What the Department of Defense Is: The Department of Defense (DoD) oversees the Army, Navy (includes Marine Corps) and Air Force, and develops and executes defense policy under the command of the President. Although the various branches of the Armed Services were created in the 1780's, the Department itself wasn't created until 1949. Before that, the three armed forces commanders sat on the President's Cabinet themselves.
The DoD is led by the Secretary of Defense, who reports to the President as Commander-in-Chief. Reporting to the Secretary are not only the three military departments, but also:
- The Joint Chiefs of Staff, a steering committee consisting of the leaders of the armed forces,
- Nine Unified Combatant Commands, which are the armed forces leaders for each geographical area,
- The DoD Inspector General, which reports to the Secretary of Defense on waste and fraud,
- Fifteen Defense Agencies, and seven DoD Field Activities, which provide administrative and logistic support for the DoD.
What the Department of Defense Does: The Department of Defense provides the military forces needed to protect the U.S. It uses 600,000 facilities, 250,000 vehicles, 13,000 aircraft and 500 ships.
DoD is also the nation's largest employer, with over 1.4 million active duty and 720,000 civilian personnel. More than 450,000 employees are stationed overseas in 163 countries. Nearly 3 million additional citizens receive income from DoD, either as National Guard and Reserve forces (826,000), or veterans and their families (2 million).
How the Department of Defense Affects the U.S. Economy: With an allocation of nearly $600 billion in 2006, the Defense Department is the single largest
government agency, and receives over half the discretionary
expenditure in the budget. It has $1.4 trillion in assets and $2 trillion in liabilities. Three-quarters of DoD’s total liability is retirement and medical benefits for veterans, which is mostly unfunded until 2033. (Source: DoD Fiscal Year 2006 Performance and Accountability Report)
The size of the DoD’s budget stimulates the economy in the short term. However, it also threatens the economy in the long term by increasing the budget deficit, and thereby the U.S. debt.
How the Department of Defense Affects You: In addition to the impact on the economy, DoD affects you directly if you are among the 5 million
employees or beneficiaries. Nearly everyone knows someone who has personally been affected by DoD's activities. Much of how the DoD affects you must be implied, since it protects you from something that hasn't happened yet, such as further attacks on the U.S. or greater attacks on U.S. interests in other countries.
