Why Is The Department Of Defense Created

Department of Defense
The Department of Defense is an executive branch department of the federal government of the United States that works with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government that deal with national security and the US Armed Forces. The DoD is the largest employer in the world with more than two million employees involved in various careers. Throughout this paper I will discuss what exactly is the Department of Defense and why it was created.
The Department of Defense is responsible for protecting the United States by providing a national defense which includes all four branches of the armed services: Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. Also, multiple sub-agencies that help produce weapons and supplies that the military units use on foreign nations.
The United States Marine Corps also known as USMC is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for combined-arm task forces on land, at sea and in the air. The Marine Corps plays a huge role in being the first force on the ground in most conflicts. The USMC has been attached to the U.S. Department of the Navy since 1834 and they work closely with naval forces on things such as training and transportation. According to Today's Military, “Today, 184,249 Marines are stationed around
the world at all times, ready to deploy quickly whenever and wherever needed”.
The United States Army is the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces and they are responsible for land-based military operations and providing ground forces for American military war operations. The Army consists of foot soldiers also known as infantry, and soldiers who operate tanks and weapons. Men and woman in the army also can complete other tasks such as engineering, medical care, etc. With the United States Army being the largest branch, allgov.com states that, “Army forces deployed overseas currently number about 196,248”. The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. The United States Navy has over 320,000 men and women on active duty and over 100,00 in the Navy Reserve. The US Navy is responsible for the projection of US sea power across the globe through the use of cruisers, battleships, destroyers, submarines, etc.
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed forces and they are responsible for flying. However, only a small number of the men and women in the Air Force actually fly the planes. Most work on flight support missions, protecting bases, guarding missile sites, etc. According to the US Department of Defense.gov, “The Department of Defense was created with a mission to provide military forces needed to stop war and to protect the security of our country”. The department’s headquarters is at the Pentagon in Washington D.C.
The Department of Defense represents the largest organization in the U.S. federal government and contains a budget of more than half a trillion dollars, used to maintain defense of the United States. The DoD is led by the Secretary of Defense, Ashton B. Carter, which is a cabinet-level position and his job is to report directly to the president of the United States. Under the DoD are three subordinate military departments: the United States Department of the Army, the United States Department of the Navy, and the United States Department of the Air Force. Along with these there are four national intelligence services lower than the DoD: the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the National Reconnaissance Office. There are more defense agencies that are known as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Defense Logistics Agency, the Missile Defence Agency, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, all of these are controlled by the Secretary of Defense.
The Department of Defense was created by the National Security Act of 1947 by combining the Departments of War and Navy being called the National Military Establishment; it became the Department of Defense when the act was amended in 1949. The National Security Act was created to promote national security for the United States. According to American Government Power and Purpose, “The creation of the Department of Defense by legislation enacted between 1947 and 1949 was an effort to unify the two historic military departments, the War Department and the Navy Department, and integrate them into a new department, the Air Force Department. Real unification did not occur, however. Instead, the Defense Department added more pluralism to national security” (316). The DoD was created with intentions of it providing support and defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, ensure the security of the United States, and uphold and advance national policies and interests of the United States.
The Department of Defense’s main problem relates to its budget.
All of the spending escalates as its need for military personnel escalates. For example, according the American Government Power and Purpose, “President Clinton’s long list of proposed military-base closings, a major part of his budget cutting drive for 1993, caused a firestorm of opposition even in his own party, with some of the opposition coming from member of Congress who otherwise prominently favored significant reductions in the Pentagon budget”(316). What this means is that there was an emphasis on jobs rather than the strategy and policy resulting in using the military spending for political reasons to support
him.
To conclude, the Department of Defense is responsible for providing the military forces needed to fight in the war and provide national security for the United States of America. The military forces are the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. Each one has different responsibilities but the men and women in all of them risk their lives by working together to make sure that the people of the United States stay safe and protect the land of the free.