The OKW was established in February 1938 and controlled all matters of inter-service policy. It was directly responsible for the overall conduct of operations during the war. Its most senior officer was Wilhelm Keitel, Field Marshal and Chief of Staff for the whole of the period from 1938 to 1945. The most important section of the OKW, which was directly concerned with field operations, was the Armed Forces Operations Staff (Wehrmachtsfuehrungsstab, WFST). During the war this was commanded by General Alfred Jodl. The decree promulgated by Hitler that established the OKW also specified that "Command authority over the entire Armed Forces is from now on exercised directly by me personally." One of the principal agencies of the OKW was the General Armed Forces Office (Allgemeines Wehrmachtamt, AWA), which was concerned primarily with administrative matters. An important subdivision of the AWA was the Office of the Chief of Prisoner-of-War Affairs (Chef des Kriegsgefangenwesens, Chef Kriegs-Gef).