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 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 the three
military departments (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 Department of Defense is
based in The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia outside
Washington, DC, across the Potomac River. 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), and the newly created Department of the Air
Force. The department was formed in order to reduce interservice
rivalry which was believed to have reduced military
effectiveness during World War II.
It includes the Army, Navy, Air
Force, Marines, as well as non-combat agencies such as the
National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
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. Prior to the creation of DHS, the Coast Guard was
under the control of the Department of Transportation. The Coast
Guard has not been formally militarized since World War II,
although it has participated in various military and law
enforcement operations over the years.
The DoD's annual budget is
roughly $425 billion (~$1,600 per capita), which does not
include tens of billions more in supplemental expenditures
allotted by Congress throughout the year.
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 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.
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
investigations of the Department of Defense.
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