Key West Agreement
The Key West Agreement is the colloquial name for the policy paper Functions of the Armed Forces and the Joint Chiefs of Staff drafted by James V. Forrestal, the first United States Secretary of Defense. Its most prominent feature was an outline for the division of air assets between the Army, Navy, and the newly created Air Force which, with modifications, continues to provide the basis for the division of these assets in the U.S. military today. The basic outline for the document was agreed to at a meeting of the United States service chiefs that took place from March 11 to March 14, 1948 in Key West, Florida, and was finalized after subsequent meetings in Washington, D.C. President Harry S. Truman approved the agreement on April 21, 1948, which was revised in 1954 by the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration. Background The Key West Agreement is a revised version of a collection of documents approved by President Harry S. Truman, and the more popular version as well. Initially, Secretary Forrestal told General Omar N. Bradley, shortly after the latter became Chief of Staff of the Army in February 1948, that the large aircraft carrier had already been approved and would