The initial Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff reading list included the following books:

Command, Control, and the Common Defense in the 'Joint and Combined Operations' section.

The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance in the 'Joint and Combined Operations' section.

Crusade in Europe in the 'Joint and Combined Operations' section.

Street Without Joy: The French Debacle In Indochina (Stackpole Military History Series) in the 'Joint and Combined Operations' section.

Strategic and Operational Deception in the Second World War in the 'Joint and Combined Operations' section.

The Korean War in the 'Joint and Combined Operations' section.

Guardians of the Sea: History of the United States Coast Guard, 1915 to the Present in the 'Joint and Combined Operations' section.

Surprise Attack: The Victim's Perspective in the 'Joint and Combined Operations' section.

Face of Battle in the 'Joint and Combined Operations' section.

Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and Their War (Bluejacket Books) in the 'Joint and Combined Operations' section.

The Search for Security in Space (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs) in the 'Joint and Combined Operations' section.

Gallipoli in the 'Joint and Combined Operations' section.

Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945 in the 'Joint and Combined Operations' section.

The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy in the 'Joint and Combined Operations' section.

On War in the 'Classics on Diplomacy and Force' section.

The Prince in the 'Classics on Diplomacy and Force' section.

The Art Of War in the 'Classics on Diplomacy and Force' section.

The Theory and Practice of War in the 'National Security Strategy' section.

Every War Must End in the 'National Security Strategy' section.

Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision-Makers in the 'National Security Strategy' section.

Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age in the 'National Security Strategy' section.

Logistics in the National Defense in the 'National Resources Strategy' section.

Affording Defense in the 'National Resources Strategy' section.

The Political Economy of International Relations in the 'National Resources Strategy' section.

Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton in the 'National Resources Strategy' section.