A defence minister (or minister of defence) is a person in a cabinet position in charge of a Ministry of Defence, which regulates the armed forces in some sovereign nations. The minister usually has a very important role in a cabinet.
When cabinets first started appearing in the late 18th century, they were often called "Ministers of War" (in the United States of America, "Secretary of War"), who were in charge of the land forces of a nation. Since the end of World War II, the change was made from war to defence, and also often involved putting a single defence minister in charge of all the armed forces. Another common reform which occurred at the end of World War II was to place the defence minister in a national security council or kitchen cabinet which allows the head of government or head of state to coordinate military, diplomatic and economic activities.
The Defence Ministry in some countries is a very important ministry, sometimes considered more important than the foreign minister. It is often assumed by the Prime Minister if war is common for that nation (for example, no less than five Prime Ministers of Israel have held the Defence (Security) Ministry during their Premiership). In many nations, it is the very strong convention that the defence minister be a civilian to highlight civilian control over the military. In less democratic countries, the minister is often a uniformed army official, and in several countries, he will also hold the position of the Armed Forces Commander.
In the United States of America, the term "Secretary" is used instead of "Minister" to refer to officers of the Cabinet and their deputies. The position of Secretary of Defense has existed since 1947, when the once separate Department of War and Department of the Navy were merged into a Department of Defense (though the Secretary of the Navy exists to this day, it is no longer a cabinet-level position, being a subordinate to the Secretary of Defense and on par with the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of the Air Force, both new positions created in 1947). The chain of command goes from the President of the United States through the Secretary of Defense to the Combatant Commanders for operational purposes, or to the Secretaries of the Military Departments (mentioned above) for other non-operational purposes.
In the United Kingdom, the senior Defence Minister is called the Secretary of State for Defence. In many countries, the formal title is Minister for Defence.
The People's Republic of China is very unusual in that the Minister of National Defence (who is usually a senior although not the highest ranking military officer) and the Ministry of National Defence are both very low ranking, relatively powerless groups which do not have command over the People's Liberation Army. Command of the military belongs in the party and state Central Military Commissions, and the MND exists primarily as a liaison and protocol office to communicate with foreign militaries. Essentially, the MND exists only because most other nations have defence ministries and for protocol and liaison purposes, the PRC needs to have an institution corresponding with that of other governments.
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