Everything about The United States Department Of Defense totally explained
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 building near
Washington, D. C., 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
Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA), 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 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 doesn't include tens of billions more in supplemental expenditures allotted by Congress throughout the year, particularly for the
war in Iraq. It also doesn't include expenditures by the
Department of Energy on nuclear weapons design and testing.
In wartime, the Department of Defense 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 hasn't 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.
The Pentagon, in
Arlington County,
Virginia across the
Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is the headquarters of the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense is protected by the
Pentagon Force Protection Agency which ensures law enforcement and security for The Pentagon and various other jurisdictions throughout the
National Capital Region (NCR).
Command Structure
The command structure of the Department of Defense is defined by the
Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 (PL 99-433), signed into law by
President Ronald Reagan on
October 1,
1986. The Act reworked the command structure of the United States military, introducing the most sweeping changes to the Department since it was established in the
National Security Act of 1947.
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. Each service is responsible for organizing, training and equipping military units for the commanders of the various
Unified Combatant Command.
National Command organizational chart
Components
United States Secretary of Defense
The
United States Naval Observatory falls under the Chief of Naval Operations. 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.
Unified Combatant Commands
There are nine, soon to be ten
Unified Combatant Commands; five (soon to be six) regional and four functional. United States Africa Command became initially operational in October of 2007.
Until 2007, five geographical commands were given responsibilities for United States military operations in various areas of the world as shown on the following map.
| The Five Geographic Commands |
|---|
| |
Beginning in 2007, a new
geographical command for Africa was authorized. This proposed significant changes to the areas of responsibility for other adjacent geographical commands as shown in the accompanying graphic.
Expenditures
United States Department of Defense for fiscal year 2007 is:
| Total Funding |
$439.3 Billion |
| Operations and maintenance |
$152.2 Bil. |
| Military Personnel |
$110.8 Bil. |
| Procurement |
$84.2 Bil. |
| Research, Development, Testing & Evaluation |
$73.2 Bil. |
| Military Construction |
$12.6 Bil. |
| Family Housing |
$4.1 Bil. |
| (The War on terror, Iraq, Afghanistan are not included) |
The United States and its closest allies are responsible for approximately two-thirds of global military spending (of which, in turn, the U.S. is responsible for the vast majority). Military spending accounts for 19% of the United States' federal budget, and approximately half of its federal
discretionary spending, which comprises all of the U.S. government's money not accounted for by pre-existing obligations.
(External Link
)
However, in terms of per capita spending, the U.S. ranks third behind
Israel and
Singapore.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in 2003 the United States spent approximately 47% of the world's total military spending of US $956,000,000,000.
As a percentage of its GDP, the United States spends 4.06% on military, ranking it 28th in the world. This is higher by percent than France's 2.6%, and lower than Saudi Arabia's 10%. This 3.7% is low relative to the United States' past 60-some years.
Also, since it's an all-volunteer force and since most jobs within it require high degrees of technical skill and personnel retention, the United States armed forces have dramatically higher personnel costs, both military and civilian, compared to the militaries of countries which use
conscription, many of which have far more
troops than the United States. However, only China has more standing troops than the United
States.
Current issues
On
February 26,
2002, the Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General has reported that DOD hasn't and won't account for $1.1 trillion of "unsupported accounting entries". 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.
The military's analysis of the missile strike on a dead U.S. spy satellite has revealed no sign of danger from debris, including no hazard from the satellite's fuel tank, a Pentagon spokesman said
February 22 2008.The launched missile successfully destroyed the fuel tank of an inoperable spy satellite, U.S. military officials said
February 25,
2008.
In fall
2006 the U.S. Defense Department accidentally shipped ballistic missile components instead of helicopter batteries to
Taiwan, it was reported on
March 25 2008. The parts were
1960s technology, designed for use with
Minuteman ballistic missiles. The missile components were first shipped from
F.E. Warren Air Force Base in
Wyoming to
Hill Air Force Base in
Utah in
2005.
On April 20, 2008,
The New York Times published an exposé accusing the U.S. Department of Defense of running a
propaganda "
message machine" to spread the administration's
talking points on
Iraq by briefing retired military commanders for
network television and
cable television appearances, where they were presented as independent analysts.
Military buildup
To meet the growing demands in the Middle East and around the world, Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates proposed to the President to increase the overall size of the military by approximately 92,000 troops over the course of five years. Specifically, the proposal calls for an Army troop cap of 545,000 to 550,000 active duty soldiers and a troop cap of 202,000 active duty Marines. The total active duty force of the United States after the buildup will be about 1,479,000.
There have also been calls to increase the sizes of the other branches of the military to match the increase in the Marines and Army.
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 104-132Further Information
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