This study traces the involvement of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Joint Staff in the planning, direction, and execution of JUST CAUSE, the combat operations in Panama in December 1989. The study begins with development of initial plans in February 1988 and concludes with the surrender of General Manuel Noriega to US custody on 3 January 1990. Dr. Ronald H. Cole of the Joint Staff Historical Division researched and wrote the study. For his sources, he relied on the files of the Joint Staff and interviews with the Secretary of Defense, Richard B. Cheney; the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin L. Powell, USA; the Commander in Chief, US Southern Command, General Maxwell R. Thurman, USA; the former Commander in Chief, US Southern Command. General Frederick F. Woerner, Jr., USA (Ret); the Director for Operations (J-3), Joint Staff, Lieutenant General Thomas W. Kelly, USA; and the Deputy Director for Politico-Military Affairs, Strategic Plans and Policy (J-5), Joint Staff, Brigadier General David C. Meade, USA. Chapters include: background of the crisis; accelerated joint planning and preparation; decision to intervene and final preparations for H-hour; D-Day; issues in the National Military Command Center (civil affairs reservists, the media pool, U.S. hostages); last combat, civil affairs, and the hunt for Noriega; siege of the Nunciatura; the end of organized resistance, the shift to nation-building, and redeployment; and assessments.

http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/International_security_affairs/latinAmerica/495.pdf Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.