Misplaced Pages

#221778

87-570: As the stockpile of U.S. unitary (live agent) chemical weapons began to show troubling leakage, the Department of Defense (DoD) became acutely aware of the safety hazard to military personnel and public backlash this could generate. It is now known that the Soviets experienced the same and likely worse leakage issues with their unitary live agent weapons. With this in mind, the Pentagon insisted that it needed

174-470: A General Accounting Office (GAO) report pointed out numerous flaws in the program the U.S. Senate moved to effectively kill the binary chemical weapons program, including the BIGEYE bomb. In 1989 President George H. W. Bush announced that the U.S. would retain the option to produce such binary weapons. At the time of his announcement, 1992 was the earliest date BIGEYES were expected to be deployed. The BIGEYE

261-639: A Unified Command Plan —a frequently updated document (produced by the DoD), which lays out the Command's mission, geographical/functional responsibilities, and force structure. During military operations, the chain of command runs from the president to the secretary of defense to the combatant commanders of the Combatant Commands. As of 2019 , the United States has eleven Combatant Commands, organized either on

348-427: A $ 106 billion subtotal (the so-called "fourth estate" agencies such as missile defense, and defense intelligence, amounting to 16% of the defense budget), He will re-deploy to the modernization of hypersonics, artificial intelligence, and missile defense. Beyond 2021 the 27th secretary of defense is projecting the need for yearly budget increases of 3 to 5 percent to modernize. The Department of Defense accounts for

435-488: A binary chemical weapons program to counter and deter a Soviet Union or third-world chemical attack threat. The U.S. Army Chemical Corps was reactivated in 1976 to assess and deal with this threat, and with it came the increased desire to acquire a retaliatory chemical capability in the form of much safer binary chemical weapons. Initially, the United States was in Strategic Arms Limitation Talks with

522-534: A bombing range in San Bernardino County , as well as 19,000 acres (7,700 ha) along the station's southwest boundary. The Bureau of Land Management said that DoD needs could change in future decades and that it is a popular recreation area with trail riding, campsites, and hunting, and an important wildlife corridor , especially for the threatened desert tortoise. In July 2019, two large earthquakes struck Southern California; both had epicenters within

609-665: A centralized research authority, the Advanced Research Projects Agency , eventually known as DARPA . The act was written and promoted by the Eisenhower administration and was signed into law on August 6, 1958. The Secretary of Defense , appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate , is by federal law ( 10 U.S.C.   § 113 ) the head of the Department of Defense, "the principal assistant to

696-447: A geographical basis (known as " area of responsibility ", AOR) or on a global, functional basis: Department of Defense spending in 2017 was 3.15% of GDP and accounted for about 38% of the budgeted global military spending – more than the next 7 largest militaries combined. By 2019, the 27th secretary of defense had begun a line-by-line review of the defense budget; in 2020 the secretary identified items amounting to $ 5.7 billion, out of

783-534: A new proving ground for aviation ordnance . Caltech's Charles C. Lauritsen and then U.S. Navy Commander Sherman E. Burroughs worked together to find a site that would meet both their needs. In the early 1930s, an emergency landing field had been built by the Works Progress Administration in the Mojave Desert near the small town of Inyokern, California. Opened in 1935, the field was acquired by

870-620: A single command - the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) of the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). At the same time, the physical plant at China Lake was designated as a Naval Air Weapons Station and became the host of the NAVAIR Weapons Division, performing the base-keeping functions. In 1982, the community area of China Lake, including most of the base housing, was annexed by

957-470: A test suspension and subsequent significant design improvements, vastly better weapons function and reliability results were achieved. Problems the Navy encountered with the BIGEYE included excessive pressure build-up, questions about the lethality of the chemical mixture resulting from variable mix times, and overall reliability concerns. Scientists debated the efficacy of the binary weapons program, especially since

SECTION 10

#1733093441222

1044-483: A wingspan of 1 ft 5.25 in (438.1 mm). The BIGEYE was not planned to have any internal guidance, propulsion or autopilot systems (hence its "glide bomb" designation). The 25+ year old, on-again off-again BIGEYE bomb program was plagued with problems and controversy from its outset. Much of the controversy was based on analysis by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Also criticized

1131-471: Is a dry lake . Its name comes from Chinese prospectors harvesting borax from the lake bed, approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of Paxton Ranch . The operation was known locally as "The Little Chinese Borax Works". Amid World War II , adequate facilities were needed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) for test and evaluation of rockets. At the same time, the Navy needed

1218-513: Is a military command composed of personnel/equipment from at least two Military Departments, which has a broad/continuing mission. These military departments are responsible for equipping and training troops to fight, while the Unified Combatant Commands are responsible for military forces' actual operational command. Almost all operational U.S. forces are under the authority of a Unified Command. The Unified Commands are governed by

1305-746: Is a parent agency of the following defense agencies: Several defense agencies are members of the United States Intelligence Community . These are national-level intelligence services that operate under the Department of Defense jurisdiction but simultaneously fall under the authorities of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence . They fulfill the requirements of national policymakers and war planners, serve as Combat Support Agencies , and also assist and deploy alongside non-Department of Defense intelligence or law enforcement services such as

1392-555: Is alleged to be due to the Establishment's abbreviation, NME, being pronounced "enemy". Under the Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1958 ( Pub. L.   85–599 ), channels of authority within the department were streamlined while still maintaining the ordinary jurisdiction of the Military Departments to organize, train, and equip their associated forces. The Act clarified the overall decision-making authority of

1479-467: Is an executive branch department of the federal government of the United States charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the U.S. government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces . As of November 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense is the second largest employer in the world after India (and potentially China, if including

1566-494: Is in the Department of Energy budget, Veterans Affairs, the Treasury Department's payments in pensions to military retirees and widows and their families, interest on debt incurred in past wars, or State Department financing of foreign arms sales and militarily-related development assistance. Neither does it include defense spending that is not military, such as the Department of Homeland Security, counter-terrorism spending by

1653-618: Is known as the R-2508 Special Use Airspace Complex . A 7.1 magnitude earthquake on July 5, 2019 , whose epicenter was within the boundaries of NAWS China Lake, resulted in the facility being temporarily evaluated as "not mission capable" due to damage. The installation is located in the Western Mojave Desert region of California, approximately 150 miles (240 km) north of Los Angeles . Occupying land in three counties – Kern , San Bernardino , and Inyo –

1740-480: Is protected, including the obsidian chips and any artifacts or tools, as well as the petroglyphs and native vegetation and wildlife. Little Petroglyph Canyon contains 20,000 documented images. It is open to the public for tours. Remains of the Epsom Salts Monorail are signposted and visible within the site. The central rail, on which mining tractors pulled minerals from a mine to the nearest railway siding,

1827-478: Is the United States Navy's largest single landholding, representing 85% of the Navy's land for weapons and armaments research, development, acquisition, testing, and evaluation (RDAT&E) use and 38% of the Navy's land holdings worldwide. In total, its two ranges and main site cover more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km ), an area larger than the state of Rhode Island . As of 2010, at least 95% of that land

SECTION 20

#1733093441222

1914-444: Is undeveloped. The roughly $ 3 billion infrastructure of the installation consists of 2,132 buildings and facilities, 329 miles (529 km) of paved roads, and 1,801 miles (2,898 km) of unpaved roads. The 19,600 square miles (51,000 km ) of restricted and controlled airspace at China Lake makes up 12% of California's total airspace. Jointly controlled by NAWS China Lake, Edwards Air Force Base and Fort Irwin , this airspace

2001-613: The Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation . The military services each have their intelligence elements that are distinct from but subject to coordination by national intelligence agencies under the Department of Defense. Department of Defense manages the nation's coordinating authorities and assets in disciplines of signals intelligence , geospatial intelligence , and measurement and signature intelligence , and also builds, launches, and operates

2088-566: The City of Ridgecrest . In 2013, Congress reserved China Lake's acreage for an additional 25 years for military use. In 2014, U.S. Representative Kevin McCarthy of California introduced a bill to permanently designate Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake property for military use, arguing it would save taxpayer money and enhance the base's mission. The bill would add 25,000 acres (10,000 ha), including about 7,500 acres (3,000 ha) that were part of

2175-799: The Department of the Army , the Department of the Navy , and the Department of the Air Force . In addition, four national intelligence services are subordinate to the Department of Defense: the Defense Intelligence Agency ( DIA ), the National Security Agency ( NSA ), the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency ( NGA ), and the National Reconnaissance Office ( NRO ). Other Defense agencies include

2262-716: The Mighty Mouse , Zuni , Shrike , HARM , Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW) and Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). In June 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited NAWS China Lake for an air show and to see the Michelson Lab. In July 1967, NOTS China Lake and the Naval Ordnance Laboratory in Corona, California , became the Naval Weapons Center. The Corona facilities were closed, and their functions transferred to

2349-759: The Thirteen Colonies and the British government , one of the first actions taken by the First Continental Congress in September 1774 was to recommend that the colonies begin defensive military preparations. In mid-June 1775, after the outbreak of the Revolutionary War , the Second Continental Congress , recognizing the necessity of having a national army that could move about and fight beyond

2436-610: The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in 1942. In November 1943, it was transferred to the Navy, which established China Lake as the Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS). The NOTS mission was defined in a letter by the Secretary of the Navy as ".... a station having for its primary function the research, development, and testing of weapons, and having an additional function of furnishing primary training in

2523-595: The commanders of the Combatant Commands . Goldwater–Nichols also created the office of vice-chairman, and the chairman is now designated as the principal military adviser to the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and to the president. The Joint Staff (JS) is a headquarters staff at the Pentagon made up of personnel from all five services that assist

2610-511: The fiscal year 2024 (FY2024) presidential budget request was $ 842   billion. In January 2023 Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced the US government would hit its $ 31.4   trillion debt ceiling on 19 January 2023; the date on which the US government would no longer be able to use extraordinary measures such as issuance of Treasury securities is estimated to be in June 2023. On 3 June 2023,

2697-470: The "EYE" series of 500-pound (230 kg) canister weapons) was the common name for the BLU-80/B, a concept conceived during the 1950s. During the 1970s at Pine Bluff Arsenal around 200 test articles were produced. Initial production contracts for the BIGEYE were awarded in June, 1988, to The Marquardt Company of Van Nuys, CA , the project's prime contractor for most of the program. The original timeline for

BLU-80/B Bigeye bomb - Misplaced Pages Continue

2784-676: The Army , Commandant of the Marine Corps , Chief of Naval Operations , Chief of Staff of the Air Force , and Chief of Space Operations ) over forces not assigned to a Combatant Command . Secretaries of Military Departments and service chiefs do not possess operational command authority over U.S. troops (this power was stripped from them in the Defense Reorganization Act of 1958 ), and instead, Military Departments are tasked solely with "the training, provision of equipment, and administration of troops." A unified combatant command

2871-693: The Army , Secretary of the Navy , and Secretary of the Air Force . Following the Goldwater–Nichols Act in 1986, the Joint Chiefs of Staff no longer maintained operational command authority individually or collectively. The act designated the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) as the "principal military adviser to the President, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and

2958-671: The BIGEYE had only been tested using simulants. In the end, the BLU-80/B BIGEYE binary chemical weapon might possibly have been the tipping point in chemical weapons disarmament talks with the USSR, as the Soviets agreed to significant chemical weapons disarmament agreements immediately after successful operational test results of the BIGEYE resulting from improvements implemented by the U.S. Navy's Naval Air Weapons Center, China Lake . United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense ( DoD , USDOD , or DOD )

3045-553: The Central Military Commission), with over 1.4  million active-duty service personnel, including soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and guardians. The Department of Defense also maintains over 778,000 National Guard and reservists, and over 747,000 civilians, bringing the total to over 2.91  million employees. Headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia , just outside Washington, D.C. ,

3132-593: The Coso traded with other tribes as far away as San Luis Obispo County, California . This locale was also used by European miners and settlers whose cabins and mining structures are extant throughout the Station. The Coso Range Canyons are home to the Coso Rock Art District , an area of some 99 square miles (260 km ) which contains more than 50,000 documented petroglyphs , the highest concentration of rock art in

3219-921: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ( DARPA ), the Defense Logistics Agency ( DLA ), the Missile Defense Agency ( MDA ), the Defense Health Agency ( DHA ), Defense Threat Reduction Agency ( DTRA ), the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency ( DCSA ), the Space Development Agency ( SDA ) and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency ( PFPA ), all of which are subordinate to the secretary of defense. Additionally,

3306-600: The Defense Contract Management Agency ( DCMA ) is responsible for administering contracts for the Department of Defense. Military operations are managed by eleven regional or functional unified combatant commands . The Department of Defense also operates several joint services schools, including the Eisenhower School (ES) and the National War College (NWC). Faced with rising tensions between

3393-696: The Department of Defense are in Title 10 of the United States Code . Other significant legislation related to the Department of Defense includes: Naval Air Weapons Center, China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station ( NAWS ) China Lake is a large military installation in California that supports the research, testing and evaluation programs of the United States Navy . It is part of Navy Region Southwest under Commander, Navy Installations Command , and

3480-483: The Department of Defense is approximately $ 686,074,048,000 (Including Base + Overseas Contingency Operations + Emergency Funds) in discretionary spending and $ 8,992,000,000 in mandatory spending totaling $ 695,066,000,000 Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller) David L. Norquist said in a hearing regarding the FY 2019 budget: "The overall number you often hear is $ 716 billion. That is the amount of funding for national defense,

3567-537: The Department of Defense who advise the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council , the National Security Council and the president on military matters. The composition of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is defined by statute and consists of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (VCJCS), senior enlisted advisor to the chairman (SEAC),

BLU-80/B Bigeye bomb - Misplaced Pages Continue

3654-521: The Department of Defense's stated mission is "to provide the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security". The Department of Defense is headed by the secretary of defense , a cabinet-level head who reports directly to the president of the United States , the latter of which is also the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces . Beneath the Department of Defense are three subordinate military departments:

3741-629: The FBI, and intelligence-gathering spending by the NSA. In the 2010 United States federal budget , the Department of Defense was allocated a base budget of $ 533.7 billion, with a further $ 75.5 billion adjustment in respect of 2009, and $ 130 billion for overseas contingencies. The subsequent 2010 Department of Defense Financial Report shows the total budgetary resources for fiscal year 2010 were $ 1.2 trillion. Of these resources, $ 1.1 trillion were obligated and $ 994 billion were disbursed, with

3828-587: The Intelligence Community's satellite assets. Department of Defense also has its own human intelligence service , which contributes to the CIA's human intelligence efforts while also focusing on military human intelligence priorities. These agencies are directly overseen by the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security . The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is a body of senior uniformed leaders in

3915-409: The Military Service chiefs from the Army , Marine Corps , Navy , Air Force , and Space Force , in addition to the chief of National Guard Bureau , all appointed by the president following U.S. Senate confirmation. Each of the individual Military Service Chiefs, outside their Joint Chiefs of Staff obligations, works directly for the secretary of the military department concerned: the Secretary of

4002-404: The NAWS boundaries. The first, on July 4, a 6.4 magnitude quake, caused no injuries at NAWS, and the initial reports showed that all buildings were intact. The second, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake on July 5, resulted in the facility being evaluated as "not mission capable". The report shows that officials assessed all buildings, utilities, and facilities — 3,598 structures in all — for 13 days after

4089-537: The NDAA on 14 December 2023. The Senate will next undertake negotiations on supplemental spending for 2024. A government shutdown was averted on 23 March 2024 with the signing of a $ 1.2 trillion bill to cover FY2024. A 2013 Reuters investigation concluded that Defense Finance & Accounting Service , the Department of Defense's primary financial management arm, implements monthly "unsubstantiated change actions"—illegal, inaccurate "plugs"—that forcibly make DoD's books match Treasury's books. Reuters reported that

4176-411: The Navy (DON) & Department of the Air Force (DAF)), the Defense Agencies and Department of Defense Field Activities , the National Guard Bureau (NGB), and such other offices, agencies, activities, organizations, and commands established or designated by law, or by the president or by the secretary of defense. Department of Defense Directive 5100.01 describes the organizational relationships within

4263-432: The Northern Hemisphere. The precise age of the petroglyphs is unknown. A broad range of dates can be inferred from archaeological sites in the area and some artifact forms depicted on the rocks. Archaeologists disagree on their age, but it is generally believed that most petroglyphs are between one and three thousand years old. Designs range from animals to abstract to anthropomorphic figures. Opinions vary widely on whether

4350-416: The Pentagon was the only federal agency that had not released annual audits as required by a 1992 law. According to Reuters, the Pentagon "annually reports to Congress that its books are in such disarray that an audit is impossible". In 2015, a Pentagon consulting firm performed an audit on the Department of Defense's budget. It found that there was $ 125 billion in wasteful spending that could be saved over

4437-454: The President in all matters relating to Department of Defense", and has "authority, direction, and control over the Department of Defense". Because the Constitution vests all military authority in Congress and the president, the statutory authority of the secretary of defense is derived from their constitutional authority. Since it is impractical for either Congress or the president to participate in every piece of Department of Defense affairs,

SECTION 50

#1733093441222

4524-478: The Secretary of Defense in the exercise of policy development, planning, resource management, fiscal and program evaluation and oversight, and interface and exchange with other U.S. federal government departments and agencies, foreign governments, and international organizations, through formal and informal processes. OSD also performs oversight and management of the Defense Agencies, Department of Defense Field Activities, and specialized Cross Functional Teams . OSD

4611-403: The Secretary of Defense". The remaining Joint Chiefs of Staff may only have their advice relayed to the President, National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council , or the Secretary of Defense after submitting it to the CJCS. By law, the chairman has to present that advice whenever he is presenting his own. The chain of command goes from the president to the secretary of defense to

4698-448: The Secretary of Defense. After the end of World War II , President Harry Truman proposed the creation of a unified department of national defense. In a special message to the Congress on December 19, 1945, the president cited wasteful military spending and interdepartmental conflicts. Deliberations in Congress went on for months focusing heavily on the role of the military in society and the threat of granting too much military power to

4785-486: The Soviet Union, and then-President Jimmy Carter rejected U.S. Army requests for authorization of the binary chemical weapons program. The talks deteriorated, and President Carter eventually granted the Army request. However, at the last minute Carter pulled the provision from the budget. This action left the decision on a retaliatory binary chemical weapons option to the Ronald Reagan administration . BIGEYE (an acronym for Binary Internally Generated chemical weapon within

4872-413: The U.S. binary chemical weapons program called for the BIGEYE to be deployed by September 1988. President Reagan authorized the spending of more than $ 59 million in 1986 to revive the binary chemical weapons program. Under the original timeline, the BIGEYE was to be the second binary chemical weapon to be produced (the first being a binary artillery shell) with binary chemical agent rockets to follow. After

4959-428: The accounting code is 050 and includes more than simply the Department of Defense. It includes, for example, the Department of Energy and others. That large a number, if you back out the $ 30 billion for non-defense agencies, you get to $ 686 billion. That is the funding for the Department of Defense, split between $ 617 billion in base and $ 69 billion in overseas contingency ". The Department of Defense budget encompasses

5046-399: The airfield and range to conduct more than 1,000 test and evaluation operations each year. The majority of the land at NAWS China Lake is undeveloped. It provides habitat for more than 340 species of wildlife, including feral horses, feral burros (donkeys), bighorn sheep and endangered animals, such as the desert tortoise , Mojave ground squirrel and Mojave tui chub . The Mojave tui chub

5133-428: The annual federal expenditures in the United States federal budget discretionary budget . On September 28, 2018, President Donald Trump signed the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019 (H.R.6157) into law. On September 30, 2018, the FY2018 Budget expired and the FY2019 budget came into effect. The FY2019 Budget for

5220-469: The boundaries of any particular colony, organized the Continental Army on June 14, 1775. This momentous event is commemorated in the U.S. annually as Flag Day . Later that year, Congress would charter the Continental Navy on October 13, and the Continental Marines on November 10. Upon the seating of the 1st U.S. Congress on March 4, 1789, legislation to create a military defense force stagnated as they focused on other concerns relevant to setting up

5307-406: The chairman and vice chairman in discharging their duties. It is managed by the Director of the Joint Staff (DJS) who is a lieutenant general or vice admiral . There are three military departments within the Department of Defense: The Military Departments are each headed by their secretary (i.e., Secretary of the Army , Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of the Air Force ), appointed by

SECTION 60

#1733093441222

5394-434: The control of a single secretary of defense . The National Military Establishment formally began operations on September 18, the day after the Senate confirmed James V. Forrestal as the first secretary of defense. The National Military Establishment was renamed the "Department of Defense" on August 10, 1949, and absorbed the three cabinet-level military departments, in an amendment to the original 1947 law. The renaming

5481-440: The debt ceiling was suspended until 2025. The $ 886   billion National Defense Authorization Act is facing reconciliation of the House and Senate bills after passing both houses 27 July 2023; the conferees have to be chosen, next. As of September 2023, a Continuing resolution is needed to prevent a Government shutdown . A shutdown was avoided on 30 September for 45 days (until 17 November 2023), with passage of

5568-401: The department and is the foundational issuance for delineating the major functions of the department. The latest version, signed by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in December 2010, is the first major re-write since 1987. The Office of the Secretary of Defense ( OSD ) is the secretary and their deputies, including predominantly civilian staff. OSD is the principal staff element of

5655-405: The desert in 1971. In July 1979, the mission and functions of the National Parachute Test Range at Naval Air Facility El Centro were transferred to China Lake. In January 1992, the Naval Weapons Center and the Pacific Missile Test Center Point Mugu were disestablished and joined with naval units at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque and at the White Sands Missile Range at White Sands, NM as

5742-403: The executive. On July 26, 1947, Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 , which set up a unified military command known as the National Military Establishment and created the Central Intelligence Agency , the National Security Council , National Security Resources Board , United States Air Force , and the Joint Chiefs of Staff . The act placed the National Military Establishment under

5829-437: The installation's closest neighbors are the city of Ridgecrest and the communities of Inyokern , Trona , and Darwin . All aircraft operations at NAWS China Lake are conducted at Armitage Field, which has three runways with more than 26,000 feet (7,900 m) of taxiway. More than 20,000 crewed and uncrewed military sorties are conducted out of Armitage by U.S. Armed Forces each year. Foreign military personnel also use

5916-404: The jurisdiction of other congressional committees. The Department of Defense is unique because it is one of the few federal entities where the majority of its funding falls into the discretionary category. The majority of the entire federal budget is mandatory, and much of the discretionary funding in the budget consists of DoD dollars. * Numbers may not add due to rounding As of 10 March 2023

6003-447: The latest Center for Effective Government analysis of 15 federal agencies which receive the most Freedom of Information Act requests, published in 2015 (using 2012 and 2013 data, the most recent years available), the DoD earned 61 out of a possible 100 points, a D− grade. While it had improved from a failing grade in 2013, it still had low scores in processing requests (55%) and disclosure rules (42%). The organization and functions of

6090-452: The majority of federal discretionary spending. In FY 2017, the Department of Defense budgeted spending accounted for 15% of the U.S. federal budget, and 49% of federal discretionary spending , which represents funds not accounted for by pre-existing obligations. However, this does not include many military-related items that are outside the Department of Defense budget, such as nuclear weapons research, maintenance, cleanup, and production, which

6177-438: The majority of the National Defense Budget of approximately $ 716.0 billion in discretionary spending and $ 10.8 billion in mandatory spending for a $ 726.8 billion total. Of the total, $ 708.1 billion falls under the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Armed Services and Senate Armed Services Committee and is subject to authorization by the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The remaining $ 7.9 billion falls under

6264-613: The new government. President George Washington went to Congress to remind them of their duty to establish a military twice during this time. Finally, on the last day of the session, September 29, 1789, Congress created the War Department . The War Department handled naval affairs until Congress created the Navy Department in 1798. The secretaries of each department reported directly to the president as cabinet-level advisors until 1949, when all military departments became subordinate to

6351-639: The next five years without layoffs or reduction in military personnel. In 2016, The Washington Post uncovered that rather than taking the advice of the auditing firm, senior defense officials suppressed and hid the report from the public to avoid political scrutiny. In June 2016, the Office of the Inspector General released a report stating that the Army made $ 6.5 trillion in wrongful adjustments to its accounting entries in 2015. The Department of Defense failed its fifth audit in 2022, and could not account for more than 60% of its $ 3.5 trillion in assets. In

6438-473: The petroglyphs were made for ceremonial purposes, whether they tell stories to pass along the mythology of their makers, or whether they are records of hunting hopes or successes, clan symbols, or maps. Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964, the rock art in Little Petroglyph Canyon provides insights into the cultural heritage and knowledge of the desert's past. Everything in the canyon area

6525-580: The president, with the advice and consent of the Senate . They have the legal authority under Title 10 of the United States Code to conduct all the affairs of their respective departments within which the military services are organized. The secretaries of the Military Departments are (by law) subordinate to the secretary of defense and (by SecDef delegation) to the deputy secretary of defense . Secretaries of military departments, in turn, normally exercise authority over their forces by delegation through their respective service chiefs (i.e., Chief of Staff of

6612-463: The remaining resources relating to multi-year modernization projects requiring additional time to procure. After over a decade of non-compliance , Congress has established a deadline of Fiscal year 2017 for the Department of Defense to achieve audit readiness . In 2015 the allocation for the Department of Defense was $ 585  billion, the highest level of budgetary resources among all federal agencies, and this amounts to more than one-half of

6699-614: The secretary of defense and the secretary's subordinate officials generally exercise military authority. The Department of Defense is composed of the Office of the Secretary of Defense ( OSD ), the Joint Chiefs of Staff ( JCS ) and the Joint Staff ( JS ), Office of the Inspector General ( DODIG ), the Combatant Commands , the Military Departments ( Department of the Army (DA), Department of

6786-473: The secretary of defense concerning these subordinate Military Departments. It more clearly defined the operational chain of command over U.S. military forces (created by the military departments) as running from the President to the Secretary of Defense, the service chief of the Unified Combatant Commander(s), and then to the unified combatant commander(s). Also provided in this legislation was

6873-481: The use of such weapons." Testing began within a month of the Station's formal establishment. The vast and sparsely populated desert, with near-perfect flying weather and practically unlimited visibility, proved an ideal location for test and evaluation activities and a complete research and development establishment. During 1944, NOTS worked on the development and testing of the 3.5-inch , 5-inch , HVAR and 11.75-inch (Tiny Tim) rockets. Manhattan Project funding

6960-436: Was a Navy weapon design that would atomize the percutaneous nerve agent VX over a targeted area by releasing the binary-generated agent while gliding through the air over the target. The BIGEYE bomb weighed 595 lb (270 kg); 180 lb (82 kg) and would have generated the chemical agent VX. It was to have a length of 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) and a diameter of 13.25 in (337 mm). The glide bomb had

7047-530: Was an air-launched 500 pound-class canister weapon to be delivered by various U.S. Navy and Air Force aircraft. The interior of the weapon consisted of two separate containers of non-lethal chemical compounds, stored separately and assembled only immediately before flight, and then combined to create the active chemical nerve agent VX only after release from the aircraft. It was the storage separation of less aggressive chemical components that ensured safe storage/handling and simpler maintenance requirements. The bomb

7134-511: Was introduced to China Lake's Lark Seep in 1971. Lark Seep is fed by the water outflow from a wastewater treatment plant located at China Lake. The tui chub population has since grown and expanded to a population of around 6,000 in 2003. The desert on which the installation is built is home to 650 plant types. The area was once home to the Native American Coso People , whose presence is marked by thousands of archaeological sites;

7221-587: Was killed while testing a Tiny Tim rocket at NOTS in August 1944. Work done by Caltech at NOTS for the Manhattan Project - particularly the testing of bomb shapes dropped from B-29s - was included as part of codename Project Camel . In 1950, NOTS scientists and engineers developed the air-intercept missile (AIM) 9 Sidewinder , which became the world's most used and most copied air-to-air missile. Other rockets and missiles developed or tested at China Lake include

7308-420: Was originally known as Naval Ordnance Test Station ( NOTS ). The installation is located in the Western Mojave Desert region of California, approximately 150 miles (240 km) north of Los Angeles . Occupying land in three counties – Kern , San Bernardino , and Inyo – the installation's closest neighbors are the city of Ridgecrest and the communities of Inyokern , Trona , and Darwin . China Lake

7395-664: Was supported on wooden A-frames of a low trestle. The Coso Geothermal Field is within China Lake boundaries. The geothermal power plants located there began generating electricity in 1987 and were the Navy's first foray into producing clean power from the earth's thermal energy (heat). The plant's nameplate capacity is 270 megawatts, with a total annual electricity production from the field of 1,175 gigawatt-hours. The 620 active duty military, 4,166 civilian employees and 1,734 contractors that make up China Lake's workforce are employed across multiple tenant commands, including: China Lake

7482-450: Was the entire idea of a modern American chemical weapons program. Such a program, the argument went, would actually encourage others to develop chemical weapons, as opposed to acting as a deterrent. The testing, which had mixed results, presented its own set of problems. In 1987 the Navy and Air Force conducted 70+ tests, results which were characterized as "very inconsistent" by the GAO. Following

7569-556: Was used to construct a new airfield at NOTS, with three runways, 10,000 feet (3,000 m), 7,700 feet (2,300 m) and 9,000 feet (2,700 m) long, each 200 feet (61 m) wide to accommodate the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber. Fuel storage was provided with a capacity of 200,000 US gallons (760,000 L) of gasoline and 20,000 US gallons (76,000 L) of oil. The airfield was opened on June 1, 1945, and named Armitage Field after Navy Lieutenant John Armitage, who

#221778