US Defense Ministers: List. Deputy Ministers of Defense of the United States. Ashton Carter, US Secretary of Defense: biography, photo, duties

The Ministry of Defense of the United States of America is the executive authority in the country. He manages issues of national security, coordination of political decisions in the field of protection, as well as management of these matters. The head of the department is the US Secretary of Defense. What are his duties and how is the commander-in-chief of the Pentagon appointed?

History of the Ministry

The office was established in the summer of 1947, uniting in the end all military units of the country under one roof. After the end of the Second World War, the United States began a competitive struggle between various military forces to attract investment and the right to be called the best. The Ministry of Defense was instructed to stop this struggle and coordinate all the actions together.

This competition manifested itself primarily in the policy of the first head of the department - D. Forrestal. He, who had previously commanded the naval forces, insisted on large infusions into the construction of aircraft carriers, which continued disputes, but already inside the organization.

In the suburb of Washington, Arlington is the headquarters of the ministry. Everyone recognizes it in the form of a pentagon, from which the name Pentagon has come.

Features of taking office

The US Secretary of Defense (photo is present in the article) is appointed by the president of the country, and this nominee can enter office only after the approval of the Senate. There is also a law on the basis of which it is possible to begin the duties of a minister only seven years after serving in the Armed Forces of the country.

The department was established in 1947, the first minister under the presidency of Harry Truman was James Forrestal.

This post is very significant for the country as a whole. According to the order of inheritance of the post, in case of disability of the President, the US Secretary of Defense is the sixth person in the state. In mid-February 2015, Ashton Carter was appointed to this post. He is a Republican, like Barack Obama.

The headquarters of the Ministry is located in the Pentagon.

Departments subordinated to the Minister

Directly to Ashton Carter are the following deputies:

• Deputy Minister of Defense of the first level;
• Deputy Minister of Defense for Technical Support;
• Deputy Minister of Defense for Military Policy Issues;
• Deputy Minister of Defense for Personnel Affairs, head of intelligence.

All of them are called upon to protect the state. Absolutely all US deputy defense ministers must be approved by the Senate. In America there is an organ of command of the armed forces - the Joint Staff Chiefs Committee. He also reports directly to the minister in the six commanders-in-chief.

The second largest person in the department is the First Deputy Minister. Today this position is occupied by Robert Work. According to the law, he has the right to act as the Secretary of Defense of the United States. Along with Ashton Carter, he solves the problems at any level, is his right hand.

The authorized national command

The US Secretary of Defense, together with the incumbent president of the country, is the authorized national command. This is the management of the so-called nuclear button. In this case, the use of a strategic weapon can be approved not by one of them, but only by both at the same time. No one else in the government can do this.

Thus, a person in this position is entrusted with serious security obligations not only in his own country, but throughout the world.

Biography of Ashton Carter

To date, Ashton Carter is the US Secretary of Defense. His biography, strangely enough, is not connected with the service in the army, nor with the work in the troops of NATO.

Initially, Ashton Carter studied physics at Yale University, where he also received a bachelor's degree in history. He then taught at Harvard and Stanford and advised Goldman Sachs on politics.

Afterwards, he received the post of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Foreign Policy Issues and Problems. This post he got in the administration of Bill Clinton, and he served there from 1993 to 1995. In 2009, already under President Obama, Carter returned to the same Ministry for the post of Deputy Logistics and Supply, and in 2011 was promoted to First Deputy Minister.

Now Ashton Carter is 61 years old, he is married to Stephanie Carter.

US Defense Ministers

Since 1947, the US Department of Defense has been replaced by a large number of chiefs. Each of them tried to contribute to the development of the army. To date, quite objectively , the US armed forces can be considered the most powerful army on the planet. All this thanks to an incredible budget and financial injections. Most experts are inclined to think that this bombast can only serve as an instrument of pressure on other states.

The US defense ministers (listed below) often developed strategies and plans for reforming the army. The first Minister of Defense was James Forrestal. He is known for insisting on the creation of a large number of aircraft carriers. However, at his post he did not meet with support in this matter. Some of his colleagues believed that the passion for the sea remained with him since the command of the navy. His death still raises many questions, but the official version is suicide. Below is the list of ministries:

• James Forrestal (from 1947 to 1949);
• Luis Arthur Johnson (from 1949 to 1950);
• George Marshall (from 1950 to 1951);
• Robert Lovett (from 1951 to 1953);
• Charles Wilson (from 1953 to 1957);
• Neil Makelrooy (from 1957 to 1959);
• Thomas Gates (from 1959 to 1961);
• Robert McNamara (from 1961 to 1968);
• Clark Clifford (from 1968 to 1969);
• Melvin Layard (from 1969 to 1973);
• Eliot Richardson (about four months in 1973);
• James Schlesinger (from 1973 to 1975);
• Donald Rumsfeld (from 1975 to 1977);
• Harold Brown (from 1977 to 1981);
• Caspar Weinberger (from 1981 to 1987);
• Frank Karluchi (from 1987 to 1989);
• Richard Cheney (from 1989 to 1993);
• Espin Forest (from 1993 to 1994);
• William Parry (from 1994 to 1997);
• William Cohen (from 1997 to 2001);
• Donald Rumsfeld (from 2001 to 2006);
• Robert Geets (from 2006 to 2011);
• Leon Panet (from 2011 to 2013);
• Chuck Heigl (from 2013 to 2015);
• Ashton Carter (from 2015 to the present).

Today's head of the Pentagon is the twenty-fifth in a row.

Statements by the last Minister of Defense

Another 2014 showed that the deterioration of relations between the US and Russia is inevitable. The successor to Chuck Heigl Ashton Carter (US Secretary of Defense) continued the policy of containing Russia in economic and political plans.

He allows himself tough statements against opponents, this applies to his direct deputies. The stumbling block in 2014 was the situation in Ukraine, where after the change of power by pressure the territory of the Crimea withdrew to Russia, and also a confrontation in the South-East of the country, which never got an outcome. Another problem between the US and Russia was the situation in Syria.

According to the head of the Pentagon, which he made in August 2015 on CNN, Russia behaves like an opponent of the United States, which was not the case before. Proceeding from this, he concluded that America is obliged to restrain the Russian Federation economically.

Conflicts and performance evaluation

The conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, which began long before the entry of E. Carter into office, served as another problem affecting the interests of the two countries. The terrorist threat to the whole world, which originated in the territories of a fragmented Syria and Iraq under the name of IGIL (the organization is legally banned in Russia), led to the fact that first the US and its allies began bombing in these territories, and then Russia joined with the official support of the Syrian authorities.

On this issue in the media different opinions are expressed, which are expressed by the Russian President V.V. Putin and US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.

Military experts of various parties have repeatedly expressed the opinion that, with serious funding and the presence of a large number of army units, the United States Defense Ministry is not able to coherently command the armed forces. This was evident in previous military operations. In 1986, the Goldwater-Nicholls law was passed, designed to redistribute responsibilities and subordinate all troops to one command. This fact greatly strengthened the army.

Nevertheless, departments and staff command to this day are learning how to work together. This is not so easy with a large number of army units and a complex structure of the ministry itself.

Declaring Russia a threat

Perhaps the most pressing issue was the announcement of Russia as the main threat to the United States. This statement was made by the deputy head of the Pentagon, Joseph Dunford, at the Congress in July 2015. Earlier, US President Barack Obama spoke in this way. The growth of military power, the presence of nuclear weapons - these are serious aspects, but the Pentagon could not forgive Russia for disagreeing with America's policy. The crisis has intensified due to incredible information pressure from both Russia and the US in the world.

In October 2015, the head of the US Air Force made similar statements. Deborah Lee James said that, as a nuclear power, Russia is considered the main threat to the country. In 2016, Barack Obama added to this list also China.

The US Secretary of Defense is a very serious position. It depends not only on politics on one continent, but also on the whole world. His statements are listened to and most of all are expected to warm up in the relations of world leaders.