The Defense Department should be renamed the Department of Warfare.

[arcadian]

Per haps then we wouldn't use it as much. Just changing "war" to "defense" makes all of the United States military actions "defensive actions", even the ones where we drop several hundreds of tons of munitions from B-52 bombers on remote agrarian villages in foreign lands. Let's face it. When has that body ever been about the actual defense of the United States? The answer is never. It's always been about procuring investment in foreign countries for America's financial and political elite.

And while we are on the subject of Cabinet level misnomers, to add insult to injury, they came up with the Department of Homeland Security. Now, I'm a bit slow at times, but wouldn't you think that these two entities, Defense and Homeland Security, have the same the same goal in mind?

The fact is that neither of them really function as their names would suggest. Neither truly keep us safe, but both drone on and on how they do just that. It's propaganda. The Department of Defense actually wages offensive actions against foreign countries and Department of Homeland Security creates insecurity in the citizenry by having them always wondering if their phone calls and emails are being read by a low level government bureaucrats in a basement in Laurel, Maryland.

Mr Orwell, claw yourself up and out of that grave, dust your bones off and take a bow. We are living in the Dystopia you envisioned.

[WI_DEM]

1. Well, it was called the "War Department" before it was called "The Dept of Defense"

and I'm not sure that name stopped any wars.

[Captain Hilts]

2. The War Dept. became the Dept. of the Army, NOT the Defense Dept.

The Dept. of Defense was created from scratch.

My mother was there when it happened. She worked for the last Sec. of War, Kenneth C. Royale, who had defended the Nazi saboteurs.

[atreides1]

5. Here's some history

The United States Department of War, sometimes also called the War Office, was the department of the United States government's executive branch responsible for the operation and maintenance of land (and later air) forces from 1789 until September 18, 1947, when it became part of the National Military Establishment, renamed on August 10, 1949 the Department of Defense. The War Department also had responsibility for the young nation's naval affairs until the establishment of the Navy Department in 1798.


Organization
The War Department was headed by the Secretary of War, who was a member of the President's Cabinet.

The National Security Act of 1947 merged the Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment, and on the same day the Act was signed, Executive Order 9877 assigned primary military functions and responsibilities, with the former War Department functions divided between the new Army and Air Force Departments.





During 1945, specific plans for the proposed DoD were put forth by the Army, the Navy, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a special message to Congress on December 19, 1945, President Harry Truman proposed creation of a unified Department of National Defense. A proposal went to Congress in April 1946, but was held up by the Naval Affairs Committee hearings in July 1946, which raised objections to the concentration of power in a single department. Truman eventually sent new legislation to Congress in February 1947, where it was debated and amended for several months.


DoD was created in 1947 as a national military establishment with a single secretary as its head to preside over the former Department of War (founded in 1789) and Department of the Navy (founded in 1798; formerly the Board of Admiralty, founded in 1780). The Department of the Air Force was also created as a new service at the same time (it had been part of the War Department as the United States Army Air Force), and made part of DoD. DoD was created in order to reduce interservice rivalry which was believed to have reduced military effectiveness during World War II.


On July 26, 1947, Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, which set up the National Military Establishment to begin operations on September 18, 1947, the day after the Senate confirmed James V. Forrestal as the first Secretary of Defense. The Establishment had the unfortunate abbreviation "NME" (the obvious pronunciation being "enemy"), and was renamed the "Department of Defense" (abbreviated as DOD or DoD) on August 10, 1949; in addition, the Secretary of Defense was given greater authority over three of the branches of the military (Army, Navy, and Air Force). Prior to the creation of the National Military Establishment / Department of Defense, the Armed Forces of the United States were separated into different cabinet-level departments without much central authority. The Marine Corps remained as a separate service under the Department of the Navy, and the Coast Guard remained in the Department of the Treasury, ready to be shifted to the Navy Department during time of declared war (as it was in both world wars).

[WI_DEM]

9. It all happened around the same time (1947) so I guess I was a little confused.

but technically I think I'm right:

The United States Department of War, sometimes also called the War Office, was the department of the United States government's executive branch responsible for the operation and maintenance of land (and later air) forces from 1789 until September 18, 1947, when it became part of the National Military Establishment, renamed on August 10, 1949 the Department of Defense. The War Department also had responsibility for the young nation's naval affairs until the establishment of the Navy Department in 1798.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_War

[Captain Hilts]

11. It IS confusing!

That's why you'll win a lot of bar bets knowing that the War Dept didn't become the Defense Dept.

[arcadian]

4. Why do you think they changed it?

Pure propaganda move. War doesn't sound as flower as defense. Like I said, it's a way to hide offensive motives in the public eye. When was the last time we invaded a country and it wasn't for the purposes of national security? Even though the U.S. is the most powerful country on the planet and has been essentially since the end of World war II. Grenada. Little tiny Grenada for goodness sakes.

[WI_DEM]

10. I doubt changing it back to the Dept of War will cut down on any of our military experiments

it really depends on who the president is.

[ixion]

3. I would cut the military funding and call them the department of psychotic barbarian idiots

and then put them out in the desert and tell the to STFU.

[Captain Hilts]

7. You're demonstrating your ignorance very clearly. nt

[ixion]

12. well...

not so much ignorance as anger at years of military waste and general BS. But for those folks who fail to catch even blatant sarcasm, I'll be sure and use the :sarcasm: emoticon next time.

[bdab1973]

14. I'm already in a desert, but thank you.

Psychotic and barbarian...interesting, never viewed myself in that light. Perhaps I should shave my head and grunt more often.

[JohnyCanuck]

6. Well in a sense the name is appropriate

After all, one of their primary roles is to to "defend" the obscene corporate profits of the the military-industrial complex from the attacks of "liberal do-gooders" who see the US military budget as a supreme waste of the planet's increasingly scarce resources.

[valerief]

8. Well said! nt

[anonymous171]

13. How about just "The Department of War," like it was originally named.

[bdab1973]

15. Ummmm...did you read the thread...any?