The Fourth Estate is a jargon term for the portions of the United States Department of Defense that are not the military Services [1] including:
Fourth Estate entities are all organizational entities in DoD that are not in the military departments, IC agencies, or combatant commands. These include the defense agencies and DoD field activities.
Together they consumed 18% of the Department of Defense budget in 2018. [2]
Communications security is the discipline of preventing unauthorized interceptors from accessing telecommunications in an intelligible form, while still delivering content to the intended recipients.
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), known as the Defense Communications Agency (DCA) until 1991, is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) combat support agency composed of military, federal civilians, and contractors. DISA provides information technology (IT) and communications support to the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, the military services, the combatant commands, and any individual or system contributing to the defense of the United States.
The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) is an agency of the United States federal government reporting to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. It is responsible for administering contracts for the Department of Defense (DoD) and other authorized federal agencies. Its headquarters is located at Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia. DCMA also administers Foreign Military Sales contracts.
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense (DOD), headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The DFAS was established in 1991 under the authority, direction, and control of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer to strengthen and reduce costs of financial management and operations within the DOD. The DFAS is responsible for all payments to servicemembers, employees, vendors, and contractors. It provides business intelligence and finance and accounting information to DOD decisionmakers. The DFAS is also responsible for preparing annual financial statements and the consolidation, standardization, and modernization of finance and accounting requirements, functions, processes, operations, and systems for the DOD.
The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is a combat support agency in the United States Department of Defense (DoD). The agency is staffed by over 26,000 civilian and military personnel throughout the world. Located in 48 states and 28 countries, DLA provides supplies to the military services and supports their acquisition of weapons, fuel, repair parts, and other materials. The agency also disposes of excess or unusable equipment through various programs.
Washington Headquarters Services (WHS) is a Department of Defense (DoD) Field Activity, created on October 1, 1977, to provide administrative and management support to multiple DoD components and military departments in the National Capital Region and beyond.
A United States defense standard, often called a military standard, "MIL-STD", "MIL-SPEC", or (informally) "MilSpecs", is used to help achieve standardization objectives by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance was a subordinate command of the United States Strategic Command, one of the nine Unified Combatant Commands under the United States Department of Defense (DOD) and co-located with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). It served as the center for planning, execution, and assessment of the United States military's global Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance operations from 2005-2016; a key enabler in achieving global situational awareness. In 2016 JFCC-ISR was realigned to the Joint Staff.
The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks & Information Integration (ASD(NII)) was an appointed position that provided management and oversight of all DoD information technology, including national security systems. The ASD(NII) also served as the chief information officer (CIO) of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), a position distinct from the ASD and governed by the Clinger-Cohen Act.
The under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, or USD (P&R) is a high-ranking civilian position in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) within the United States Department of Defense responsible for advising the secretary and deputy secretary of defense on recruitment, career development, pay and benefits, and oversight of the state of military readiness. The under secretary is appointed from civilian life by the president and confirmed by the Senate to serve at the pleasure of the President.
The United States Department of Defense 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 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., the Department of Defense's stated mission is "to provide the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security".
Project 112 was a biological and chemical weapon experimentation project conducted by the United States Department of Defense from 1962 to 1973.
The Military Health System (MHS) is the internal health care system operated within the United States Department of Defense that provides health care to active duty, Reserve component and retired U.S. Military personnel and their dependents.
The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General is an independent, objective agency that provides oversight related to the programs and operations of the United States Department of Defense (DoD). DoD IG was created in 1982 as an amendment to the Inspector General Act of 1978.
Host Based Security System (HBSS) is the official name given to the United States Department of Defense (DOD) commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) suite of software applications used within the DOD to monitor, detect, and defend the DOD computer networks and systems. The Enterprise-wide Information Assurance and computer Network Defense Solutions Steering Group (ESSG) sponsored the acquisition of the HBSS System for use within the DOD Enterprise Network. HBSS is deployed on both the Non-Classified Internet Protocol Routed Network (NIPRNet) and Secret Internet Protocol Routed Network (SIPRNet) networks, with priority given to installing it on the NIPRNet. HBSS is based on McAfee, Inc's ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) and other McAfee point product security applications such as Host Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS).
Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 was a bill passed by the United States House of Representatives of the 113th United States Congress. The bill prevented a government shutdown and funded the federal government through September 30, 2013 as it replaced a continuing resolution which expired on March 27, 2013.
Combat support agency (CSA) is a designation by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) of those defense agencies that provide department-level and tactical support to the U.S. military during combat operations. The designation was first outlined by the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, with subsequent additions based on the department's needs.
The Joint Information Environment (JIE) is a single, joint, secure, reliable and agile command, control, communications and computing enterprise information environment to which the Department of Defense (DoD) is transitioning in a first-phase implementation that spans fiscal years 2013 and 2014.
The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) (pronounced "jake") was an American organization on exploring the usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) (particularly Edge computing), Network of Networks and AI-enhanced communication for use in actual combat. In February 2022, JAIC was integrated into the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO).
This article incorporates public domain material from Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act Chairman's Mark Summary (PDF). House Armed Services Committee . Retrieved 2019-02-22.
This article incorporates public domain material from Human Capital: DOD Needs Better Internal Controls and Visibility over Costs for Implementing Its National Security Personnel System (PDF). Government Accounting Office . Retrieved 2022-03-05.