U S Department Of Defense Popular Books

U S Department Of Defense Biography & Facts

The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government of the United States charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the U.S. government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces. As of June 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense is the largest employer in the world, with over 1.34 million active-duty service members, including soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and guardians. The Department of Defense also maintains over 778,000 National Guard and reservists, and over 747,000 civilians bringing the total to over 2.87 million employees. Headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., the Department of Defense's stated mission is to provide "the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security".The Department of Defense is headed by the secretary of defense, a cabinet-level head who reports directly to the president of the United States. Beneath the Department of Defense are three subordinate military departments: the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force. In addition, four national intelligence services are subordinate to the Department of Defense: the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the National Security Agency (NSA), the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Other Defense agencies include the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the Defense Health Agency (DHA), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), the Space Development Agency (SDA) and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA), all of which are subordinate to the secretary of defense. Additionally, the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) is responsible for administering contracts for the Department of Defense. Military operations are managed by eleven regional or functional unified combatant commands. The Department of Defense also operates several joint services schools, including the Eisenhower School (ES) and the National War College (NWC). History Faced with rising tensions between the Thirteen Colonies and the British government, one of the first actions taken by the First Continental Congress in September 1774 was to recommend that the colonies begin defensive military preparations. In mid-June 1775, after the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the Second Continental Congress, recognizing the necessity of having a national army that could move about and fight beyond the boundaries of any particular colony, organized the Continental Army on June 14, 1775. This momentous event is commemorated in the U.S. annually as Flag Day. Later that year, Congress would charter the Continental Navy on October 13, and the Continental Marines on November 10. War Department and Navy Department Upon the seating of the 1st U.S. Congress on March 4, 1789, legislation to create a military defense force stagnated as they focused on other concerns relevant to setting up the new government. President George Washington went to Congress to remind them of their duty to establish a military twice during this time. Finally, on the last day of the session, September 29, 1789, Congress created the War Department. The War Department handled naval affairs until Congress created the Navy Department in 1798. The secretaries of each department reported directly to the president as cabinet-level advisors until 1949, when all military departments became subordinate to the Secretary of Defense. National Military Establishment After the end of World War II, President Harry Truman proposed the creation of a unified department of national defense. In a special message to the Congress on December 19, 1945, the president cited both wasteful military spending and interdepartmental conflicts. Deliberations in Congress went on for months focusing heavily on the role of the military in society and the threat of granting too much military power to the executive.On July 26, 1947, Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, which set up a unified military command known as the National Military Establishment, and created the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Council, National Security Resources Board, United States Air Force (formerly the Army Air Forces), and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The act placed the National Military Establishment under the control of a single secretary of defense. The National Military Establishment formally began operations on September 18, the day after the Senate confirmed James V. Forrestal as the first secretary of defense. The National Military Establishment was renamed the "Department of Defense" on August 10, 1949, and absorbed the three cabinet-level military departments, in an amendment to the original 1947 law. The renaming is alleged to be due to the Establishment's abbreviation, NME, being pronounced "enemy".Under the Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1958 (Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 85–599), channels of authority within the department were streamlined while still maintaining the ordinary authority of the Military Departments to organize, train, and equip their associated forces. The Act clarified the overall decision-making authority of the secretary of defense with respect to these subordinate Military Departments and more clearly defined the operational chain of command over U.S. military forces (created by the military departments) as running from the President to the Secretary of Defense, the service chief of the Unified Combatant Commander(s), and then to the unified combatant commander(s). Also provided in this legislation was a centralized research authority, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, eventually known as DARPA. The act was written and promoted by the Eisenhower administration and was signed into law August 6, 1958. Financial discrepancies Reuters reported in 2013 that the Pentagon was the only federal agency that had not released annual audits as required by a 1992 law. According to Reuters, the Pentagon "annually reports to Congress that its books are in such disarray that an audit is impossible". In June 2016, the Office of the Inspector General released a report stating that the Army made $6.5 trillion in wrongful adjustments to its accounting entries in 2015. Organizational structure The Secretary of Defense, appointed by 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 presid.... Discover the U S Department Of Defense popular books. Find the top 100 most popular U S Department Of Defense books.

Best Seller U S Department Of Defense Books of 2024

  • The Profiteers synopsis, comments

    The Profiteers

    Sally Denton

    From the bestselling coauthor of The Money and the Power, the “compelling corporate history” (The National Book Review) and inside story of the Bechtel family and the empire they’v...

  • Defending the Constitution behind Enemy Lines synopsis, comments

    Defending the Constitution behind Enemy Lines

    Robert A. Green

    The story of a silenced minority who put their constitutional oaths before all else to keep our Founding Fathers' great gift of liberty alive. Defending the Constitution Behind Ene...

  • Diversity Leadership in the U.S. Department of Defense synopsis, comments

    Diversity Leadership in the U.S. Department of Defense

    Maria C. Lytell, Kirsten M. Keller, Beth Katz, Jefferson P. Marquis & Jerry M. Sollinger

    This study identifies the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other personal characteristics needed in individuals who will be responsible for implementing strategic diversity plans ...

  • Undaunted synopsis, comments

    Undaunted

    John O. Brennan

    THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER"John Brennan is one of the hardestworking, most patriotic public servants I've ever seen, and our country is better off for it. As president, ...

  • The Plot to Kill King synopsis, comments

    The Plot to Kill King

    William F. Pepper

    Bestselling author, James Earl Ray’s defense attorney, and, later, lawyer for the King family William Pepper reveals who actually killed MLK.William Pepper was James Earl Ray’s law...

  • Optimizing U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense Review of Air Force Acquisitions Programs synopsis, comments

    Optimizing U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense Review of Air Force Acquisitions Programs

    Committee on Optimizing U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense Review of Air Force Acquisition Programs

    The Department of Defense (DOD) spends over $300 billion each year to develop, produce, field and sustain weapons systems (the U.S. Air Force over $100 billion per year).  DOD...

  • Washington Rules synopsis, comments

    Washington Rules

    Andrew Bacevich

    The bestselling author of The Limits of Power critically examines the Washington consensus on national security and why it must changeFor the last half century, as administrations ...

  • The Politics Of Resource Allocation In The U.s. Department Of Defense synopsis, comments

    The Politics Of Resource Allocation In The U.s. Department Of Defense

    Alex Mintz

    This book presents an overview of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) resource allocation issue, considering the period from 1948 to 1980. It describes the major characteristics o...

  • UFOs and The White House synopsis, comments

    UFOs and The White House

    William J. Birnes & Joël Martin

    The author team that wrote the upcoming Skyhorse title Edison vs. Tesla, as well as The Haunting of the Presidents and other titles about the weird, the supernatural, and the unexp...

  • On That Day synopsis, comments

    On That Day

    William M. Arkin

    “A maddening, essential study in misinformation, jingoism, bad intelligence, and other hallmarks of the recent American past.”Kirkus (starred review) Anyone who experienced th...

  • American Cipher synopsis, comments

    American Cipher

    Matt Farwell & Michael Ames

    The explosive narrative of the life, captivity, and trial of Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier who was abducted by the Taliban and whose story has served as a symbol for America's founder...

  • Crimes and Cover-ups in American Politics synopsis, comments

    Crimes and Cover-ups in American Politics

    Donald Jeffries & Ron Paul

    The history that the textbooks left out. For far too long, American history has been left in the unreliable hands of those that author Donald Jeffries refers to as the court histo...

  • Review of the U.S. Department of Defense Air, Space, and Supporting Information Systems Science and Technology Program synopsis, comments

    Review of the U.S. Department of Defense Air, Space, and Supporting Information Systems Science and Technology Program

    Committee on Review of the U.S. Department of Defense

    Since the mid1940s, when Vannevar Bush and Theodore von Karman wrote Science, the Endless Frontier and Toward New Horizons, respectively, there has been a consensus that strong Dep...

  • Budgeting, Financial Management, and Acquisition Reform in the U.S. Department of Defense synopsis, comments

    Budgeting, Financial Management, and Acquisition Reform in the U.S. Department of Defense

    Lawrence R. Jones

    In this book we introduce the basics of the federal budget process, provide an historical background on the foundation and development of the budget process, indicate how defense s...

  • U.S. Department of Defense Contract Spending and the Industrial Base, 2000-2013 synopsis, comments

    U.S. Department of Defense Contract Spending and the Industrial Base, 2000-2013

    Jesse Ellman, Gregory Sanders & Rhys McCormick

    This report analyzes contracting for products, services, and research & development (R&D) by the Department of Defense (DoD) and its key components.

  • Midnight in Samarra synopsis, comments

    Midnight in Samarra

    Frank Gregory Ford & Eleanor Cooney

    The riveting, exclusive true story of an Iraq whistleblower who continues to be betrayed by his country, as told by an international bestselling author. Gregory Ford, an intelligen...

  • Combat Medic Advanced Skills Training Course Materials synopsis, comments

    Combat Medic Advanced Skills Training Course Materials

    Jeffrey Frank Jones & U.S. Department of Defense

    The Combat Medic Advanced Skills Training (CMAST) course was developed to provide the 91W soldier medic with an overview of the stark contrast between garrison and combat trauma ca...

  • U.S. Department of Defense Contract Spending and the Supporting Industrial Base, 2000-2012 synopsis, comments

    U.S. Department of Defense Contract Spending and the Supporting Industrial Base, 2000-2012

    Gregory Sanders

    In a time of austerity, the U.S. Department of Defense has drawn budgetary savings primarily from reductions in privatesector contracting. The 20002012 edition of this report by Na...

  • Review of the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Infrastructure and Aerospace Engineering Disciplines to Meet the Needs of the Air Force and the Department of Defense synopsis, comments

    Review of the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Infrastructure and Aerospace Engineering Disciplines to Meet the Needs of the Air Force and the Department of Defense

    Committee on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Infrastructure and Aerospace Engineering Disciplines to Meet the Needs of the Air Force and the Department of Defense

    The Principal Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition requested that the National Research Council (NRC) review the Air Force's planned acquisition progr...

  • Send Me synopsis, comments

    Send Me

    Marty Skovlund Jr. & Joe Kent

    The extraordinary story of American special operator and trailblazer Shannon Kent, who hunted high value targets on classified missions in the most dangerous locales on earth ...

  • Base Nation synopsis, comments

    Base Nation

    David Vine

    From Italy to the Indian Ocean, from Japan to Honduras, a farreaching examination of the perils of American military bases overseasAmerican military bases encircle the globe. More ...

  • Escaping the Rabbit Hole synopsis, comments

    Escaping the Rabbit Hole

    West Mick

    The Earth is flat, the World Trade Center collapse was a controlled demolition, planes are spraying poison to control the weather, and actors faked the Sandy Hook massacre…. All t...

  • The Complex synopsis, comments

    The Complex

    Nick Turse

    A mindboggling investigation of the allpervasive, constantly morphing presence of the Pentagon in daily lifea realworld Matrix come aliveHere is the new, hip, hightech militaryindu...

  • How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything synopsis, comments

    How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything

    Rosa Brooks

    “A dynamic work of reportage” (The New York Times) written “with clarity and...wit” (The New York Times Book Review) about what happens when the ancient boundary between war and pe...

  • The Ground Truth synopsis, comments

    The Ground Truth

    John Farmer

    From the senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission, a mesmerizing realtime portrayal of that day, why we weren?t told the truth, and why our nation is still at risk. As one of the prim...

  • American Conspiracies and Cover-ups synopsis, comments

    American Conspiracies and Cover-ups

    Douglas Cirignano

    Interviews with bestselling authors and conspiracy experts Jim Marrs, Noam Chomsky, G. Edward Griffin, and Others​ “Those intrepid souls seeking to peer deeper into America's great...

  • Chinese Responses to U.S. Military Transformation and Implications for the Department of Defense synopsis, comments
  • Inside the Five-Sided Box synopsis, comments

    Inside the Five-Sided Box

    Ash Carter

    The twentyfifth Secretary of Defense takes readers behind the scenes to reveal the inner workings of the Pentagon, its vital mission, and what it takes to lead it.   The Penta...