Department+of+Defense

="To coordinate and supervise all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and military."= = = = = = = =__Current Leaders of DOD__: =

Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff - General James E. Cartwright
=__Major Components__:=

__Department of the Army__ - headed by the Secretary of the Army, which is responsible for manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, installations, environmental issues, weapons systems and equipment acquisition, communications, and financial management within the United States Army.

__Department of the Navy__ - headed by the Secretary of the Navy, whose responsibilities are to conduct all the affairs of the Department of the Navy, including: recruiting, organizing, supplying, equipping, training, mobilizing, and demobilizing. It also provides technical and administrative support to the United States Marine Corps. as well as the Navy.

__Department of the Air Force__ - headed by the Secretary of the Air Force, who is responsible for running day-to-day and administrative affairs in the Air Force.

=__Agencies__:=

__Missile Defense Agency__ - to develop, test and prepare for deployment of a missile defense system

__Pentagon Force Protection Agency__ - United States Government agency staffed by sworn federal police officers, civilian criminal investigators, and CRBN (Chemical, Radioactive, Biological, Nuclear) technicians, as well as non-sworn civilian anti-terrorism physical security personnel, and is responsible for the protection of the Pentagon.

__Defense Intelligence Agency__ - to provide timely and objective military intelligence to warfighters, policymakers, and force planners.

__National Security Agency__ - to collect and analyze foreign security agencies information using cryptography, which involves hiding government information and decoding foreign government information.

__National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency__ - collects, analyzes, and describes geospatial (physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth) intelligence for national security.

__Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency__ - responsible for the funding and development of new technologies for the United States Military.

=__History__=

The United States Department of Defense or formerly know as the National Military Establishment, was created in 1947 by former President Harry Truman in response to World War II. Truman wanted a more orderly and effective way of military action in the government, due to the rivalry between each military branch during the war. The DoD started out as the National Military Establishment (NME) with one single secretary to supervise the actions of the Department of War and the Department of the Navy. It wasn't until 1949 that the National Military Establishment was renamed to the Department of Defense.

=__Current Issues__:=

1. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=54175 Fred W. Baker III, American Forces Press Service, Apr. 30, 2009

__Overview__: This article is about the recent Taliban in surge into Pakistan, whose main objective is to find and seize Pakistani military forces nuclear weapons, which may include intercontinental missiles. It also tells of how the US fits into the issue, and how the US government plans on reacting to this issue.

2. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=54169 Sgt. Mark Winkler, American Forces Press Service, May 1, 2009

__Overview:__ This article is ensuring the reader that the United States is influencing other countries military forces, through military tactics and procedures. Afghani issues have mostly fallen into the hands of Germany's military, who is carrying out the US's same procedures that it used when dealing with Afghanistan and is a complete success so far.

3. http://exposingliberallies.blogspot.com/2009/05/petraeus-on-taliban-push-into-pakistan.html Debra Moore, May 2, 2009

__Overview__: This article is solely dedicated to how the United States military is planning to react to the increase in Taliban forces in Pakistan. General Petraeus says that the next two weeks are critical to whether the Pakistani government will survive these recent attacks. Petraeus also includes that the next two weeks actions by the Taliban will decide the United States course of action into Pakistan, if any at all.