New York City Field Study/14-17 December 2007

The U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Military Staff Committee (MSC) has two main responsibilities.

It represents the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the United Nations Military Staff Committee, a subsidiary body of the UN Security Council, composed of military representatives of the Permanent Five (P5) members of the Security Council. It also provides advice to the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and the staff of the United States Mission to the United Nations (USUN) on military and security aspects of United Nations peacekeeping.

The United Nations MSC was established under the provisions of Chapter VII, Article 47 of the UN Charter. Subsequently, the U.S. Congress passed legislation (Title X, US Code) directing that the Joint Chiefs of Staff assume responsibility for U.S. representation on the UN MSC.

The legislation provided that a permanent military delegation be established as a part of the United States Mission to the United Nations (USUN) to support this function. The Director for Plans and Policy of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (J5) has oversight for the U.S. Delegation to the UN MSC and provides the primary interface with the Pentagon.

The MSC is broadly tasked with ensuring that the defense community is kept abreast of important issues addressed by USUN. The U.S. MSC is led by Colonel Mark C. Easton, U.S. Army who serves as the Military Advisor (Minster-Counselor) to the Permanent Representative and Chief of Staff for the U.S. Delegation to the UN Military Staff Committee.