United States Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense
Agency overview
Preceding agency	Department of War
Jurisdiction	Federal government of the  United States
Headquarters	The Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia
Employees	700,000 civilian 1,418,542 military [1](2009)
Annual budget	$651 billion [2](2009)
Agency executives	Robert M. Gates, Secretary William J. Lynn III, Deputy Secretary
Child agency	Click here for list

The United States Department of Defense (USDOD, DOD or DoD, initially briefly referred to as the National Military Establishment or NME) is the U.S. federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the United States armed forces. The Department of Defense is an evolution of the Department of War. The organization and functions of the DOD are set forth in Title 10 of the United States Code.

The DOD is the major tenant of The Pentagon building near Washington, D.C., and has three major components – the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Among the many DOD agencies are the Missile Defense Agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), and the National Security Agency (NSA). The department also operates several joint service schools, including the National War College.

History

During 1945, specific plans for the proposed DoD were put forth by the Army, the Navy, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a special message to Congress on 19 December 1945, President Harry Truman proposed creation of a unified department of state defense. A proposal went to Congress in April 1946, but was held up by the Naval Affairs Committee hearings in July 1946, which raised objections to the concentration of power in a single department. Truman eventually sent new legislation to Congress in February 1947, where it was debated and amended for several months.

DoD was created in 1947 as a national military establishment with a single secretary as its head to preside over the former Department of War (founded in 1789) and Department of the Navy (founded in 1798; formerly the Board of Admiralty, founded in 1780). The Department of the Air Force was also created as a new service (previously under the War Department as the Army Air Forces). DoD was created in order to reduce interservice rivalry, which was believed to have reduced military effectiveness during World War II.

On July 26, 1947, Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, which set up the "National Military Establishment" to begin operations on September 18, 1947, the day after the Senate confirmed James V. Forrestal as the first Secretary of Defense. The Establishment had the unfortunate abbreviation "NME" (with a pronunciation virtually identical to "enemy"), and was renamed the "Department of Defense" (also described in the Act under "Title II - The Department of Defense", and later abbreviated as "DOD" or "DoD") on August 10, 1949.

The name-shift from "Department of War" to "Department of Defense" has been seen as an acceptance of Carl von Clausewitz's second maxim from his famous work On War. Clausewitz states: "The aggressor always pretends to be peace-loving because he would like to achieve his conquests without bloodshed . . . Therefore, aggression must be presented as a defensive reaction by the aggressor nation."^[3] Hugh Nibley comments: "Nobody ever attacks. You're always just on the defensive. After World War I, the German War Office, Kriegsamt, changed its name to Wehrmacht, "defense power." We changed our War Office to the Department of Defense. We're just defensive now, that's all. Both sides must take the defensive position, whether they are aggressors or not."^[4]

In addition, the Secretary of Defense was given greater authority over three of the branches of the military (Army, Navy, and Air Force). Prior to the creation of the National Military Establishment / Department of Defense, the Armed Forces of the U.S. were separated into different cabinet-level departments without much central authority. The Marine Corps remained as a separate service under the Department of the Navy, and the Coast Guard is under Department of Homeland Security, ready to be shifted to the Navy Department during time of declared war (as it was in both world wars).

Organization

The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense.

The Department includes the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, as well as non-combat agencies such as the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency, including the NORAD base in Colorado Springs. The DoD's annual budget was roughly $786 billion in 2007.^[5] This figure does not include tens of billions more in supplemental expenditures allotted by Congress throughout the year, particularly for the war in Iraq. It also does not include expenditures by the Department of Energy on nuclear weapons design and testing.

Civilian control over matters other than operations is exercised through the three service departments, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy (which includes the Marine Corps), and the Department of the Air Force. Each is led by a service secretary, who are below Cabinet rank.

In wartime, the Department of Defense has authority over the Coast Guard; in peacetime, that agency is under the control of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Prior to the creation of DHS, the Coast Guard was under the control of the Department of Transportation and earlier under the Department of the Treasury. According to the U.S. Code, the Coast Guard is at all times considered one of the five armed services of the United States. During times of declared war (or by Congressional direction), the Coast Guard operates as a part of the Navy; the service has not been under the auspices of Navy since World War II, but members have served in the undeclared wars and conflicts since then while the service remained in its peacetime department.

The Pentagon, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is the headquarters of the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense is protected by the Pentagon Force Protection Agency which ensures law enforcement and security for The Pentagon and various other jurisdictions throughout the National Capital Region (NCR).

Command structure

The President of the United States is the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. military.

The command structure of the Department of Defense is defined by the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 (PL 99-433), signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on 1 October 1986. The Act reworked the command structure of the United States military, introducing the most sweeping changes to the Department since it was established in the National Security Act of 1947. Under the act, the chain of command runs from the President of the United States, through the Secretary of Defense, to the combatant commanders (COCOM) who command all military forces within their area of responsibility. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the service Chiefs of Staff are responsible for readiness of the U.S. military and serve as the President's military advisers, but are not in the chain of command. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is by law the highest ranking military officer in the United States. Each service is responsible for organizing, training and equipping military units for the commanders of the various Unified Combatant Commands.

National Command organizational chart

Components

2008 Office of the Secretary of Defense Structure.

Defense Agencies within the Department of Defense.

United States Secretary of Defense

• United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
  • Office of the Secretary of Defense
    • Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization
    • Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee
    • Office of Net Assessment
    • Pentagon Force Protection Agency
    • Office of General Counsel
      • Defense Legal Services Agency
  • Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense
    • Defense Criminal Investigative Service
  • Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
    • Defense Intelligence Agency
    • Defense Security Service
    • National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
    • National Reconnaissance Office
    • National Security Agency
  • Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
    • Defense Security Cooperation Agency
    • Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office
  • Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics
    • Defense Technical Information Center
    • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
    • Missile Defense Agency
    • Defense Contract Management Agency
    • Defense Logistics Agency
    • Defense Threat Reduction Agency
    • Office of Economic Adjustment
    • Defense Acquisition University
    • Business Transformation Agency
    • Operational Test and Evaluation Directorate (DOT&E)
  • Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
    • Defense Commissary Agency
    • Defense Human Resources Activity
    • Department of Defense Education Activity
    • Department of Defense Dependents Schools
    • Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
    • Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute
    • Office of the Chancellor for Education and Professional Development
  • Under Secretary of Defense Comptroller
    • Defense Contract Audit Agency
    • Defense Finance and Accounting Service
  • Director, Program Analysis and Evaluation
  • Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration
    • Defense Information Systems Agency
  • Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
    • Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Internal Communications
  • Washington Headquarters Services
  • Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
    • Military Health System[2]
      • TRICARE Management Activity[3]

• Military Departments
  • United States Secretary of the Army
    • Department of the Army including the U.S. Army
    • United States Army Corps of Engineers
  • United States Secretary of the Navy
    • United States Department of the Navy including the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps
  • United States Secretary of the Air Force
    • Department of the Air Force including the U.S. Air Force
• Joint Chiefs of Staff

The United States Naval Observatory falls under the Chief of Naval Operations. In 2003, the National Communications System was moved to the Department of Homeland Security, but only for executive purposes. The National Communications System still centralizes its activities within the Department of Defense, since the human resources required by NCS (example: Military Departments) still reside within the Department of Defense, or for retention of practical maintenance.

Unified Combatant Commands

There are ten Unified Combatant Commands; six regional and four functional. United States Africa Command became initially operational in October 2007.

The Geographic Commands

In 2007, a new geographical command for Africa was authorized. This proposed significant changes to the areas of responsibility for other adjacent geographical commands as shown in the accompanying graphic.

Expenditures

Military spending as a percentage of GDP.

The United States Department of Defense expenditures for fiscal year 2009 are $651.2 billion. This does not take into account military spending outside of the Department of Defense, which when included increases the figure to between $859 billion and $1.16 trillion.

The United States and its closest allies are responsible for approximately two-thirds of global military spending (of which, in turn, the U.S. is responsible for the vast majority). Department of Defense spending accounts for 21% of the United States' federal budget, and approximately half of its federal discretionary spending, which comprises all of the U.S. government's money not accounted for by pre-existing obligations.[4]^[6]

However, in terms of per capita spending, the U.S. ranks third behind Israel and Singapore^[7].

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in 2003 the United States spent approximately 47% of the world's total military spending of US $956,000,000,000.

As a percentage of its GDP, the United States spent 4.06% on military in the year 2000, ranking it 28th in the world. This was higher than France's 2.6%, and lower than Saudi Arabia's 10%^[8].

Also, since the United States employs a non-compulsory (and paid) military, and since most jobs within it require high degrees of technical skill and personnel retention, the United States armed forces have dramatically higher personnel costs, both military and civilian, compared to the militaries of countries which use conscription, many of which have far more troops than the United States. However, only China has more standing troops than the United States.

Facilities and energy

DoD's Energy Conservation Investment Program (ECIP) improves the energy and water efficiency of existing Military Services' facilities. The program's projects help the Military Services save on energy usage and cost.^[9]. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided $120 million for the ECIP.

Also the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has given money for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Army Reserve, Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Air Force Reserve, Army National Guard and Air National Guard facilities to invest in energy efficiency.

Energy use

The Department of Defense uses 4,600,000,000 US gallons (1.7×10¹⁰ L) (4.6 billion gallons) of fuel annually, an average of 12,600,000 US gallons (48,000,000 L) (12.6 million gallons) of fuel per day. A large Army division may use about 6,000 US gallons (23,000 L) per day. According to the 2005 CIA World Factbook, the DoD would rank 34th in the world in average daily oil use, coming in just behind Iraq and just ahead of Sweden.^[10]

In FY 2006, the DoD used almost 30,000 gigawatt hours (GWH) of electricity, at a cost of almost $2.2 billion. The DoD's electricity use would supply enough electricity to power more than 2.6 million average American homes. In electricity consumption, the DOD would rank 58th in the world, using slightly less than Denmark and slightly more than Syria (CIA World Factbook, 2006).^[11]

The DoD uses 93% of all US government fuel consumption (Air Force: 52%; Navy: 33%; Army: 7%. Other DoD: 1%).^[11]

The Air Force is the largest user of fuel energy in the federal government. The Air Force uses 10% of the nation's aviation fuel. (JP-8 accounts for nearly 90% of its fuels.) This fuel usage breaks down as such: 82% jet fuel, 16% facility management and 2% ground vehicle/equipment.^[12] To meet renewable energy goals, it plans to certify its entire fleet on coal-to-liquid synthetic fuel blends by 2011. By 2016, it plans to fuel half of its domestic transportation by US-produced synthetic blends. The Air Force is currently the leading purchaser of renewable energy within the Federal government and has been a long time pioneer of renewable energy development and leadership.

The US Army has recently prioritized renewable energy strategies in Iraq.^[13] Strategies include the Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery Program, which converts 1 short ton (0.91 t) ton of waste to 11 US gallons (42 L) gallons of JP-8 fuel, a photovoltaic flexible, portable mat, insulating foam technology, hybrid-electric Manned Ground Vehicles (MGV), and highly efficient portable cells.^[13] The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act gave more than $150 million to develop these technologies.^[13]

The Navy has tremendous variety within its maritime infrastructure. They are working on further developing wind and nuclear alternatives to traditional fuel engines. The Navy, like the Air Force is a leader in renewable development.

Civilian control

The primary purpose of DOD is to provide civilian control of the United States military. Article II Section 2 of the Constitution designates the President as "Commander in Chief" of the Army, Navy and state militias.^[14] The President exercises this control both through White House national security staff as well as civilians within DOD. Historically, there have been challenges to civilian control. Most notably, during the Korean War, General Douglas MacArthur ignored civilian instructions regarding advancing troops toward the Yazoo River, which triggered an introduction of massive forces from China. Also, on April 5, 1950, Representative Joseph William Martin, Jr., the Minority leader of the United States House of Representatives, released copies of a letter from MacArthur critical of President Harry Truman's limited-war strategy to the press and read it aloud on the floor of the house.^[15] President Truman relieved MacArthur of command, and MacArthur then explored political options against Truman.^[16]

DOD policies and directives protect democracy by establishing strict limitations on the political activities of members of the military. For example, DOD Directive 1344.10 prohibits active duty military running for office or making political appearances in uniform.^[17] However, enforcing this strict separation between the military and politics has been problematic. For example, over the years, many elected officials, including members of Congress continued serving in the reserves while holding elected office. As another example, at a September 14, 2007, rally for Republican Presidential candidate John McCain in New Hampshire, seven on-duty uniformed Army personnel addressed the gathering.^[18] As another example, although DOD Directive 1344.10 prohibits political appearances by active duty military in uniform, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell invited a uniformed Army Staff Sergeant to stand behind him during his televised Republican response to the 2010 State of the Union Address.^[19][20]

Current issues

On February 26, 2002, the Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense has reported that DOD has not and will not account for $1.1 trillion of "unsupported accounting entries".^[21] In addition, there have been several high-profile Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigations of the Department of Defense.

The GAO is also interested in ways DOD can partner with other government agencies to save money and create efficiencies. One way was through use of the Veterans Administration's Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (CMOP) program. The CMOP fills continuation of therapy or refill prescriptions only. Initial prescriptions are written for veterans at one of the Veteran Administration’s health care facilities. When a refill is needed, the health care facilities process the prescriptions. The CMOP then uploads this information from multiple facilities in its region. Once filled, the United States Postal Service (USPS) delivers the prescriptions. The health care facility or clinic is notified of the prescription’s completion electronically. As of 2000, the annual workload was near 50 million prescriptions. Processing and filling prescriptions took two days; three more days were required for mail delivery.

The DOD and VA conducted a pilot program in FY 2003. In its 2005 report, GAO-05-555, the GAO found that the DOD could generate savings because CMOP's size allows it to negotiate volume discounts. The CMOP program is now serving the entire country from a number of locations including West Los Angeles, California; Bedford, Massachusetts; Dallas, Texas; Hines, Illinois, Charleston, South Carolina; Leavenworth, Kansas; and Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The military's analysis of the missile strike on a dead U.S. spy satellite has revealed no sign of danger from debris, including no hazard from the satellite's fuel tank, a Pentagon spokesman said February 22, 2008.^[22] The launched missile successfully destroyed the fuel tank of an inoperable spy satellite, U.S. military officials said February 25, 2008.^[23]

In fall of 2006, the U.S. Defense Department accidentally shipped ballistic missile components instead of helicopter batteries to Taiwan, it was reported on March 25, 2008. The parts were 1960s technology, designed for use with Minuteman ballistic missiles. The missile components were first shipped from F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming to Hill Air Force Base in Utah in 2005.^[24]

On April 20, 2008, The New York Times published an exposé accusing the U.S. Department of Defense of running a propaganda "message machine" to spread the administration's talking points on Iraq by briefing retired military commanders for network television and cable television appearances, where they were presented as independent analysts.^[25][26]

Military buildup

To meet the growing demands in the Middle East and around the world, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates proposed to President Bush to increase the overall size of the military by approximately 92,000 troops over the course of five years. Specifically, the proposal calls for an Army troop cap of 545,000 to 550,000 active duty soldiers and a troop cap of 202,000 active duty Marines. The total active duty force of the United States after the buildup will be about 1,479,000.^[27] There have also been calls to increase the sizes of the other branches of the military to match the increase in the Marines and Army.

Related legislation

• 1947: National Security Act of 1947
• 1958: Department of Defense Reorganization Act PL 85-899
• 1963: Department of Defense Appropriations Act PL 88-149
• 1963: Military Construction Authorization Act PL 88-174
• 1967: Supplemental Defense Appropriations Act PL 90-8
• 1984: Department of Defense Authorization Act PL 98-525
• 1986: Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 or Department of Defense Reorganization Act PL 99-433
• 1996: Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act PL 104-132

See also

• List of United States military bases
• DOD Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Program
• Identification badges of the United States military
• The Berry Amendment, a U.S.C law that requires most goods used by the armed forces to be produced domestically.
• US Senate Report on chemical weapons
• Defense industry
• Defense contractor
• Distance in military affairs
• Exceptional Family Member Program
• Pace-Finletter MOU 1952

References

External links

• DOD website
• Read Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding the Department of Defense
• Entire Collection of DoD Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Reading Room
• Budget info
• Death and Taxes: 2009 A visual guide and infographic of the 2009 United States federal budget including the Department of Defense with data provided by the Comptrollers office.
• DoD YouTube channel
• DoD/MIL Specs
• Proposed and finalized federal regulations from the United States Department of Defense
• Military part marking
• DoD IA Policy Chart

Agencies under the United States Department of Defense Headquarters: The Pentagon Secretary of Defense Deputy Secretary of Defense Office of the Secretary of Defense · Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee · Office of Net Assessment · Pentagon Force Protection Agency · Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Director, Defense Research and Engineering · Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency · Missile Defense Agency · Defense Contract Management Agency · Defense Logistics Agency · Defense Technical Information Center · Defense Threat Reduction Agency · Office of Economic Adjustment · Defense Acquisition University · Business Transformation Agency Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Defense Security Cooperation Agency · Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Defense Contract Audit Agency · Defense Finance and Accounting Service Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Defense Commissary Agency · Department of Defense Education Activity · DoD Human Resources Activity · Military Health System · Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences · Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute · Office of the Chancellor for Education and Professional Development Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Defense Intelligence Agency · Defense Security Service · Defense Information Systems Agency · National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency · National Reconnaissance Office · National Security Agency Service Departments Army: United States Army, Secretary Navy: United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, Secretary Air Force: United States Air Force, Secretary Joint Chiefs of Staff · Unified Combatant Command