UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

:'''Department of Defense' redirects here. For the defense departments in governments of other countries, see defence ministry.''

'Department of Defense'
Seal of the Department of Defense
'Established:'	July 26, 1947 (By the National Security Act of 1947)
'Activated:'	September 18, 1947
'Renamed:'	August 10, 1949
'Secretary:'	Robert M. Gates
'Deputy Secretary:'	Gordon R. England
'Budget:'	$439.3 billion[1] (2007 est.)
'Employees:'	700,000 civilian 2,300,000 military (2004)

The 'United States Department of Defense' ('DOD' or 'DoD') is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the military. 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, and has three major components — the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force. Among the many DOD agencies are the Missile Defense Agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), 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 December 19, 1945, President Harry Truman proposed creation of a unified Department of National 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 War Department (founded in 1789) and Navy Department (founded in 1798; formerly the Board of Admiralty, founded in 1780). The Department of the Air Force was also created as a new service at the same time (it had been part of the War Department as the United States Army Air Force), and made part of DoD. 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" (the obvious pronunciation being "enemy"), and was renamed the "Department of Defense" (abbreviated as DOD or DoD) on August 10, 1949; 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 United States 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 remained in the Department of the Treasury, 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 Pentagon, in Arlington County, Virginia across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is the headquarters of the 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. The DoD's annual budget was roughly $425 billion in 2006 . 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.
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 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.
In wartime, the Department of Defense also 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.

Current issues

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". 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 heath 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.

Components

2005 DoD Structure

References

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

External links

★ United States DOD website

★ Read Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding the Department of Defense

★ U.S. Department of Defense Profile: Making the Tail Smaller and the Tooth Stronger

★ Entire Collection of DoD Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Reading Room

★ The Budget Graph A graphical representation of the 2007 United States federal discretionary budget, including all military related funding.

★ DOD property auctions

★ Title 10 U.S.C.

★ Department Of Defense Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register RSS Feed

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