, 1983
03 Senate Armed Services Committee, hearing, Oct. 4, 1983
04 Senate Armed Services Committee, hearing, Nov. 2, 1983
05 Senate Armed Services Committee, hearing, Nov. 2, 1983
06 Senate Armed Services Committee, hearing, Nov. 17, 1983
7-8 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Secretary of Defense for Special Operations Forces, Low Intensity Conflict
09 Senate Armed Services Committee, Low Intensity Conflict hearing, 1987
10 Senate Armed Services Committee, Pre-Just Cause, Panama, 1989
11 Senate Armed Services Committee, Questioning Chiefs in Command (CINC), 1992
12 Senate Armed Services Committee, Subcommittee-Projections Forces and Regional Defense, Marines and Special      Operations Forces
13 Senate Armed Services Committee, Testimony on S.2453 - Combat Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, 1986
14 Senate Armed Services Committee, Unconventional Warfare legislation, Dear Colleague letters 1986
15 Senate Armed Services Committee, Unconventional Warfare Enhancement Amendments 1986

Box 3

01 Senate Armed Services Committee, U.S. requirements to Third World Defense and Unconventional Warfare, 1989
02 Special Operations Agency
03 Special Operations Forces, airlift hearing, 1986
4-5 Special Operations Forces, airlift, 1986-88 (2 folders)
06 Special Operations Forces Amendment 1987
7-8 Special Operations Forces, Armed Forces Journal, 1985-86 (2 folders)
09 Special Operations Forces bill introduction, 1986
10 Special Operations Forces bill, NBC "Whitepaper" program, 1987
11 Special Operations Forces, British Special Air Service, 1985
12-14 Special Operations Command 1986-1987 (3 folders)

Box 4

01 Special Operations - Counter Insurgency 1986
02 Special Operations Forces, fiscal issues, 1988
03 Special Operations, general, 1985-86
04 Special Operations Forces hearing 1987
05 Special Operations hearing questions, 1985-86
06 Special Operations hearing questions, 1988
7-8 Special operations Forces, highlights, 1985-86 (2 folders)
09 Special Operations, Joint Explanatory Statement, 1986
10 Special operations Forces modern technology, 1986
11 Special operations Forces, memos, 1986
12 Special operations Forces report on reorganization, 1987
13 Special operations Forces reorganization, implementation, final language, 1987
14 Special operations, introduction to general provisions, Hutto Amendment, 1986-87,
     Government publications, reports to the President by the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense Management, 1986



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Revised: 03/19/2019