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42-669: The USBWL was created after Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson requested the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 1941 to review the feasibility of biological warfare (BW). The following year, the NAS reported that BW might be feasible and recommended that steps be taken to reduce U.S. vulnerability to BW attacks. After that, the official policy of the United States was first to deter the use of BW against U.S. forces and secondarily to retaliate if deterrence failed. Throughout

84-464: A diverse group of USBWL participants ranging from animal caretakers to top scientists. 39°26′8″N 77°25′38″W  /  39.43556°N 77.42722°W  / 39.43556; -77.42722 Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president 's Cabinet , beginning with George Washington 's administration . A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve

126-497: Is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule , thus earning a salary of US$ 246,400, as of October 2024. The longest-serving secretary of defense is Robert McNamara , who served for a total of 7   years, 39 days. Combining his two non-sequential services as the secretary of defense, the second-longest serving is Donald Rumsfeld , who served just ten days fewer than McNamara. The second-longest unbroken tenure

168-497: Is second only to the president in the military hierarchy, its incumbent has sometimes unofficially been referred to as "deputy commander-in-chief". The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the principal military adviser to the secretary of defense and the president; while the chairman may assist the secretary and president in their command functions, the chairman is not in the chain of command. The secretary of state ,

210-540: Is the head of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces , and is a high-ranking member of the federal cabinet . The SecDef's position of command and authority over the military is second only to that of the president of the United States , who is the commander-in-chief . This position corresponds to what is generally known as a defense minister in many other countries. The president appoints

252-605: The American Revolution . The War Department , headed by the secretary of war , was created by Act of Congress in 1789 and was responsible for both the Army and Navy until the founding of a separate Department of the Navy in 1798. Based on the experiences of World War II , proposals were soon made on how to more effectively manage the large combined military establishment. The Army generally favored centralization while

294-651: The Coast Guard when its command and control is transferred to the Department of Defense. Only the secretary of defense (or the president or Congress) can authorize the transfer of operational control of forces between the three military departments ( Department of the Army , the Navy , and the Air Force ) and the eleven Unified Combatant Commands . Because the secretary of defense is vested with legal powers that exceed those of any commissioned officer , and

336-800: The Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation between 1781 and 1789. Benjamin Lincoln and later Henry Knox held the position. When Washington was inaugurated as the first President under the Constitution , he appointed Knox to continue serving as Secretary of War. The secretary of war was the head of the War Department . At first, he was responsible for all military affairs, including naval affairs . In 1798,

378-899: The Defense Superior Service Medal (DSSM), the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (DMSM), the Joint Service Commendation Medal (JSCM) and the Joint Service Achievement Medal (JSAM) are awarded, to military personnel for service in joint duty assignments, in the name of the secretary of defense. In addition, there is the Joint Meritorious Unit Award (JMUA), which is the only ribbon (as in non-medal) and unit award issued to joint DoD activities, also issued in

420-487: The Department of the Navy under the Department of Defense) – authorized to act as convening authority in the military justice system for General Courts-Martial ( 10 U.S.C.   § 822 : article 22, UCMJ ), Special Courts-Martial ( 10 U.S.C.   § 823 : article 23, UCMJ), and Summary Courts-Martial ( 10 U.S.C.   § 824 : article 24 UCMJ). The Secretary of Defense

462-520: The president with the advice and consent of the Senate , is by federal law ( 10 U.S.C.   § 113 ) the head of the Department of Defense, "the principal assistant to the President in all matters relating to Department of Defense", and has "authority, direction and control over the Department of Defense". Because the Constitution vests all military authority in Congress and the president,

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504-405: The secretary general of NATO and offered to the U.S. permanent representative to NATO in recognition of U.S. servicemembers who meet the eligibility criteria specified by NATO. As the head of the department, the secretary of defense is the chief witness for the congressional committees with oversight responsibilities over the Department of Defense. The most important committees, with respect to

546-662: The secretary of the Navy was created by statute, and the scope of responsibility for this office was reduced to the affairs of the United States Army . From 1886 onward, the secretary of war was in the line of succession to the presidency , after the vice president of the United States , the Speaker of the House of Representatives , the President pro tempore of the Senate and the secretary of state . In 1947, with

588-490: The secretary of the treasury , the secretary of defense, and the attorney general are generally regarded as the four most important (and are officially the four most senior and oldest) cabinet officials because of the size and importance of their respective departments. The current secretary of defense is retired general Lloyd Austin , who is the first African American to serve in the position. An Army, Navy, and Marine Corps were established in 1775, in concurrence with

630-485: The under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness , and such recommendations be must approved by the secretary of defense before it can be handed over to the president, who is the final approval authority for the MOH, although it is awarded in the name of Congress . The secretary of defense, with the concurrence of the secretary of state , is the approval authority for the acceptance and wear of NATO medals issued by

672-564: The Army (DA), Department of the Navy (DON) & Department of the Air Force (DAF)), the Defense Agencies and DoD Field Activities , the National Guard Bureau (NGB), and such other offices, agencies, activities, organizations, and commands established or designated by law, or by the president or by the secretary of defense. Department of Defense Directive 5100.01 describes the organizational relationships within

714-619: The Army to become its own branch of service, the United States Air Force . A new title was coined by the Act for the head of the NME: Secretary of Defense. At first, each of the service secretaries maintained cabinet status. The first secretary of defense, James Forrestal , who in his previous capacity as the secretary of the Navy had opposed the creation of the new position, found it difficult to exercise authority over

756-407: The Department of Defense, making it one Executive Department . The position of the deputy secretary of defense , the number two position in the department, was also created at this time. The general trend since 1949 has been to further centralize management in the Department of Defense, elevating the status and authorities of civilian OSD appointees and defense-wide organizations at the expense of

798-578: The JSAM to the achievement medals issued by the services. While the approval authority for DSSM, DMSM, JSCM, JSAM and JMUA is delegated to inferior DoD officials: the DDSM can be awarded only by the secretary of defense. Recommendations for the Medal of Honor (MOH), formally endorsed in writing by the secretary of the military department concerned and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , are processed through

840-480: The Navy had institutional preferences for decentralization and the status quo. The resulting National Security Act of 1947 was largely a compromise between these divergent viewpoints. It renamed the Department of War the Department of the Army , and added both it and the Department of the Navy to a newly established National Military Establishment (NME). The Act also separated the Army Air Forces from

882-611: The SecDef with the advice and consent of the Senate , and is by custom a member of the Cabinet and by law a member of the National Security Council . To ensure civilian control of the military , U.S. law provides that the SecDef cannot have served as an active-duty commissioned officer in the military in the preceding seven years except for generals and admirals , who cannot have served on active duty within

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924-770: The USBWL consisted of various labs and divisions, including: The USBWL was also a parent facility overseeing testing and production centers elsewhere, including: Three deaths related to occupational bio-agent exposures occurred during the USBWL program. (Additionally, an unnamed lieutenant died in a pump explosion in Building 201 in 1943.) The army made details of these deaths public in 1975. The "Fort Detrick Reunion Group" met most years between 1991 and 2008 when they disbanded for lack of participants. When they met at Nallin Pond in 1994, their numbers peaked at 400. They consisted of

966-835: The combatant commanders of the Combatant Commands . All these high-ranking positions, civil and military, require Senate confirmation. The Department of Defense is composed of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the Joint Staff (JS), Office of the Inspector General (DODIG), the Combatant Commands , the Military Departments ( Department of

1008-506: The department and is the foundational issuance for delineating the major functions of the department. The latest version, signed by former secretary of defense Robert Gates in December 2010, is the first major re-write since 1987. The secretary's principally civilian staff element is called the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and is composed of the deputy secretary of defense (DEPSECDEF) and six under secretaries of defense in

1050-968: The entire department, are the two authorizing committees, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), and the two appropriations committees, the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Appropriations Committee . For the DoD intelligence programs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have

1092-445: The establishment of the Department of Defense, see the lists of secretaries of the Navy and secretaries of war prior to 1947.     Democratic     Republican     Independent / Unknown The secretary of defense is sixth in the presidential line of succession , following the secretary of the treasury and preceding the attorney general . On December 10, 2020, President Donald Trump modified

1134-458: The fields of acquisition & sustainment , research & engineering , comptroller/chief financial officer , intelligence , personnel & readiness , and policy ; several assistant secretaries of defense ; other directors and the staffs under them. The name of the principally military staff organization, organized under the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the Joint Staff (JS). The Defense Distinguished Service Medal (DDSM),

1176-486: The military departments and the services within them. The last major revision of the statutory framework concerning the position was done in the Goldwater–Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 . In particular, it elevated the status of joint service for commissioned officers, making it in practice a requirement before appointments to general officer and flag officer grades could be made. As

1218-682: The name of the secretary of defense. The DDSM is analogous to the distinguished services medals issued by the military departments (i.e. Army Distinguished Service Medal , Navy Distinguished Service Medal & Air Force Distinguished Service Medal ), the DSSM corresponds to the Legion of Merit , the DMSM to the Meritorious Service Medal , the JSCM to the service commendation medals, and

1260-566: The order of succession for the office of Secretary of Defense in Executive Order 13963. The order of succession is: It is hereby expressed as the intent of the Congress that the authority granted by this Act is not to be construed as approval by the Congress of continuing appointments of military men to the office of Secretary of Defense in the future. It is hereby expressed as the sense of the Congress that after General Marshall leaves

1302-649: The other branches with the limited powers his office had at the time. To address this and other problems, the National Security Act was amended in 1949 to further consolidate the national defense structure in order to reduce interservice rivalry , directly subordinate the secretaries of the Army , the Navy and the Air Force to the secretary of defense in the chain of command, and rename the National Military Establishment as

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1344-473: The passing of the National Security Act of 1947 , the secretary of war was replaced by the secretary of the Army and the secretary of the Air Force , which, along with the secretary of the Navy, have since 1949 been non-Cabinet subordinates under the secretary of defense . The secretary of the Army's office is generally considered the direct successor to the secretary of war's office although

1386-545: The president of the board, the secretary wore no special insignia. The inspector general, quartermaster general , commissary general, and adjutant general served on the secretary's staff. However, the Army itself under Secretary Henry Knox only consisted of 700 men.     Federalist (4)     Democratic-Republican (8)     Democratic (14)     Whig (5)     Republican (25) United States Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense ( SecDef )

1428-488: The president. The secretary is one of only five or six civilians – the others being the president, the three "service secretaries" (the secretary of the Army , secretary of the Navy , and secretary of the Air Force ), and the secretary of homeland security (when the United States Coast Guard is under the United States Department of Homeland Security and has not been transferred to

1470-557: The previous ten years. Congress can legislatively waive this restriction and has done so three times, for George C. Marshall , James N. Mattis , and Lloyd J. Austin, III . Subject only to the orders of the president, the SecDef is in the chain of command and exercises command and control , for both operational and administrative purposes, over all DoD-administered service branches  – the Army , Marine Corps , Navy , Air Force , and Space Force  – as well as

1512-429: The principal oversight role. The secretary of defense is a statutory member of the National Security Council . As one of the principals, the secretary along with the vice president , secretary of state and the assistant to the president for national security affairs participates in biweekly Principals Committee (PC) meetings, preparing and coordinating issues before they are brought before full NSC sessions chaired by

1554-520: The secretary of defense is a civilian position intended to be independent of the active-duty leadership, a secretary is required to have been retired from service for at least seven (originally ten) years unless a waiver is approved by Congress. Since the creation of the position in 1947, such a waiver has been approved only three times, for Army general George Marshall in 1950, Marine Corps General Jim Mattis in 2017, and retired Army general Lloyd Austin in 2021. The secretary of defense, appointed by

1596-539: The secretary of defense took the secretary of war's position in the Cabinet, and the line of succession to the presidency. The office of Secretary at War was modeled upon Great Britain's secretary at war , who was William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington , at the time of the American Revolution. The office of Secretary at War was meant to replace both the commander-in-chief and the Board of War , and like

1638-594: The secretary of defense. Some of those high-ranking officials, civil and military (outside of OSD and the Joint Staff) are: the secretary of the Army , secretary of the Navy , and secretary of the Air Force , Army chief of staff , commandant of the Marine Corps , chief of naval operations , Air Force chief of staff , chief of space operations , and chief of the National Guard Bureau and

1680-411: The statutory authority of the secretary of defense is derived from their constitutional authorities. Since it is impractical for either Congress or the president to participate in every piece of Department of Defense affairs, the secretary of defense and the secretary's subordinate officials generally exercise military authority. As the head of DoD, all officials, employees and service members are "under"

1722-632: The war years, Dr. Ira L. Baldwin , professor of bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison , was scientific director of the Laboratories. The USBWL were the United States' front-line defense against BW during the first half of the Cold War . In 1969, the USBWL ceased to exist when President Richard Nixon disestablished all offensive BW studies and directed the destruction of all stockpiles of BW agents and munitions. At Fort Detrick,

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1764-527: Was Caspar Weinberger's, at 6   years, 306 days. The shortest-serving secretary of defense is Elliot Richardson , who served 114 days and then was appointed U.S. attorney general amid the resignations of the Watergate Scandal . (This is not counting deputy secretaries of defense William P. Clements and William Howard Taft IV , who each served a few weeks as temporary/acting secretary of defense). For precursors to this position prior to

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