Department of Defense, U.S. (DoD)

Executive branch of the U.S. government responsible for coordinating and supervising the agencies and functions of the government relating to military affairs and national security. Based in the Pentagon, the Department of Defense (DoD) is the U.S. government's largest agency, employing more than 2 million people and maintaining a budget of $400 billion. The Department of Defense includes the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and other, noncombat 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.

One of the world's largest employers, the Department of Defense has 1.4 million active-duty military personnel, 698,000 civilians, 1.2 million people in reserve forces, and more than 2 million retirees and families receiving benefits. It operates some 600,000 buildings and structures in more than 6,000 locations in more than 146 countries.

With its fiscal-year 2005 budget of $400 billion, not including supplemental funding for war, the Department of Defense is also a major economic force. In its budget request for 2005, the department stated that its spending priorities included $35 billion over seven years to restructure the army into lighter, more deployable war-fighting units; $2.1 billion over six years to increase chemical and biological protection for troops; $4.1 billion for special forces, adding 200 civilian and 1,200 military personnel; $1.4 billion to convert 6,400 military positions into jobs that can be done by civilians or contractors; and $1.9 billion to begin to close bases recommended by the upcoming Base Realignment and Closure Commission. President George W. Bush has asked for a nearly 5% increase for the department's fiscal-year 2006 budget to $419.3 billion.

Additionally, the Department of Defense is a chief contributor to the U.S. economy, paying thousands of companies for research, development, testing, and evaluation of equipment. In 2004, the department paid its top 100 contractors almost $30 billion for products and services. Among its largest contractors are Lockheed Martin Corporation, Boeing Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Raytheon Company, and General Dynamics Corporation. It also funds research at many U.S. universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University.

Establishment of the Dod

The National Security Act of 1947 created the predecessor to the Department of Defense, the National [Page 198]Military Establishment, by combining the Departments of War and Navy and the newly created Department of the Air Force. The department was formed under President Harry S. Truman in order to reduce interservice rivalry, which was believed to have reduced military effectiveness during World War II.

The National Security Act mandated a major reorganization of the foreign-policy and military establishments of the U.S. government. The National Military Establishment became the Department of Defense when the act was amended in 1949. The amendment to the act also made the secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force—who were made cabinet members by the act of 1947—subordinates of the secretary of defense. The act, as amended, stipulates that the secretary of defense, a presidential appointee and cabinet member, supervises the entire military.

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