Key West Agreement

The 1948 Key West Agreement set out roles and missions for U.S. military forces. Agreed-to under the authority of Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, the most intense controversies involving the newly independent United States Air Force. The Air Force did not want the U.S. Army having its own close air support aircraft, and also wanted primacy for strategic nuclear warfare (see Single Integrated Operational Plan).

The Navy received authorization "to conduct air operations as necessary for the accomplishment of objectives in a naval campaign," and the Air Force retained responsibility for strategic air warfare. The Key West document remained in force until the Eisenhower administration issued a revised version in 1954.

For example, the Navy and the Air Force continued to disagree over the issue of delivery of atomic weapons. Forrestal discussed this and other matters with the service secretaries and the JCS at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, on 20-22 August 1948. The conferees decided that the Air Force would have interim operational control of atomic weapons, but that "each service, in the fields of its primary missions, must have exclusive responsibility for planning and programming and the necessary authority." For the Air Force-Navy dispute over atomic weapons the Newport agreement meant that the Air Force should utilize any strategic bombing ability developed by the Navy.