Thomas Glancy

 Formed August 10, 1949  Headed by the US Secretary of Defense  Headquarters: The Pentagon, Virginia  Employees: 700,000 civilian 1,418,542 military 1,100,000 reserve  Budget: US$553 billion (2012 fiscal year)  Highest allocated level of budgetary resources Almost half the annual discretionary budget

 Department of Defense is the U.S. federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the United States armed forces.  The DoD has three subordinate departments:  Department of the Army  Department of the Navy  United States Marine Corps  Department of the Air Force

 Congress creates War Department in 1789 and the Navy Department in 1798  President Harry Truman proposed creation of a unified department of state defense, citing both wasteful military spending and inter-departmental conflicts.  National Security Act of 1947 Set up unified command known as "National Military Establishment” Created the: Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Council, National Security Resources Board, United States Air Force (formerly the the Army Air Forces) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. All departments now under control of a single Secretary of Defense  National Military Establishment was renamed the "Department of Defense" in 1949

 The President exercises his authority as “Commander in Chief” through the Secretary of Defense.  The Department of Defense is traditionally divided into four main branches: the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military departments, and the Unified Combatant Commands.

 A Unified Combatant Command is composed of forces from at least two Military Departments and has a broad and continuing mission  They are organized either on a geographical basis (known as "Area of Responsibility", AOR) or on a functional basis.

 In Fiscal Year 2010 DoD budgeted spending accounted for 21% of the U.S. Federal Budget, and 53% of federal discretionary spending.  The United States ranks second in terms of per capita military spending  In the 2010 United States federal budget, the DoD was allocated a budget of $533.7 billion 2010 DoD Financial Report shows DoD total budgetary resources for fiscal year 2010 were $1.2 trillion.