Prime Minister Ian Smith did not delegate formal authority to set overall policies or direct the actions of the security forces to Walls.

As the security situation for Rhodesia deteriorated from 1972 some senior Rhodesian Army officers and leaders of the police Special Branch began to call for the establishment of a single body to direct operations against the guerrilla forces.

[1] The Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith resisted these proposals, as he believed that he was the appropriate person to lead the overall military and security campaign with the Operations Coordination Committee handling most matters and escalating key decisions to him.

[2] Following years of pressure from the security forces and his Rhodesian Front party, Smith appointed Roger Hawkins to the new position of Minister of Combined Operations on 23 March 1977.

[4] While Walls was meant to be able to lead the efforts of the Joint Operations Centres that had been established over previous years in each theatre of the war and the security forces, he was never granted the authority to do so.

As he was not promoted to full general, he also held the same rank as the heads of the Army, Rhodesian Air Force, police service and Central Intelligence Organisation.

[5] Smith preferred to personally direct the war effort, formally and informally, until it ended and a transition to a black majority government occurred during June 1979.

In practice, the security forces remained loyal to Smith and the white minority, and COMOPS increasingly ran the war independently of political control.

[7] Following Rhodesia's transition to majority rule in 1980, Prime Minister Robert Mugabe asked Walls to lead the establishment of the Zimbabwe National Army that integrated former Rhodesian and guerrilla forces.