- Justice Dept. Neglected to Discuss a Military Tribunal for Suspect with Pentagon (December 12, 2001)
...... - Pentagon Agency Belittles Information Given by Iraqi Defectors (September 29, 2003)
...d false information and, if so, what their motivation might have been. One Defense Department official said that some of the people were not who they said they were and... - Pentagon: War Costs $30B for Year (February 25, 2002)
...d $30 billion this year, far more than Congress has provided, according to Defense Department documents obtained by The Associated Press. President Bush and Congress... - Disaster Could Mean Closer U.S.-Indonesia Military Ties (January 18, 2005)
...itary-to-military ties with the United States –- or, as Wolfowitz put it, "Defense Department to Defense Department." "One of the things we'd like to help with," he... - US, Israel Discuss Joint Anti-Terror Office (June 29, 2002)
...Israel's top two security chiefs met with U.S. lawmakers and Defense Department officials this week at a series of secret briefings to gather support for... - Senate to Kill Pentagon Surveillance Bill (July 16, 2003)
...that has raised privacy concerns. In the past, Congress has limited the Defense Department's ability to implement the system now known as Terrorism Information Aware... - The Myth of Military Lawyers (December 14, 2001)
...... - Media Access To Troops Can Be Denied (February 4, 2004)
...acts for the court in recognizing journalists' rights." Flynt sued the Defense Department after officials declined his request to have reporters accompany the first... - Black-Ops Budget Increases Dramatically (August 27, 2003)
...aring sums requested for "open," or nonclassified, programs with the total Defense Department request for fiscal 2004. Some black spending in the Pentagon budget is... - House Shifts $30 Million From Space-Based Interceptors To Airborne Laser (June 28, 2002)
... '03 defense authorization bill after approving an amendment requiring the Defense Department to give Congress a report within 120 days of each flight test of the Groun... - Pentagon wants to send troops to Indonesia (March 19, 2002)
... say it's impossible to monitor all the sea traffic in the region. Some Defense Department officials say they want to restart military training missions halted in 19... - Homeland Data Mining Efforts Will Differ From Pentagon's (January 6, 2004)
...ays to mine large amounts of data, but its work will differ from that of a Defense Department agency that had one project killed because of privacy concerns, according... - State Dept. Disputes That Trailers Were Weapons Labs (June 26, 2003)
...the trailers, and were thus most qualified to issue public findings. But a Defense Department official acknowledged today that some analysts in the D.I.A. in Iraq had a... - Overseer in Iraq Seeks US Reinforcements (July 2, 2003)
...S. troops would be required to ensure stability in post-Hussein Iraq. A Defense Department spokesman said the Pentagon would not discuss any communications between B... - Senate Panel Approves $400b 'Defense' Bill (May 9, 2003)
...se Secretary Donald Rumsfeld the broad discretion he wanted to reshape the Defense Department's civilian force. A number of lawmakers had said Rumsfeld wanted contr... - United States Air Force
- United States Army
- Defense Agencies
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
- Defense Commissary Agency (DECA)
- Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA)
- Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA)
- Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS)
- Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
- Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
- Defense Legal Services Agency (DLSA)
- Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)
- Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA)
- Defense Security Service (DSS)
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)
- Missile Defense Agency (MDA)
- National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA)
- National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
- National Security Agency (NSA)
- Pentagon Force Protection Agency
- Department of Defense Field Activities
- American Forces Information Service (AFIS)
- Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO)
- Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA)
- DoD Human Resources Activity (DoDHRA)
- Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA)
- Tricare Management Activity (TMA)
- Washington Headquarters Services (WHS)
- Office of Administration and Management
- Joint Chiefs of Staff
- United States Marine Corps
- United States Navy
- Unified Combatant Commands
- 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
United States Department of Defense
(Redirected from Department of Defense)
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The United States Department of Defense (DoD) is the civilian Cabinet organization of the United States government which controls the military of the United States. It is headquartered at The Pentagon and headed by the United States Secretary of Defense.
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History
Proposals to coordinate the activities of the military services were initially considered by Congress in 1944. Specific plans were put forth in 1945 by the Army, the Navy, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a special message to Congress on December 19, 1945, President Harry Truman proposed creation of a unified Department of National Defense. A proposal reached Congress in April 1946, but was held up by the Naval Affairs Committee held hearings in July 1946 due to 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.
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 confirmation of James V. Forrestal as the first Secretary of Defense. The Establishment was later renamed the Department of Defense on August 10, 1949 and the secretary was given greater authority over the military departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
It is based in The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia near Washington, D.C.. It was created by combining the War Department (founded in 1789) with the Navy Department (founded in 1798; formerly the Board of Admiralty, founded in 1780). The department was formed in order to reduce interservice rivalry which was believed to have reduced military effectiveness in World War II.
It includes Army, Air Force, Coast Guard (wartime only), Navy, Marines and agencies such as the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency comprise the Department. Its annual budget is roughly $360 billion (~$1,300 per capita).
The command structure of the Department of Defense is defined by the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986. Under the act, the chain of command runs from the President of the United States, through the Secretary of Defense, to the regional commanders within one of several commands who command all military forces within their area of operation. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the several Chiefs of Staff are responsible for readiness of the U.S. military, but are not in the chain of command.
On February 22, 2002, the Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General has reported that DOD has not and will not account for $1.1 trillion of "undocumentable adjustments."
As part of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, terrorists crashed a plane into one of the sections of The Pentagon, causing part of it to collapse and killing about 190 people.
Operating units
In 2003, the National Communications System was moved to the United States Department of Homeland Security.
Technology
The DoD sponsored the research and development of the modern computer and through DARPA subsidized the creation of the Internet. It maintains the global positioning system (GPS). Each of these technologies was made available to the public worldwide at no charge.
The DoD commissioned the design of the Ada programming language.
Related legislation
External links