Combined Chiefs of Staff

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.