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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.
Retrieved on 2007-04-07.. 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 StructureUnited States Secretary of Defense
United States 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 General Counsel
Defense Legal Services Agency
Office of Inspector General
Defense Criminal Investigative Service
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
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 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
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
Tricare Management Activity
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
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
Washington Headquarters Services
Military Departments
United States Secretary of the Army
Department of the Army including the U.S. Army
United States Secretary of the Navy
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
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
Chief of Naval Operations
United States Naval Observatory
Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force
Commandant of the United States Marine Corps
Unified Combatant Commands
Africa Command (AFRICOM) (Not yet operational as of May, 2007)
Central Command (CENTCOM)
European Command (EUCOM)
Joint Forces Command (JFCOM)
Northern Command (NORTHCOM)
Pacific Command (PACOM)
Southern Command (SOUTHCOM)
Special Operations Command (SOCOM)
Strategic Command (STRATCOM)
Transportation Command (TRANSCOM)
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.
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