Catalogue description Records of the Defence Chiefs of Staff

Details of Division within DEFE
Reference: Division within DEFE
Title: Records of the Defence Chiefs of Staff
Description:

Records relating to the business of high-level strategic command undertaken by the British Government from 1946 onwards.

Chiefs of Staff Committee: Minutes DEFE 4.

Chiefs of Staff Committee: Memoranda DEFE 5.

Chiefs of Staff Committee: Reports of the Joint Planning Staff and successors DEFE 6.

Registered Files (General Series) DEFE 7.

Chiefs of Staff Committees and Sub-Committees: Minutes and Memoranda DEFE 8.

Chiefs of Staff Committee: Registered Files DEFE 11.

Chief of Defence Staff: Registered Files (CDS, SCDS and ACDS (OPS) Series) DEFE 25.

Chiefs of Staff Committee: Secretary's Standard Files DEFE 32.

Defence Chiefs of Staff: Staff Memoranda Defence Chiefs of Staff: Staff Memoranda DEFE 206.

Date: 1942-1983
Arrangement:

The following glossary of acronyms used in DEFE 4, DEFE 5 and DEFE 6 will aid understanding of the itemised catalogue listing for these series:

ACE - Allied Command Europe.

ACP - Allied Communication Publication.

ACS - Assistant Chief of Staff.

AFHQ - Allied Forces Head Quarters.

AMF - ACE Mobile Force.

ANZAM - Australia, New Zealand, Malaya (Defence Agreement).

BAOR - British Army of the Rhine.

BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation.

BCOF - British Commonwealth Occupation Force.

BDCC - British Defence Coordinating Committee.

BFAP - British Forces Arabian Peninsula.

BFAR - British Forces Arabia.

BJSM - British Joint Staff Mission (Washington).

CACDS - Commonwealth Advisory Committee on Defence Science.

CAS - Chief of the Air Staff.

CCL - Commonwealth Consultative Committee, London.

CENTO - Central Eastern Treaty Organisation.

CICC - Commander in Chief Committee.

CIGS - Chief of the Imperial General Staff.

CMPS – Combined Military Planning Staff.

COS - Chiefs of Staff.

CW - Chemical Warfare.

DCC - Defence Co-ordination Committee.

EDC - European Defence Community.

F - (used in DEFE 6) - Final.

GAF - German Air Force.

GOC - General Office Commanding.

HMS - Her Majesty’s Ship.

IDC - Imperial Defence College.

IFF - Identification Friend or Foe.

JCOSA - Joint Chiefs of Staff, Australia.

JIC - Joint Intelligence Committee.

JSP - Joint Service Publication.

JSM - Joint Staff Mission.

JSSC - Joint Staff Steering Committee.

LANDCENT - Allied Land Forces Central Europe.

LCT - Landing Craft Tank.

LST - Landing Ship Tank.

MECOS – British Chiefs of Staff, Middle East, Cyprus.

MLF – Multilateral Force.

MRBM - Medium Range Ballistic Missile.

NADGE - NATO Air Defence Ground Environment.

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

NCDB - Nevil Charles Dowell Brownjohn, Quartermaster-General to the Armed Forces, personal minute). .

OPD - Defence and Oversea Policy Committee.

ORBAT - Order of Battle.

RAF - Royal Air Force.

SACEUR - Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

SACLANT - Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic.

SACSEA - Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia.

SAS - Special Ammunition Storage.

SAS Squadrons - Special Air Service.

SEA - South East Asia.

SEACDT - South East Asia Collective Defence Treaty.

SEACOS - South East Asia Chief of Staffs.

SEATO - Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation.

SHAPE - Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe.

SIF - Selective Identification Feature.

TR - (used in DEFE 6) - Terms of Reference.

USAF - United States Air Force.

USAAF - United States Army Air Force.

USSR - Union of Soviet Socialists Republics.

VCAS - Vice Chief of Air Staff.

Related material:

For the records of the Chiefs of Staff Committee prior to 1946 see CAB 79

Memoranda are in DEFE 5

Reports of the Joint Planning Staff are in DEFE 6

The ministry's general registered file series, which covers all areas of defence activities from the middle of the Second World War, is in DEFE 7

Minutes and memoranda of committees reporting to the Chiefs of Staff Committee are in DEFE 8

Registered files are in DEFE 11

Registered files of the Chief of the Defence Staff are in DEFE 25

Sensitive papers held separately from the main set of minutes are in DEFE 32

Papers of the Office of the Chief of the Imperial General Staff are in WO 216

Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Copies held at:

The records in DEFE 4-6 and DEFE 8 were made available as photocopies because of the need to expurgate the large amount of material which was considered to be defence security sensitive. With effect from 1995, following the Open Government Initiative, Ministry of Defence adopted a new policy of releasing the original bound volumes. In time, these originals will replace the photocopied versions.

Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Ministry of Defence, Chiefs of Staff Committee, 1947-

Physical description: 9 series
Publication note:

A history of the Chiefs of Staff is published in B Jackson and D Bramall, The Chiefs: The Story of the United Kingdom Chiefs of Staff (London, 1992).

Administrative / biographical background:

The Chiefs of Staff (COS) Committee structure of the Cabinet became part of the Ministry of Defence on its formation in 1947. The COS was collectively responsible to the Secretary of State and government for professional advice on strategy and operations, and advising it of the capabilities and activities of each of the three armed service as well as co-ordinating their work. Since 1958 the committee has been permanently chaired by the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) who does not represent the interests of any one service, and who is therefore seen as an independent source of advice. Prior to this date, the Chiefs of Staff would alternate the chair. The Committee comprises the Chief of the General Staff (CGS) who represents the army, the chief of the Naval Staff and First Sea Lord (CNS) and the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS). Other members include the Chief Scientific Adviser and the Permanent Under Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence who advises on financial, political and parliamentary matters. The work of the Chiefs of Staff Committee continued virtually unchanged by the 1964 reorganisation.

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