United States Department of Defense

Coordinates: 38°52′16″N 77°3′21″W / 38.87111°N 77.05583°W / 38.87111; -77.05583
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"DoD" redirects here. For other uses, see DOD.

United States Department of Defense
Lloyd J. Austin, Secretary
  • Kathleen Hicks, Deputy Secretary
  • Charles Q. Brown Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • Christopher W. Grady, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
    • Child agencies
    Websitedefense.gov
    United States
    Armed Forces
    Executive departments
    Staff
    Military departments
    Military services
    Command structure
    Unified combatant commands
    Combat support agencies

    The United States Department of Defense (DoD,[2] USDOD, or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government of the United States charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the U.S. government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces. As of June 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense is the largest employer in the world,[3] with over 1.34 million active-duty service members, including soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and guardians. The Department of Defense also maintains over 778,000 National Guard and reservists, and over 747,000 civilians bringing the total to over 2.87 million employees.[4] Headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., the Department of Defense's stated mission is to provide "the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security".[5][6]

    The Department of Defense is headed by the

    Defense agencies include the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the Defense Health Agency (DHA), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), the Space Development Agency (SDA) and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA), all of which are subordinate to the secretary of defense. Additionally, the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) is responsible for administering contracts for the Department of Defense. Military operations are managed by eleven regional or functional unified combatant commands. The Department of Defense also operates several joint services schools, including the Eisenhower School (ES) and the National War College
    (NWC).

    History

    Further information:
    History of the United States military
    See also: National Security Act of 1947

    Faced with rising tensions between the Thirteen Colonies and the British government, one of the first actions taken by the First Continental Congress in September 1774 was to recommend that the colonies begin defensive military preparations. In mid-June 1775, after the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the Second Continental Congress, recognizing the necessity of having a national army that could move about and fight beyond the boundaries of any particular colony, organized the Continental Army on June 14, 1775.[7][8] This momentous event is commemorated in the U.S. annually as Flag Day. Later that year, Congress would charter the Continental Navy on October 13,[9] and the Continental Marines on November 10.

    War Department and Navy Department

    Main articles: United States Department of War and United States Department of the Navy

    Upon the seating of the

    War Department.[10][11] The War Department handled naval affairs until Congress created the Navy Department
    in 1798. The secretaries of each department reported directly to the president as cabinet-level advisors until 1949, when all military departments became subordinate to the Secretary of Defense.

    National Military Establishment

    President Truman
    signs the National Security Act Amendment of 1949

    After the end of

    Harry Truman proposed the creation of a unified department of national defense. In a special message to the Congress on December 19, 1945, the president cited both wasteful military spending and interdepartmental conflicts. Deliberations in Congress went on for months focusing heavily on the role of the military in society and the threat of granting too much military power to the executive.[12]

    On July 26, 1947, Truman signed the

    James V. Forrestal as the first secretary of defense.[14] The National Military Establishment was renamed the "Department of Defense" on August 10, 1949, and absorbed the three cabinet-level military departments, in an amendment to the original 1947 law.[16] The renaming is alleged to be due to the Establishment's abbreviation, NME, being pronounced "enemy".[17]

    Under the

    Advanced Research Projects Agency, eventually known as DARPA
    . The act was written and promoted by the Eisenhower administration and was signed into law August 6, 1958.

    Financial discrepancies

    Office of the Inspector General released a report stating that the Army made $6.5 trillion in wrongful adjustments to its accounting entries in 2015.[20]

    Organizational structure

    Main article: Organizational structure of the United States Department of Defense
    See also:
    List of Department of Defense agencies
    Organization of the Department of Defense following the creation of the United States Space Force
    A December 2013 Department of Defense organizational chart

    The Secretary of Defense, appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, is by federal law (10 U.S.C. § 113) the head of the Department of Defense, "the principal assistant to the President in all matters relating to Department of Defense", and has "authority, direction, and control over the Department of Defense". Because the Constitution vests all military authority in Congress and the president, the statutory authority of the secretary of defense is derived from their constitutional authority. Since it is impractical for either Congress or the president to participate in every piece of Department of Defense affairs, the secretary of defense and the secretary's subordinate officials generally exercise military authority.

    The Department of Defense is composed of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (

    Defense Agencies and Department of Defense Field Activities, the National Guard Bureau
    (NGB), and such other offices, agencies, activities, organizations, and commands established or designated by law, or by the president or by the secretary of defense.

    Department of Defense Directive 5100.01 describes the organizational relationships within the department and is the foundational issuance for delineating the major functions of the department. The latest version, signed by former secretary of defense Robert Gates in December 2010, is the first major re-write since 1987.[21][22]

    Office of the Secretary of Defense

    Main article: Office of the Secretary of Defense
    A 2008 Office of the Secretary of Defense organizational chart

    The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is the secretary and their deputies, including predominantly civilian staff. OSD is the principal staff element of the Secretary of Defense in the exercise of policy development, planning, resource management, fiscal and program evaluation and oversight, and interface and exchange with other U.S. federal government departments and agencies, foreign governments, and international organizations, through formal and informal processes. OSD also performs oversight and management of the Defense Agencies, Department of Defense Field Activities, and specialized Cross Functional Teams.

    Defense agencies

    See also: Combat support agency

    OSD is a parent agency of the following defense agencies:

    National intelligence agencies

    Several defense agencies are members of the United States Intelligence Community. These are national-level intelligence services that operate under the Department of Defense jurisdiction but simultaneously fall under the authorities of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. They fulfill the requirements of national policymakers and war planners, serve as Combat Support Agencies, and also assist non-Department of Defense intelligence or law enforcement services such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

    The military services each have their own intelligence elements that are distinct from but subject to coordination by national intelligence agencies under the Department of Defense. Department of Defense manages the nation's coordinating authorities and assets in disciplines of

    human intelligence service, which contributes to the CIA's human intelligence efforts while also focusing on military human intelligence priorities. These agencies are directly overseen by the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security
    .

    Joint Chiefs of Staff

    Main article: Joint Chiefs of Staff
    Joint Chiefs of Staff and Joint Staff organizational chart

    The

    Secretary of the Air Force.[24][25][26][27]

    Following the

    commanders of the Combatant Commands.[30] Goldwater–Nichols also created the office of vice-chairman, and the chairman is now designated as the principal military adviser to the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and to the president.[31]

    The Joint Staff (JS) is a headquarters staff at the

    vice admiral.[32][33]

    Military departments and services

    There are three military departments within the Department of Defense:

    1. the Department of the Army, within which the United States Army is organized.
    2. the Department of the Navy, within which the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps are organized.
    3. the Department of the Air Force, within which the United States Air Force and United States Space Force are organized.

    The Military Departments are each headed by their own secretary (i.e., Secretary of the Army, Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of the Air Force), appointed by the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate. They have the legal authority under Title 10 of the United States Code to conduct all the affairs of their respective departments within which the military services are organized.[34] The secretaries of the Military Departments are (by law) subordinate to the secretary of defense and (by SecDef delegation) to the deputy secretary of defense.

    Secretaries of military departments, in turn, normally exercise authority over their forces by delegation through their respective service chiefs (i.e.,

    Combatant Command.[35]

    Secretaries of Military Departments and service chiefs do not possess operational command authority over U.S. troops (this power was stripped from them in the

    Defense Reorganization Act of 1958), and instead, Military Departments are tasked solely with "the training, provision of equipment, and administration of troops."[35]

    Unified Combatant Commands

    Main article: Unified combatant command
    U.S. Department of Defense combatant command areas of responsibility

    A unified combatant command is a military command composed of personnel/equipment from at least two Military Departments, which has a broad/continuing mission.[36][37]

    These military departments are responsible for equipping and training troops to fight, while the Unified Combatant Commands are responsible for military forces' actual operational command.

    Unified Command Plan—a frequently updated document (produced by the DoD), which lays out the Command's mission, geographical/functional responsibilities, and force structure.[37]

    During military operations, the chain of command runs from the president to the

    combatant commanders of the Combatant Commands.[35]

    As of 2019[update], the United States has eleven Combatant Commands, organized either on a geographical basis (known as "area of responsibility", AOR) or on a global, functional basis:[38]

    • U.S. Northern Command
      (USNORTHCOM)
    • U.S. Southern Command
      (USSOUTHCOM)
    • U.S. Central Command
      (USCENTCOM)
    • U.S. European Command
      (USEUCOM)
    • U.S. Indo-Pacific Command
      (USINDOPACOM)
    • U.S. Africa Command
      (USAFRICOM)
    • U.S. Strategic Command
      (USSTRATCOM)
    • U.S. Special Operations Command
      (USSOCOM)
    • U.S. Transportation Command
      (USTRANSCOM)
    • U.S. Cyber Command
      (USCYBERCOM)
    • U.S. Space Command
      (USSPACECOM)

    Budget

    Main article: Military budget of the United States
    Defense spending as a percent of gross domestic product from 1792 to 2017
    Total United States Defense outlays from 1962 to 2024 in $millions (2019 to 2024 are estimated)

    Department of Defense spending in 2017 was 3.15% of GDP and accounted for about 38% of budgeted

    global military spending – more than the next 7 largest militaries combined.[39] By 2019, the 27th secretary of defense had begun a line-by-line review of the defense budget; in 2020 the secretary identified items amounting to $5.7 billion, out of a $106 billion subtotal (the so-called "fourth estate" agencies such as missile defense, and defense intelligence, amounting to 16% of the defense budget),[40][41] He will re-deploy to the modernization of hypersonics, artificial intelligence, and missile defense.[40] Beyond 2021 the 27th secretary of defense is projecting the need for yearly budget increases of 3 to 5 percent to modernize.[42]

    The Department of Defense accounts for the majority of federal discretionary spending. In FY 2017, the Department of Defense budgeted spending accounted for 15% of the U.S. federal budget, and 49% of federal discretionary spending, which represents funds not accounted for by pre-existing obligations. However, this does not include many military-related items that are outside the Defense Department budget, such as nuclear weapons research, maintenance, cleanup, and production, which is in the Department of Energy budget, Veterans Affairs, the Treasury Department's payments in pensions to military retirees and widows and their families, interest on debt incurred in past wars, or State Department financing of foreign arms sales and militarily-related development assistance. Neither does it include defense spending that is not military in nature, such as the Department of Homeland Security, counter-terrorism spending by the FBI, and intelligence-gathering spending by the NSA.

    In the

    non-compliance, Congress has established a deadline of Fiscal year 2017 for the Department of Defense to achieve audit readiness.[45]

    In 2015 the allocation for the Department of Defense was $585 billion,[46] the highest level of budgetary resources among all Federal agencies, and this amounts to more than one-half of the annual Federal Expenditures in the United States federal budget discretionary budget.[47]

    On September 28, 2018, President Donald Trump signed the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019 (H.R.6157) into law.[48] On September 30, 2018, the FY2018 Budget expired and the FY2019 budget came into effect.

    FY2019

    The FY2019 Budget for the Department of Defense is approximately $686,074,048,000[49] (Including Base + Overseas Contingency Operations + Emergency Funds) in discretionary spending and $8,992,000,000 in mandatory spending totaling $695,066,000,000

    overseas contingency".[50]

    The Department of Defense budget encompasses the majority of the National Defense Budget of approximately $716.0 billion in discretionary spending and $10.8 billion in mandatory spending for a $726.8 billion total. Of the total, $708.1 billion falls under the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Armed Services and Senate Armed Services Committee and is subject to authorization by the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The remaining $7.9 billion falls under the jurisdiction of other congressional committees.[51]

    The Department of Defense is unique because it is one of the few federal entities where the majority of its funding falls into the discretionary category. The majority of the entire federal budget is mandatory, and much of the discretionary funding in the budget consists of DoD dollars.

    Budget overview

    DoD Base + OCO + Emergency budget by appropriation title[52]
    Title FY 2019 ($ in thousand)*
    Military Personnel $152,883,052
    Operation and Maintenance $283,544,068
    Procurement $144,340,905
    RDT&E $92,364,681
    Revolving and Management Funds $1,557,305
    Defense Bill $674,690,011
    Military Construction $9,801,405
    Family Housing $1,582,632
    Military Construction Bill $11,384,037
    Total $686,074,048

    * Numbers may not add due to rounding

    Criticism

    A 2013 Reuters investigation concluded that Defense Finance & Accounting Service, the Department of Defense's primary financial management arm, implements monthly "unsubstantiated change actions"—illegal, inaccurate "plugs"—that forcibly make DoD's books match Treasury's books.[53] It concluded:

    Fudging the accounts with false entries is standard operating procedure... Reuters has found that the Pentagon is largely incapable of keeping track of its vast stores of weapons, ammunition, and other supplies; thus it continues to spend money on new supplies it doesn't need and on storing others long out of date. It has amassed a backlog of more than half a trillion dollars... [H]ow much of that money paid for actual goods and services delivered isn't known.[54]

    In 2015, a Pentagon consulting firm performed an audit on the Department of Defense's budget. It found that there was $125 billion in wasteful spending that could be saved over the next five years without layoffs or reduction in military personnel. In 2016, The Washington Post uncovered that rather than taking the advice of the auditing firm, senior defense officials suppressed and hid the report from the public to avoid political scrutiny.[55] The Department of Defense failed its fifth audit in 2022, and couldn't account for more than 60% of its $3.5 trillion in assets.[56]

    In the latest Center for Effective Government analysis of 15 federal agencies which receive the most Freedom of Information Act requests, published in 2015 (using 2012 and 2013 data, the most recent years available), the DoD earned 61 out of a possible 100 points, a D− grade. While it had improved from a failing grade in 2013, it still had low scores in processing requests (55%) and their disclosure rules (42%).[57]

    Shortly after the

    terrorist organization.[58][59]

    Related legislation

    The organization and functions of the Department of Defense are in Title 10 of the United States Code.

    Other significant legislation related to the Department of Defense includes:

    See also

    References

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    3. ^ "The World's Biggest Employers". Forbes. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
    4. ^ "DoD Personnel, Workforce Reports & Publications". www.dmdc.osd.mil. Archived from the original on November 3, 2022. Retrieved October 30, 2022.
    5. ^ "U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE > Our Story". www.defense.gov. Archived from the original on October 7, 2018. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
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    23. ^ [1] 10 USC 151. Joint Chiefs of Staff: composition; functions
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    25. ^ 10 U.S.C. § 5033 Archived March 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
    26. ^ 10 U.S.C. § 5043 Archived March 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
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    External links

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