the summer and fall of 1989, while American attention focused on events in Eastern Europe which heralded the end of the Cold War, developments in Panama raised the possibility of combat much closer to home. Operations in Panama would test the changes to the U.S. military command system brought about by the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act of 1986. Panama would also try the team at the head of that system?President George H. W. Bush, Secretary of Defense Richard B. Cheney, and the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), General Colin L. Powell, U.S. Army. Strengthened by personal relationships formed during earlier administrations, this team would, in a large measure, determine the operational success of the Goldwater-Nichols reforms. Operation JUST CAUSE would demonstrate the effect of these changes. In 1988, as relations with Panama deteriorated, the commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), General Frederick F. Woerner, Jr., U.S. Army, had developed a strategy which gradually increased the strength of U.S. forces in Panama to deter the dictator, General Manuel

Includes maps of: Panama.

Background of the Crisis--After the Coup Attempt: Accelerated Joint Planning and Preparation, 3 October-5 December 1989--Trigger Events, the Decision to Intervene and Final Preparations for H-Hour, 15-19 December 1989--D-Day, Wednesday, 20 December 1989--Issues in the National Military Command Center: Civil Affairs Reservists, teh Media Pool, and U.S. Hostages--Last Combat, Civil Affairs, and the Hunt for Noreiga, 21-24 December 1989--The Nunciature, 24 December 1989-3 January 1990--The End of Organized Resistance, the Shift to Nationbuilding and Redeployment, December 1989-3 January 1990-Assessments