United States Deputy Secretary of Defense

Deputy Secretary of Defense of the United States of America
Seal of the Department of Defense
Flag of the Deputy Secretary of Defense
Incumbent Robert O. Work since May 1, 2014
U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Secretary of Defense
Style	Mister Deputy Secretary The Honorable (formal address in writing)
Reports to	Secretary of Defense
Seat	The Pentagon, Arlington County, Virginia, U.S.
Appointer	The President with the advice and consent of the Senate
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	10 U.S.C. § 132
Inaugural holder	Stephen Early
Formation	1949 see article for further dates
Succession	1st in SecDef succession
Salary	Executive Schedule, Level II
Website	defense.gov

The Deputy Secretary of Defense (acronym: DEPSECDEF) is a statutory office (10 U.S.C. § 132) and the second-highest-ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America.

The Deputy Secretary is the principal civilian deputy to the Secretary of Defense, and is appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Deputy Secretary, by statute, is designated as the DoD Chief Management Officer and must be a civilian, at least seven years removed from service as a commissioned officer on active-duty at the date of appointment.

The Deputy Secretary of Defense position is currently held by Robert O. Work, a retired Marine colonel who previously served as Under Secretary of the Navy from 2009 to 2013.

History

Public Law 81-36, 2 April 1949, originally established this position as the Under Secretary of Defense, however Public Law 81-2 16, August 10, 1949, a.k.a. the 1949 Amendments to the National Security Act of 1947, changed the title to Deputy Secretary of Defense. Former Assistant to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Stephen Early, became the first officer holder when he was sworn-in on May 2, 1949.

Public Law 92-596, October 27, 1972, established a Second Deputy Secretary of Defense position, with both deputies performing duties as prescribed by the Secretary of Defense. The second deputy position was not filled until December 1975. Robert F. Ellsworth, serving from December 23, 1975 until 10 January 1977, was the only one to ever hold that office. Public Law 95-140, 21 October 1977, the law establishing two Under Secretaries of Defense, abolished the second deputy position.

Responsibilities

By delegation, the Deputy Secretary of Defense has full power and authority to act for the Secretary of Defense and to exercise the powers of the Secretary of Defense on any and all matters for which the Secretary is authorized to act pursuant to statute or executive order. The Deputy Secretary is first in the line of succession to the office of Secretary of Defense.

The typical role of the Deputy Secretary of Defense is to oversee the day-to-day business and lead the internal management processes of the $500 billion plus Department of Defense, that is as its chief operating officer and chief management officer; while the Secretary of Defense as the chief executive officer focuses on the big issues of the day, ongoing military operationas, high-profile congressional hearings, attending meetings of the National Security Council, and directly advising the President on defense issues.

The Deputy Secretary, among the office's many responsibilities, chairs the Senior Level Review Group (SLRG), before 2005 known as Defense Resources Board (DRB), which provides department-wide budgetary allocation recommendations to the Secretary and the President. Traditionally, the Depauty Secretary has been the civilian official guiding the process of the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR).

The Deputy Secretary of Defense chairs the Special Access Program Oversight Committee (SAPOC), which has oversight responsibilities and provides recommendations with respect to changes in status of the Department's Special Access Programs, for either the Deputy Secretary Defense or the Secretary of Defense to make.

List of Deputy Secretaries of Defense

No.	Image	Name	Term of Office			Secretaries of Defense serving under:	President appointed by:
			Began	Ended	Days of Service
1		Stephen Early	2 May 1949 10 August 1949	9 August 1949 30 September 1950		Louis A. Johnson George Marshall	Harry S. Truman
2		Robert A. Lovett	4 October 1950	16 September 1951		George Marshall
3		William Chapman Foster	24 September 1951	20 January 1953		Robert A. Lovett
4		Roger M. Kyes	2 February 1953	1 May 1954		Charles E. Wilson	Dwight D. Eisenhower
5		Robert B. Anderson	3 May 1954	4 August 1955
6		Reuben B. Robertson, Jr.	5 August 1955	25 April 1957
7		Donald A. Quarles	1 May 1957	8 May 1959		Charles E. Wilson Neil H. McElroy
8		Thomas S. Gates	8 June 1959	1 December 1959		Neil H. McElroy
9		James H. Douglas, Jr.	11 December 1959	24 January 1961		Thomas S. Gates Robert McNamara
10		Roswell Gilpatric	24 January 1961	20 January 1964		Robert McNamara	John F. Kennedy
11		Cyrus Vance	28 January 1964	30 June 1967			Lyndon B. Johnson
12		Paul Nitze	1 July 1967	20 January 1969		Robert McNamara Clark Clifford
13		David Packard	24 January 1969	13 December 1971		Melvin R. Laird	Richard Nixon
14		Kenneth Rush	23 February 1972	29 January 1973
15		William P. Clements, Jr.	30 January 1973	20 January 1977		Elliot Richardson James R. Schlesinger Donald Rumsfeld
17	75px	Charles W. Duncan, Jr.	31 January 1977	26 July 1979		Harold Brown	Jimmy Carter
18		W. Graham Claytor, Jr.	24 August 1979	16 January 1981
19		Frank Carlucci	4 February 1981	31 December 1982		Caspar Weinberger	Ronald Reagan
20		W. Paul Thayer	12 January 1983	4 January 1984
21		William Howard Taft IV	3 February 1984	22 April 1989		Caspar Weinberger Frank Carlucci Dick Cheney
22		Donald J. Atwood Jr.	24 April 1989	20 January 1993		Dick Cheney	George H. W. Bush
23		William J. Perry	5 March 1993	3 February 1994		Les Aspin	Bill Clinton
24		John M. Deutch	11 March 1994	10 May 1995		William J. Perry
25		John P. White	22 June 1995	15 July 1997		William J. Perry William Cohen
26		John J. Hamre	29 July 1997	31 March 2000		William Cohen
27		Rudy de Leon	31 March 2000	1 March 2001		William Cohen Donald Rumsfeld
28		Paul Wolfowitz	2 March 2001	13 May 2005		Donald Rumsfeld	George W. Bush
29		Gordon R. England	13 May 2005 4 January 2006	3 January 2006 11 February 2009		Donald Rumsfeld Robert Gates
30		William J. Lynn III	12 February 2009	5 October 2011		Robert Gates Leon Panetta	Barack Obama
31		Ashton B. Carter	6 October 2011	4 December 2013		Leon Panetta Chuck Hagel
Acting		Christine Fox	5 December 2013	1 May 2014		Chuck Hagel
32		Robert O. Work	1 May 2014	Incumbent		Chuck Hagel Ashton Carter

See also

• Defense Acquisition Board
• Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee
• Deputy's Advisory Working Group, a panel chaired by the Deputy Secretary of Defense
• Packard Commission

References

• Deputy Secretary of Defense position profile at Prunes Online

External links

• defense.gov