About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (January 24, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govbdxy0001 and id is 1 raw text is: FF. p\w -- , gnom go mppm qq\ , q I aS 11LULANJILiN, Updated January 24, 2020 Defense Primer: The Department of Defense The Department of Defense (DOD) was established after World War II through the 1947 National Security Act. At the time, some, including President Truman, took the view that the different components of the U.S. military had been insufficiently integrated to wage World War II effectively. The intention of the 1947 Act was therefore to create, for the first time, an integrated institution that combined the Departments of War and Navy, and to establish a policy architecture for overseeing the newly reorganized military apparatus. Over time, DOD has grown into one of the largest bureaucracies in the world, comprising over 3 million employees stationed across the United States and around the globe. One of the lessons which have most clearly come from the costly and dangerous experience of this war is that there must be unified direction of land, sea and air forces at home as well as in other parts of the world where our Armed Forces are serving. We did not have that kind of direction when we were attacked four years ago-and we certainly paid a high price for not having it. President Harry S. Truman, Message to Congress, December 19, 1945. DOD's purpose today is to provide the President with the military forces needed to deter war and to protect the security of the country. It does so through five primary sets of institutions, each representing thousands of people and often hundreds of specific offices: * The Office of the Secretary of Defense, which helps the Secretary plan, advise, and carry out the nation's security policies as directed by both the Secretary of Defense and the President. * The Joint Chiefs of Staff and Joint Staff, which collectively, through the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, provides advice to the President, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and the Secretary of Defense on military matters. * The Military Departments, which train and equip their personnel to perform warfighting, peacekeeping and humanitarian/disaster assistance tasks. * The Unified Combatant Commands, which deploy troops and exercise military power on behalf of the President and the Secretary of Defense with the advice of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Defense Agencies, sometimes called DOD's fourth estate, which provide or manage specific capabilities for the department, such as logistics or security cooperation. According to the DOD website, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) assists the Secretary of Defense in several areas: policy development, planning, resource management, fiscal management, and program evaluation. OSD also provides civilian oversight of the military services and combatant commands to ensure that the Secretary and the President's defense objectives are met. The Joint Chiefs of Staff is the preeminent military advisory body in U.S. national security establishment. Its membership consists of the five military service chiefs (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and National Guard Bureau), the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), and the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (VCJCS). The JCS regularly convenes to formulate and provide its best military advice to the President, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and the Secretary of Defense. According to Title 10, U.S. Code, § 151, the Chairman is the principal military advisor to the President. Chairmen therefore have statutory responsibility to present their counsel as well as any dissenting views from other members of the JCS to senior leaders in the U.S. national security establishment. Of note, although the Chairman plans, coordinates, and oversees military operations involving U.S. forces, neither the Chairman nor the JCS has a formal role in the execution of military operations a role instead assigned to the unified combatant commanders. The CJCS is supported by the Joint Staff, which assist in developing the unified strategic direction of the combatant forces, their operation under unified command, and for their integration into an efficient team of land, naval, and air forces. The Joint Staff' is composed of approximately equal numbers of officers from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. In practice, the Marines make up about 20% of the number allocated to the Navy (http://www.jcs.mil/About). There are three military departments: the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Marine Corps, mainly an amphibious force, is part of the Department of the Navy. DOD is also reportedly proposing the establishment of another military department focused on space, subject to congressional approval. These departments are tasked with training and equipping military forces to be utilized by the combatant commands; departments are therefore responsible for

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most