Talk:United States Department of Defense

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Contents 1 Philip Brotherton 2 Lasers 3 Interpretation in the introduction 4 Missing trillions 5 Relationship to Coast Guard 6 Linux 7 DOD Structure Diagram 8 Dod Cyber Crime Center

[edit] Philip Brotherton

Who is "Phillip Brotherton" and since when did he become head of the DoD? Thanx 68.39.174.91 00:29, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Lasers

What is the part about lasers in there? Is that really necessary?

[edit] Interpretation in the introduction

Removed text about the DoD picking on oil-rich countries. While not strictly false, a bit too much POV at least for the introductory blurb.

[edit] Missing trillions

I have heard that The DoD "loses" 1.1 trillion a year, does any one have any sources for this? pestofarian 19:33, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

I think you're talking about the Department of Defense, and before that the Department of War, litterally losing several trillion dollars in funds since the end of the Second World War. [1] It's not that the money has been wasted, it's just that nobody can seem to find it.

Also the budget for DoD is only around $400 billion, hard for it to loose more money than its entire budget... --Loqi T. 21:18, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I'll let someone else incorporate this into the article, but there is a problem with the DoD keeping track of exactly how it has spent its money. Some estimates put the amount that cannot be properly accounted for at $2.3 trillion. However, this is a figure that has accumulated over many years, not a yearly deficit. Here's part of a speech that Donald Rumsfeld gave on the issue on September 10, 2001:

"The technology revolution has transformed organizations across the private sector, but not ours, not fully, not yet. We are, as they say, tangled in our anchor chain. Our financial systems are decades old. According to some estimates, we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions. We cannot share information from floor to floor in this building because it's stored on dozens of technological systems that are inaccessible or incompatible."

Here is the full text of the speech [2]

Because the speech was given the day before 9/11, a Google search on this topic will generally return a ton of conspiracy theory drivel. However, there are a couple of notable media reports on this:

• CBS News [3]

• San Francisco Chronicle [4]

There may be others among the garbage, I can't be bothered to plough through any more, though. I also don't currently feel able to edit the article to include this information. Perhaps someone else can? -- Maccy69 05:27, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Relationship to Coast Guard

The section that states, "In wartime, the Department of Defense also has authority over the Coast Guard" is not as black and white as it seems.

The Coast Guard shall enforce or assist in the enforcement of all applicable Federal laws on, under, and over the high seas and waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; shall engage in maritime air surveillance or interdiction to enforce or assist in the enforcement of the laws of the United States; shall administer laws and promulgate and enforce regulations for the promotion of safety of life and property on and under the high seas and waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States covering all matters not specifically delegated by law to some other executive department; shall develop, establish, maintain, and operate, with due regard to the requirements of national defense, aids to maritime navigation, ice-breaking facilities, and rescue facilities for the promotion of safety on, under, and over the high seas and waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; shall, pursuant to international agreements, develop, establish, maintain, and operate icebreaking facilities on, under, and over waters other than the high seas and waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; shall engage in oceanographic research of the high seas and in waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and shall maintain a state of readiness to function as a specialized service in the Navy in time of war, including the fulfillment of Maritime Defense Zone command responsibilities

Upon the declaration of war or when the President directs, the Coast Guard shall operate as a service in the Navy, and shall so continue until the President, by Executive order, transfers the Coast Guard back to the Department of Homeland Security. While operating as a service in the Navy, the Coast Guard shall be subject to the orders of the Secretary of the Navy who may order changes in Coast Guard operations to render them uniform, to the extent he deems advisable, with Navy operations.

This is where it gets a bit sticky...it's not necessarily automatic that when war is declared that the entire Coast Guard is automatically shifted to DOD. If that were true, all of the Coast Guard would currently be working under DOD in the Iraq war, which is not the case.

Whenever the Coast Guard operates as a service in the Navy: (a) applicable appropriations of the Navy Department shall be available for the expense of the Coast Guard; (b) applicable appropriations of the Coast Guard shall be available for transfer to the Navy Department; (c) precedence between commissioned officers of corresponding grades in the Coast Guard and the Navy shall be determined by the date of rank stated by their commissions in those grades; (d) personnel of the Coast Guard shall be eligible to receive gratuities, medals, and other insignia of honor on the same basis as personnel in the naval service or serving in any capacity with the Navy; and (e) the Secretary may place on furlough any officer of the Coast Guard and officers on furlough shall receive one half of the pay to which they would be entitled if on leave of absence, but officers of the Coast Guard Reserve shall not be so placed on furlough.

The issue is somewhat sticky, although for a slightly different reason. The regulations clearly make it the case that the Coast Guard is under DOD control following a declaration of war. However, here's the catch. The United States has not declared war since that second world war. This means, that while it is not true that the Coast Guard would be under the DOD in Iraq (since it's not a "declared war"), in the reality of the modern era, the only situation in which the coast guard is likely to be transferred to the DOD is "when the President directs"... Lordjeff06 04:04, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Linux

Something in the article should mention the use of Linux in the DoD. 165.230.129.135 17:50, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

• Or just link here: Use_of_Free_and_Open_Source_Software_(FOSS)_in_the_U.S._Department_of_Defense

If I may quote the 25th letter of the alphabet, why? There is little, if any, point to posting what kinds of software they use (within DoD, I can literally think of a dozen or so operating systems that are used off of the top of my head). Why not point out what pencils they use? What pens? paper? computer monitors? desks? chairs? etc? It's pointless BQZip01 06:17, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] DOD Structure Diagram

I think there is a mistake in the dod diagram as in the diagram there are two dept. of the army one in charge of the army and one in charge of the airforce. And in the diagram there is no dept. of the air force. (Added by ???)

There is an error. Please fix 03:17, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Dod Cyber Crime Center

Shouldn't there be an article for the Cyber Crime Center [5] -it is a major part of the DoD. It monitors and helps track hackers, recover information, etc. Herenthere (Talk) 02:23, 11 June 2007 (UTC)