The service chiefs were assigned to an advisory role to the president and the secretary of defense, and given the responsibility for training and equipping personnel for the unified combatant commands.

The Goldwater–Nichols Act was an attempt to fix problems caused by inter-service rivalry, which had emerged during the Vietnam War, contributed to the catastrophic failure of the Iranian hostage rescue mission in 1980, and which were still evident in the invasion of Grenada in 1983.

Both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the secretary of defense reported to the president of the United States who holds the position of Commander-in-Chief (CINC) of all U.S. Armed Forces.

These practices resulted in division of effort and an inability to profit from economies of scale, and inhibited the development of modern warfare doctrine.

The combatant commanders then field a force capable of employing AirLand Battle doctrine (or its successors) using all assets available to the integrated unified action plan, including the military, interagency organizations of the US Government such as USAID and the Department of State, and intelligence agencies.

Individual services changed from relatively autonomous war-fighting entities into organizational and training units, responsible for acquisition, modernization, force-development, and readiness as a component of the integrated force.

Thus USCENTCOM (U.S. Central Command), for example, would be assigned air, ground, naval, Marine, space, and special operations assets to achieve its objectives, not the previously less efficient method of individual services planning, supporting, and fighting the same war.

For example, in order to be competitive for promotion to general or flag officer (admiral) (pay grade O-7 or above/NATO OF-6), active component colonels (pay grade O-6/NATO OF-5) (Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force) or Navy captains must have completed at least one joint duty assignment, as well as having completed (or currently be enrolled in) a JPME school that grants JPME Level II credit.

The Goldwater–Nichols Act could be seen as the initial step of the currently ongoing Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) with its concept of Network Centric Warfare (NCW).

Rumsfeld said the term "CINC" was inappropriate, notwithstanding its employment for many decades, because under the United States Constitution, the president is the Nation's only Commander-in-Chief.

[8] On January 4, 2016, the deputy secretary of defense issued a memorandum directing an internal review with the objective "to make recommendations for updates or adjustments to organizational relationships and authorities" based on 30 years of experience under Goldwater–Nichols.