Within the Department of Defense, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) is responsible for managing, directing, andexecuting the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Program. The BMD program's objective is to: first, develop and deploy increasinglycapable Theater Missile Defenses (TMD) to meet the existing missile threat to deployed U.S. and allied forces; second, as a hedgeagainst the emergence of long-range ballistic missile threats, develop options to deploy a National Missile Defense (NMD) for theUnited States; and third, continue to support research on more advanced ballistic missile defense technologies to keep pace with thethreat and improve the performance of theater and NMD systems.

The Executive Secretary provides direct administrative support to the Secretaryand Deputy Secretary of Defense.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency(DARPA) is the central research and developmentorganization for the Department of Defense (DoD). Itmanages and directs selected basic and applied researchand development projects for DoD, and pursuesresearch and technology where risk and payoff are bothvery high and where success may provide dramaticadvances for traditional military roles and missions anddual-use applications.

The Defense Contract Audit Agency, under the authority, direction, and control of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), is responsible for performing all contract audits for the Department of Defense, and providing accounting and financial advisory services regarding contracts and subcontracts to all DoD Components responsible for procurement and contract administration.

We provide responsive, professional finance and accounting services to the Department of Defense.

The Defense Information Systems Agency is transforming the way Department of Defense users move, share, and use information. As the manager of the Defense Information Infrastructure (DII), DISA is integrating hardware and software and constructing a common operating environment to sustain warfighters need for information anytime, anywhere. The pillars of the DII are the Defense Information System Network, the Defense Message System, the Global Command and Control System, and the Global Combat Support System. DISA is also helping protect against, detect and react to threats to both its information infrastructure and information sources. Additionally, DISAis aggressively working with DOD Agencies, the military departments, and other federal agencies, and industry.

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) became operational on 1 October 1961 as the Nation's primaryproducer of foreign military intelligence. It filled a critically important need for a central intelligence manager forthe Department of Defense (DoD) to support the requirements of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs ofStaff (JCS), and the military forces, as well as other policymakers.

The Defense Logistics Agency is a logistics combat support agency whose primary role is to provide supplies and services to America's military forces worldwide. Our 41,900 skilled and dedicated civilian and military staff work around the clock, in all 50 states, about 27 countries, at over 500 sites located close to, and partnered with, our customers and suppliers.

Security Cooperation (SA) is founded on a tradition of cooperation between the United States and other sovereignnations with similar values and interests in order to meet common defense goals. It consists of a group of programs authorizedby the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, and the Arms Export Control Act, as amended, and relatedstatutes by which the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) or commercial contractor provide defense articles and services infurtherance of national policies and objectives.

The Defense Security Service (DSS) was established on September 18, 1972, with the objective of achieving economicsavings through the consolidation of personnel security investigations within the Department of Defense (DoD). Militarydepartments were directed to transfer certain military and civilian manpower resources to the newly created DefenseInvestigative Service, now known as the Defense Security Service.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, or DTRA. This new Agencyconsolidates a variety of disparate, yet related,Defense Department functions to deal moreeffectively with the threats posed by nuclear,chemical or biological weapons. In the post-ColdWar environment, a unified, consistent approachto deterring, reducing and countering the threatof weapons of mass destruction is vitally important to maintainingour national security. By pooling the resources, expertise andcapabilities of former agencies and offices within the Departmentof Defense, we will ensure the United States is ready and able torespond to nuclear, chemical or biological weapons threats. As welook to the future of American national security in the 21stcentury, no other task is as challenging or as demanding.

Provides links to sites related to maps and geographic data.

The DARPA Information Awareness Office (IAO) will imagine, develop, apply, integrate, demonstrate and transition information technologies, componentsand prototype, closed-loop, information systems that will counter asymmetric threats by achieving total information awareness useful for preemption; national security warning; and national security decision making.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff consist of the Chairman, the Vice Chairman, the Chief of Staff of theArmy, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and the Commandantof the Marine Corps. The collective body of the JCS is headed by the Chairman (or the ViceChairman in the Chairman's absence), who sets the agenda and presides over JCS meetings.Responsibilities as members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff take precedence over duties as the Chiefs ofMilitary Services. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the principal military adviser to thePresident, Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council (NSC), however, all JCSmembers are by law military advisers, and they may respond to a request or voluntarily submit, throughthe Chairman, advice or opinions to the President, the Secretary of Defense, or NSC

The National Security Agency (NSA) is a presidential creation, established in response to a Top Secretdirective issued by President Truman in October 1952. In this directive. the President designated the Secretary of Defense asExecutive Agent for the nation's cryptologic organization, tasked with making and breaking codes and ciphers. In addition, NSA is one ofthe most important centers of foreign language analysis and research and development within the government. NSA is ahigh-technology organization, working on the very frontiers of communications and data processing. The expertise andknowledge it develops provide the government with systems that deny foreign powers knowledge of US capabilities andintentions.