The Military Staff Committee (MSC) is the United Nations Security Council subsidiary body whose role, as defined by the United Nations Charter, is to plan UN military operations and assist in the regulation of armaments. Although the Military Staff Committee continues to exist, negotiation efforts between the United States, the Soviet Union and other nations in the late 1940s failed, and the committee has since been largely defunct, only serving in an advisory capacity. The greatest purpose of the MSC, arising from Article 45 of the UN Charter, was intended to provide command staff for a set of air-force contingents. These contingents, provided by the permanent five members (P5) of the Security Council: the Republic of China (now the People's Republic of China), France, the Soviet Union (now Russia), the United Kingdom, and the United States, were to be held at ready for the discretionary use of the United Nations. History Establishment The earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the United States Department of State in 1939. The Declaration by United Nations was made on 1 January 1943 by an initial 29 states representing the Allies of World War II in support of the principals of the Atlantic Charter. A security subcommittee was established on 15 April 1942, and in 1943, members of the US Joint Strategic Survey Committee (JSSC) joined the committee. The JSSC soon began leading planning for a joint-military force after the end of World War II. They changed the terminology of the organization from an "international police force" to "international military force" and recommended creating spheres of influence around the world, where the United States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union would maintain international forces. Under the plan, the United States was to have responsibility for the Americas, Great Britain and the Soviet Union would have joint responsibility the rest of the world; with the exception of the Far East, which would be the responsibility of all three powers and China. The JSSC approached planning from a nationalistic angle, believing a multi-national force impractical. After being modified by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, the plan was spread through the United States Department of State, where Cordell Hull, the Secretary of State, favored an multi-national organization. Hull was dedicated to the project and formed a new drafting committee that discarded the spheres of influence plan. After the Moscow Conference