Ministry of Defence: Chief of Defence Staff: Registered Files (CDS, SCDS and ACDS...

This series comprises files of the Chief of Defence Staff. The subjects reflect the wide area of interest of the Chief of Defence Staff in serving as the principal military adviser to the Minister of Defence and later the Secretary of State for Defence, especially in relation to the defence re-organisation which led to the creation of the new, unified Ministry of Defence in 1964. Files of the Staff of the Chief of Defence Staff (SCDS) are also included.

The series mainly comprises files registered in the CDS series. Some file numbers are prefixed by A, N or L and it is suggested that these may have indicated matters which arose from air, navy or land issues. A few files with an original N prefix have been overlaid with a W reference whose meaning is not known.

Registered files of the Director of Forward Plans, who was responsible to the Chief of Defence Staff for co-ordination of psychological operations, can be found in DEFE 28

From 1993 Ministry of Defence

Topics

Armed Forces (General Administration)

In July 1958 the White Paper on Central Organisation of Defence (cmd 476) introduced a new Defence Board chaired by the Minister of Defence. The jointly held posts of Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence were amalgamated and retitled as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in an attempt to clarify the dual nature of the role and to increase its standing.

The CDS was supported by a small staff of military and civil assistants whose functions were defined as serving the CDS in his capacity as principal military adviser to the Minister of Defence, providing briefings for the CDS in his capacity as chairman for the meetings of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, and providing advice on military matters for the Minister or for any of the civil divisions of the Ministry of Defence. The Staff of the Chief of Defence Staff was wound up in 1983.