This position was created in 1947 when the Navy, Army, and newly created Air Force were merged into the new National Military Establishment. In the same massive reorganization, the Secretary of the Navy was changed to a non-Cabinet position placed under the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of War was replaced by the Secretary of the Army, also a non-Cabinet position under the Secretary of Defense. In 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense, which remains the current name of the department.
He is assisted by a Deputy Secretary and 5 Under Secretaries in the fields of Acquisition, Technology & Logistics; Comptroller/Chief Financial Officer; Intelligence; Personnel & Readiness; and arguably the most important, Policy. All of these positions require Senate confirmation.
See http://www.defenselink.mil/osd/topleaders.html for information on each position and biographies of the current Deputy Secretary (DepSecDef) and Under Secretaries (USDs).
The Secretary is appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate, and is a member of the Cabinet.
In the same massive reorganization, the Secretary of War was replaced by the Secretary of the Army and, along with the Secretary of the Navy and the new Secretary of the Air Force, became a non-Cabinet position placed under the Secretary of Defense.
Secretary of Defense • Deputy Secretary of Defense
Former United States Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger, speaks at the opening of the 2001 Forbes CEO conference in Singapore.
Caspar Weinberger, a prominent Cold Warrior and USdefensesecretary under president Ronald Reagan, died at the age of 88.
Noting that enlistment and retention rates were low in the all-volunteer US military and that only 60 percent of incoming personnel were high-school graduates, Weinberger also sought to increase pay and support for military personnel as a way of boosting its rolls, instead of reinstituting the draft.
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