Editing Colin Powell (section)

===Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff===
[[File:GEN Colin Powell.JPG|thumb|upright|Powell's official portrait as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, {{circa}} 1989]]

Powell's last military assignment, from 1 October 1989 to 30 September 1993, was as the 12th [[chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]], the highest military position in the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]]. At age 52, he became the youngest officer, and first [[Afro-Caribbean American]], to serve in this position. Powell was also the first JCS chair who received his commission through [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps|ROTC]].<ref>{{Cite news  | title = The 14 Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff  | agency = American Forces Press Service  | publisher = Joint History Office, US Department of Defense  | date = August 10, 1999 | url = http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=43048  | access-date = April 24, 2008 | archive-date = April 12, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080412081151/http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=43048  | url-status = live  }}</ref>

During this time, Powell oversaw responses to 28 crises, including the [[United States invasion of Panama|invasion of Panama]] in 1989 to remove General [[Manuel Noriega]] from power and [[Operation Desert Storm]] in the 1991 [[Gulf War|Persian Gulf War]]. During these events, Powell earned the nickname "the reluctant warrior" – although Powell himself disputed this label, and spoke in favor of the first Bush administration's Gulf War policies.{{sfn|Steins|2003|p=95}}

As a [[military strategist]], Powell advocated an approach to military conflicts that maximizes the potential for success and minimizes casualties. A component of this approach is the use of overwhelming force, which he applied to Operation Desert Storm in 1991. His approach has been dubbed the [[Powell Doctrine]].{{Sfn|DeYoung|2006a|p=210}} Powell continued as chairman of the JCS into the [[Clinton Administration|Clinton presidency]]. However, as a [[Realism (international relations)|realist]], he considered himself a bad fit for an administration largely made up of [[Liberal internationalism|liberal internationalists]].{{sfn|O'Sullivan|2010|p=100}} He clashed with then-[[United States Ambassador to the United Nations|U.S. ambassador to the United Nations]] [[Madeleine Albright]] over the [[Bosnian war|Bosnian crisis]], as he opposed any military intervention that did not involve U.S. interests.<ref>{{Cite news|date=September 30, 2001|title=Reluctant warrior|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/30/usa.afghanistan|access-date=October 20, 2021|website=[[The Observer]]|language=en|archive-date=September 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921215127/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/30/usa.afghanistan|url-status=live}}</ref>

Powell also regularly clashed with Secretary of Defense [[Les Aspin|Leslie Aspin]], whom he was initially hesitant to support after Aspin was nominated by President Clinton.<ref name="Perry-2017">{{Cite book|last=Perry|first=Mark |title=The Pentagon's wars: the military's undeclared war against America's presidents|date=2017|isbn=978-0-465-07971-1|edition= |location=New York |oclc=972386823}}</ref> During a lunch meeting between Powell and Aspin in preparation of [[Operation Gothic Serpent]], Aspin was more focused on eating salad than listening and paying attention to Powell's presentation on military operations.<ref name="Perry-2017" /> The incident caused Powell to grow more irritated towards Aspin and led to his early resignation on 30 September 1993. Powell was succeeded temporarily by [[Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]] Admiral [[David E. Jeremiah]], who took the position as Acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Soon after Powell's resignation, on 3–4 October 1993, the [[Battle of Mogadishu (1993)|Battle of Mogadishu]], the aim of which was to capture Somali warlord [[Mohamed Farrah Aidid]], was initiated and ended in disaster. Powell later defended Aspin, saying in part that he could not fault Aspin for Aspin's decision to remove a [[Lockheed AC-130]] from the list of armaments requested for the operation.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bowden|first1=Mark|title=Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War|year=1999|isbn=0-87113-738-0|location=New York|oclc=40135273|page=[[iarchive:blackhawkdownsto0000bowd/page/340/mode/1up|340]]|publisher=[[Grove Atlantic|Atlantic Monthly Press]]}}</ref>

Powell took an early resignation from his tenure as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 30 September 1993.<ref name=dip>{{Cite news |date=September 20, 1994 |title=Mission to Haiti: Diplomacy – On the Brink of War, a Tense Battle of Wills |page=A1 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/20/world/mission-to-haiti-diplomacy-on-the-brink-of-war-a-tense-battle-of-wills.html |access-date=September 29, 2023}}</ref> 

The following year President Clinton sent newly retired Powell, together with former president Jimmy Carter and Senator Sam Nunn, to visit Haiti in an effort to persuade General Raoul Cédras and the ruling junta to abdicate in favor of former Haitian President Aristide, under the threat of an imminent US invasion to remove them by force. Powell's status as a retired general was well known and respected in Haiti and was held to be instrumental in persuading Gen. Cédras.<ref name=dip/> 

During his chairmanship of the JCS, there was discussion of awarding Powell a [[Five-star rank|fifth star]], granting him the rank of [[General of the Army (United States)|General of the Army]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Abrams|first=Jim|date=March 21, 1991|title=Schwarzkopf, Powell Up For Awards, But Fifth Star Not Given Lightly|work=[[Associated Press]]|url=https://apnews.com/article/ca238a618f3375dd323c17701712127e|access-date=October 18, 2021}}</ref> But even in the wake of public and Congressional pressure<ref name="Jet">{{cite magazine |date=March 1991 |title=U.S. Sen. Kasten Pushing Effort To Award Powell With Historic Fifth Star |magazine=Jet |volume=79 |issue=23 |issn=0021-5996 |access-date=February 21, 2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9LoDAAAAMBAJ&q=%22colin+powell%22+%22fifth+star%22&pg=PA8 |quote=...there is a movement afoot in the U.S. Senate to award an historic fifth star to the nation's first Black Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Colin L. Powell for his military proficiency. |archive-date=October 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020123702/https://books.google.com/books?id=9LoDAAAAMBAJ&q=%22colin+powell%22+%22fifth+star%22&pg=PA8 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Italia">{{cite book |last1=Italia |first1=Bob |title=Armed Forces: War in the Gulf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-suZ2qETI4C&q=star |access-date=February 21, 2011 |year=1991 |publisher=Abdo & Daughters |isbn=978-1-56239-026-6 |pages=44–46 |quote=Others want to make him a five-star general. [...] Congress is talking about giving him a fifth silver star, which is very rare. |archive-date=October 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020123803/https://books.google.com/books?id=L-suZ2qETI4C&q=star |url-status=live }}</ref> to do so, [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Clinton-Gore]] [[presidential transition team]] staffers decided against it.<ref name="Stephy">{{cite book |last1=Stephanopoulos |first1=George |title=All Too Human: A Political Education |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YsHmpqx0Qb0C&q=%22fifth+star%22 |access-date=February 21, 2011 |year=1999 |publisher=Thorndike Press |isbn=978-0-7862-2016-8 |pages=330–31 |quote=Mack asked me to secretly research the procedure for awarding a fifth star to a general. [...] If Powell did challenge Clinton, the fifth star would forestall criticism of the general's military record. |archive-date=October 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020123658/https://books.google.com/books?id=YsHmpqx0Qb0C&q=%22fifth+star%22 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Hamilton">{{cite book |last1=Hamilton |first1=Nigel |title=Bill Clinton: Mastering the Presidency |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HiV3AAAAMAAJ&q=%22colin+powell%22+%22fifth+star%22 |access-date=February 21, 2011 |year=2007 |publisher=PublicAffairs |isbn=978-1-58648-516-0 |pages=190, 399 |quote=Moreover, for the very reason he admired Colin Powell as the most distinguished living black American, Clinton also feared the general as a potential rival. [...] Bill Clinton had denied Powell his rightful fifth star... |archive-date=October 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020123658/https://books.google.com/books?id=HiV3AAAAMAAJ&q=%22colin+powell%22+%22fifth+star%22 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Halberstam">{{cite book |last1=Halberstam |first1=David |title=War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton, and the Generals |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S8l4AAAAMAAJ&q=%22fifth+star%22 |access-date=February 22, 2011 |year=2001 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=978-0-7432-0212-1 |page=190 |quote=They checked it out and found that the last general to get a fifth star was Omar Bradley forty-three years earlier. Powell, they decided, was not Bradley. Besides, as George Stephanopoulos noted, if they gave him one more star, it might help him one day politically. |archive-date=October 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020123745/https://books.google.com/books?id=S8l4AAAAMAAJ&q=%22fifth+star%22 |url-status=live }}</ref>