The
Department of Defense is America's oldest and largest government agency. With
our military tracing its roots back to pre-Revolutionary times, the Department
of Defense has grown and evolved with our nation. Today, the Department,
headed by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, is not only in charge of the military,
but it also employs a civilian force of thousands. With over 1.3 million men and
women on active duty, and 684,000 civilian personnel, we are the nation's largest
employer. Another 1.1 million serve in the National Guard and Reserve forces.
More than 2 million military retirees and their family members receive benefits.
The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps
were established in 1775, in concurrence with the American Revolution. The War
Department was established in 1789, and was the precursor to what is now the Department
of Defense. One year later, in 1790, the Coast Guard (part of Homeland
Security in peactime) was established. This was followed by the founding of the
Department of the Navy in 1798. The decision to unify the different services
under one Department led to the creation of the National Military Establishment
in 1947. This establishment would replace the War Department, which converted
to the Department of the Army. | That
same year, the U.S. Air Force was established followed by the founding of the
Department of the Air Force. Finally, the three military branches, Army,
Navy, and Air Force, were placed under the direct control of the new Secretary
of Defense, confirmed by Senate In 1949, an amendment to the National Security
Act further consolidated the national defense structure by withdrawing cabinet-level
status from the three Service secretaries. The National Military Establishment
was then renamed the Department of Defense.
The mission of the Department of Defense
is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and to protect the security
of our country. We are war-fighters first and as such, have no peers. We
engage in:
- War-fighting
- Humanitarian Aid
- Peacekeeping
-
Disaster Relief
- Homeland Security |
