Ibican Department of Defense
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 18 September 1701 (as War Department) |
| Type | Executive department |
| Jurisdiction | Ibican federal government |
| Headquarters | Casey Howard Defense Administration Building Willmington, West Monroe, Ibica |
| Employees | 732,079 (civilian) 1,300,000 (active duty military) 826,000 (National Guard and reserve): 2.86 million total (2018) |
| Annual budget | $686.1 billion (2019) - Discretionary |
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The Ibican Department of Defense (DoD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national security and the Ibican Armed Forces. The DoD is one of the largest employers in the world, with nearly 1.3 million active-duty service members (soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen) as of 2016. More employees include over 826,000 National Guard and Reservists from the armed forces, and over 732,000 civilians bringing the total to over 2.8 million employees. Headquartered at the Casey Howard Defense Administration Building in Willmington, the DoD'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 Ibica. 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, three national intelligence services are subordinate to the Department of Defense: the National Defense Intelligence Service (NDIS), the [[National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGIA), and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Other Defense agencies include the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the Defense Health Agency (DHA), and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), all of which are subordinate to the Secretary of Defense. Additionally, the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) delivers actionable acquisition intelligence, from factory floor to the warfighter. Military operations are managed by eleven regional or functional Unified combatant commands. The Department of Defense also operates several joint services schools.
Organizational structure
The Secretary of Defense, appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, is by federal law 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, 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.
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, the Defense Agencies and Department of Defense 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.
Office of the Secretary of Defense
The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is the secretary and his/her deputy's (mainly) civilian staff.
OSD is the principal staff element of the Secretary of Defense in the exercise of policy development, planning, resource management, fiscal and program evaluation and oversight, and interface and exchange with other Federal Government departments and agencies, foreign governments, and international organizations, through formal and informal processes. OSD also performs oversight and management of the Defense Agencies and Department of Defense Field Activities.
National intelligence agencies
Several defense agencies are members of the Ibican Intelligence Community. These are national-level intelligence services that operate under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense but simultaneously fall under the authorities of the Director of National Intelligence. They fulfill the requirements of national policy makers and war planners, serve as Combat Support Agencies, and also assist non-Department of Defense intelligence or law enforcement services such as the Ibican Federal Intelligence Service and the Ibican Investigations Agency.
The military services each have their own intelligence elements which are distinct from but subject to coordination, by national intelligence agencies under Department of Defense. Department of Defense manages the nation's coordinating authorities and assets in disciplines of signals intelligence, geospatial intelligence, and measurement and signature intelligence, and also builds, launches and operates the Intelligence Community's satellite assets. Department of Defense also has its own human intelligence service, which contributes to the FIS's human intelligence efforts while also focusing on military human intelligence priorities. These agencies are directly overseen by the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.
Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, National Security Council and the president on military matters. The composition of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is defined by statute and consists of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (VCJCS), Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman (SEAC), the Military Service Chiefs from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force, in addition to the Chief of National Guard Bureau, all appointed by the president following Senate confirmation. Each of the individual Military Service Chiefs, outside their Joint Chiefs of Staff obligations, works directly for the Secretary of the Military Department concerned: the Secretary of the Army, Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of the Air Force.
The Joint Staff (JS) is a headquarters staff at the Defense Administration Building made up of personnel from all four services that assist the Chairman and Vice Chairman in discharging their duties, and managed by the Director of the Joint Staff (DJS) who is a Lieutenant General or Vice Admiral.
Military Departments
There are three Military Departments within the Department of Defense:
- the Department of the Army, which the Ibican Army is organized within.
- the Department of the Navy, which the Ibican Navy and the Ibican Marine Corps are organized within. (And sometimes the Ibican Coast Guard, too)
- the Department of the Air Force, which the Ibican Air Force is organized within.
The Military Departments are each headed by their own secretary (i.e., Secretary of the Army, Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of the Air Force), appointed by the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate. They have legal authority to conduct all the affairs of their respective departments within which the military services are organized. The secretaries of the Military Departments are (by law) subordinate to the Secretary of Defense and (by SecDef delegation) to the Deputy Secretary of Defense.
Secretaries of Military Departments, in turn, normally exercise authority over their forces by delegation through their respective Service Chiefs (i.e., Chief of Staff of the Army, Commandant of the Marine Corps, Chief of Naval Operations, and Chief of Staff of the Air Force) over forces not assigned to a Combatant Command.
Secretaries of Military Departments and Service Chiefs do not possess operational command authority over Ibican troops, and instead, Military Departments are tasked solely with "the training, provision of equipment, and administration of troops."
Unified Combatant Commands
A Unified combatant command is a military command composed of personnel/equipment from at least two Military Departments, which has a broad/continuing mission.
These Military Departments are responsible for equipping and training troops to fight while the Unified Combatant Commands are responsible for actual operational command of military forces. Almost all operational forces are under the authority of a Unified Command.
During military operations, the chain of command runs from the president to the Secretary of Defense to the combatant commanders of the Combatant Commands.
Ibica currently has eleven Combatant Commands, organized either on a geographical basis (known as "area of responsibility", AOR) or on a global, functional basis:
- Ibica Central Command (CENTCOM)
- Ibica Strategic Command (ISTRATCOM)
- Ibica Special Operations Command (ISOCOM)
- Ibica Transportation Command (ITRANSCOM)
- Ibica Cyber Command (ICYBERCOM)
- Ibica Space Command (ISPACECOM)
Freedom of Information Act processing performance
In the latest Center for Effective Government analysis of 15 federal agencies which receive the most Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, published in 2015 (using 2012 and 2013 data, the most recent years available), the DoD earned a D− by scoring 61 out of a possible 100 points, i.e. did not earn a satisfactory overall grade. While it had improved from a failing grade in 2013, it still had low scores in processing requests (55%) and their disclosure rules (42%).