ABSTRACT
The Department of Defense (DoD), formerly known as the War Department, was created by the National Security Act of 1947 (P.L. 80-235, 61 Stat 496) in July of that year (National Security Act of 1947 [1947]). Signed by President Harry Truman, the act essentially merged the War Department and the Navy Department into what was initially known as the National Military Establishment, headed by the Secretary of Defense. Simultaneously, this act also established an independent US Air Force (USAF) as a coequal executive department to the army and navy. Two years later, in 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense. For further background information on the establishment of the DoD, refer to the document, “Toward Independence: The Emergence of the U.S. Air Force 19451947” (Wolk, 1996).
