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1 1 (November 30, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govejoh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Informning 1h legisIative debate since 1914 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, currently comprising over 2.9 million service members and civilians stationed in 4,800 sites across the United States and around the globe. Congress, in its constitutional role, legislates both authorization and appropriations bills, as well as conducting oversight on all of DOD. The Senate confirms multiple military officers and certain DOD civilian officials. 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; * The Joint Chiefs of Staff and Joint Staff; * The Military Departments; * The Unified Combatant Commands; and * The Defense Agencies. These institutions are described below. The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Title 10 U.S. Code Section 113 specifies that the Secretary of Defense exercises authority, direction and control over DOD. The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) assists the Secretary of Defense in exercising such authority over DOD. They do in a variety of areas, including policy development, planning, resource management, fiscal management, and program evaluation. OSD also helps Updated November 30, 2022 provide civilian oversight of the military services and combatant commands to ensure that the Secretary's and the President's defense objectives are met. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) The Joint Chiefs of Staff is the preeminent military advisory body in U.S. national security establishment. Its membership consists of the six military service chiefs (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, National Guard Bureau, and Space Force), 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, and the Secretary of Defense. According to Title 10, U.S.C., §151, the Chairman is the principal military advisor to the President. The CJCS therefore has statutory responsibility to present his or her 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 CJCS plans, coordinates, and oversees military operations involving U.S. forces, neither the CJCS 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 assists in developing the unified strategic direction of the combatant forces, their operation under unified command, and 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, Air Force, and Space Force, as well as Department of Defense civilians. In practice, the Marines make up about 20% of the number allocated to the Navy. The Military Departments 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. The Space Force is part of the Department of the Air Force. These departments are responsible for training and equipping the military forces utilized by the combatant commands; departments therefore produce DOD's supply of military forces and equipment. Each department is led by a civilian service secretary and supported by a service chief, both confirmed by the Senate. A service chief is a senior military officer designated as the principal military advisor to a departmental secretary for matters relating to a specific armed service. In terms of overall roles and responsibilities, The Army trains and equips forces to provide ready, prompt, and sustained land dominance across the full spectrum of conflict as part of the joint force. The Navy maintains, trains, and equips combat-ready maritime forces capable of

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