The Department Of Defense 1947 1997

The National Security Act of 1947 established the Department of Defense (named the National Military Establishment between 1947 and 1949) as part of a new national security structure for the United States. Exactly a half century after James V Forrestal took the oath of office as the first secretary of defense, the Department of Defense marked its 50th anniversary on 17 September 1997. This book presents a 50-year history of the evolution of DoD organization and the top leadership of the department. The higher organization of the department has evolved from the small office of the secretary of defense and three special assistants established in 1947 to a formal Office of the Secretary of Defense, now including more than 2,000 persons. As this study shows, developing an effective department-wide organization concerned Forrestal and most of his successors. Major reorganizations took place in 1949, 1953, 1958, and 1986, with important Incremental changes occurring over the years This hook discusses specific organizational issues, such as civil-military relations, the roles and missions of the armed forces, the positions of the service secretaries, and the organization and duties of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, especially its chairman.

The National Security Act of 1947 established the Department of Defense (named the National Military Establishment between 1947 and 1949) as part of a new national security structure for the United States. Exactly a half century after James V Forrestal took the oath of office as the first secretary of defense, the Department of Defense marked its 50th anniversary on 17 September 1997. This book presents a 50-year history of the evolution of DoD organization and the top leadership of the department. The higher organization of the department has evolved from the small office of the secretary of defense and three special assistants established in 1947 to a formal Office of the Secretary of Defense, now including more than 2,000 persons. As this study shows, developing an effective department-wide organization concerned Forrestal and most of his successors. Major reorganizations took place in 1949, 1953, 1958, and 1986, with important Incremental changes occurring over the years This hook discusses specific organizational issues, such as civil-military relations, the roles and missions of the armed forces, the positions of the service secretaries, and the organization and duties of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, especially its chairman.

The National Security Act of 1947 established the Department of Defense (named the National Military Establishment between 1947 and 1949) as part of a new national security structure for the United States. Exactly a half century after James V Forrestal took the oath of office as the first secretary of defense, the Department of Defense marked its 50th anniversary on 17 September 1997. This book presents a 50-year history of the evolution of DoD organization and the top leadership of the department. The higher organization of the department has evolved from the small office of the secretary of defense and three special assistants established in 1947 to a formal Office of the Secretary of Defense, now including more than 2,000 persons. As this study shows, developing an effective department-wide organization concerned Forrestal and most of his successors. Major reorganizations took place in 1949, 1953, 1958, and 1986, with important Incremental changes occurring over the years This hook discusses specific organizational issues, such as civil-military relations, the roles and missions of the armed forces, the positions of the service secretaries, and the organization and duties of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, especially its chairman.

This official history was originally printed in very small numbers in 2002. "Defense's Nuclear Agency, 1947-1997" traces the development of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP), and its descendant government organizations, from its original founding in 1947 to 1997. After the disestablishment of the Manhattan Engineering District (MED) in 1947, AFSWP was formed to provide military training in nuclear weapons' operations. Over the years, its sequential descendant organizations have been the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA) from 1959 to 1971, the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) from 1971 to 1996, and the Defense Special Weapons Agency (DSWA) from 1996 to 1998. In 1998, DSWA, the On-Site Inspection Agency, the Defense Technology Security Administration, and selected elements of the Office of Secretary of Defense were combined to form the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).

A broad historical overview of changing institutional patterns of technological innovation with the Defense Department's major weapons laboratories.

Contents: Intro.: The Post WWII Army; Overview; Chap. 1: The Pentomic Era: The U.S. Army and the Conceptual Challenge of the Nuclear Age; The Army and the ¿New Look¿; The Dual-Capability Conundrum; Kennedy Admin.; Chap. 2: Reorienting the Army ¿ After Vietnam: Nixon Admin. and Defense; The STEADFAST Reorg.; Doctrinal Ferment; Meeting the Army¿s Educational Needs; Towards Army 86; Operational Art and AirLand Battle; Chap. 3: A Strange New World -¿ Army after the Cold War: Impact of the Goldwater-Nichols Act; Army of the 1990s; Doctrinal Revision; The New Louisiana Maneuvers; The Debate Intensifies; Force XXI Campaign; Doctrine as an Engine of Change?; From Quadrennial Review to Quadrennial Review.

Contents: (1) Intro.: The Sources of Weapon Systems Innovation; (2) R&D in the Army: Changing Institutional Patterns of Army R& D after World War II; The Content of R&D in the Arsenal System; The Decline of the Arsenal System; (3) R&D in the Navy: Bureau of Ordnance; Bureau of Aeronautics; Bureau of Ships; From Bureaus and Laboratories to System Commands and Research Centers; (4) R&D in the Air Force: From Army Air Corps to U.S. Air Force, 1907-1950; Growth and Diversification: The Air Research and Development Command, 1950-1961; Reintegration: R&D in the Air Force Systems Command, 1961-1991; Coming Full Circle: Patterns of Organizational Change in Air Force R&D Since 1945; (5) Review and Retrospect. Biblio.