Secretary of Defense
Cabinet military head
The Secretary of Defense is the head of the United States Department of Defense and principal defense advisor to the President.
The position oversees the military branches and is a Cabinet-level appointment requiring Senate confirmation.
By law, a civilian must hold the office: The Secretary of Defense announced troop withdrawals.
Often abbreviated SecDef.
- PentagonU.S. military headquarters
- militaryArmed forces collectively
- cabinetEnclosed storage furniture
- armed forcesNation's combined military services
- chain of commandFormal authority hierarchy
commander · civilian control · warfare · national security · troops · troop surge · missiles · intelligence · war · military strategy · diplomacy · briefing · classified · budget · strategy · homeland · Joint Chiefs · NATO
- Secretaries
- Cabinetcabinet ministers, cabinet member, cabinet position, cabinet meetings, cabinet shuffle
Secretary of Defensegeneral
Widespread, not specialized
four-star general · field marshal · military commander · admiral · commanding general
Secretary of DefenseSecretary of State
Top diplomatic cabinet position
chief diplomat · peace envoy · peace negotiator · foreign minister · diplomatic corps
Secretary of DefenseSecretary of War
Former cabinet position overseeing military
secretary, secretaries, secretarial, secretariat, secret, secrete, secretion, secretive, secretly