The United States Department of the Air Force (DAF) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The Department of the Air Force was formed on September 18,1947,per the National Security Act of 1947 and it is the military department within which the United States Air Force and the United States Space Force are organized.
The military budget of the United States is the largest portion of the discretionary federal budget allocated to the Department of Defense (DoD),or more broadly,the portion of the budget that goes to any military-related expenditures. The military budget pays the salaries,training,and health care of uniformed and civilian personnel,maintains arms,equipment and facilities,funds operations,and develops and buys new items. The budget funds six branches of the US military:the Army,Navy,Marine Corps,Coast Guard,Air Force,and Space Force.
The United States Department of Defense is an executive branch department of the federal government of the United States charged with coordinating and supervising the five U.S. armed services,the Army;Navy;Marines;Air Force;Space Force;the Coast Guard for some purposes,and related functions and agencies. As of November 2022,the department has over 1.4 million active-duty uniformed personnel in the five armed services. It also supervises over 778,000 National Guard and reservist personnel,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".
Michael Bruce Donley is a United States government official who is the director of administration and management in the Office of the Secretary of Defense since May 2021,having served in the same position from 2005 to 2008. In the Bush and Obama administrations,Donley served as the 22nd secretary of the Air Force,amongst other positions. Donley has 30 years of experience in the national security community,including service on the staff of the United States Senate,White House and The Pentagon.
Robert F. Hale was the United States Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) from 2009 until 2014 and before that the Comptroller and Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management. Hale has over thirty years of experience as a professional financial manager serving in a wide range of national defense related roles. In addition to his most recent position as Under Secretary of Defense and his previous appointment as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force,Hale has also served in the National Security Division of the Congressional Budget Office and as Executive Director of the American Society of Military Comptrollers. Hale is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a former member of the Defense Business Board. He was appointed to the National Commission on the Future of the Army by Representative Adam Smith (D-WA).
Jamie Michael Morin is a former senior official in the United States Department of Defense. He was a private sector economist and research consultant before earning a Doctorate degree in political science from Yale University. He then served as a professional staff member on the United States Senate Committee on the Budget. Morin was Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation at the Department of Defense. Previously,he was Assistant Secretary of the Air Force,and served concurrently as Acting Under Secretary of the Air Force from 3 July 2012 to 28 April 2013. He joined The Aerospace Corporation in 2017 as executive director of the Center for Space Policy and Strategy and vice president of Defense Systems Operations.
Charles P. Nemfakos was United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1998 to 2001.
Douglas Alan Brook is visiting professor of public policy in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. He was United States Assistant Secretary of the Army from 1990 to 1992 and Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 2007 to 2009.
Russell D. Hale was United States Assistant Secretary of the Air Force from 1981 to 1984.
John F. Kirby is a retired United States Navy rear admiral who served as White House National Security Communications Advisor from 2022 to 2025. He previously served in the Biden administration as Pentagon Press Secretary and Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs from 2021 to 2022. He worked as a military and diplomatic analyst for CNN from 2017 to 2021. He served in the Obama administration as Pentagon Press Secretary from 2013 to 2015 and as the spokesperson for the United States Department of State and Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs from 2015 to 2017.
David Lutz Norquist is an American financial management professional and former government official who served as the 34th United States deputy secretary of defense from 2019 to 2021. In May of 2022,Norquist was selected as the president and chief executive officer of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA).
Thomas W. Harker is an American government official who has served in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and the United States Department of Defense. Harker was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as an assistant secretary of the Navy and was confirmed on December 20,2017 and sworn in on January 2,2018. He was designated as the acting United States under secretary of defense (comptroller) on June 26,2020.
John Euler Whitley is an American government official who served as the acting United States Secretary of the Army from January 20,2021,to May 28,2021. He previously serviced as Assistant Secretary of the Army and acting director of cost assessment and program evaluation for the Department of Defense.
Christine E. Wormuth is an American defense official and career civil servant who served as the United States secretary of the Army from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party,she is the first female United States secretary of the Army.
Michael John McCord is an American government official who served as Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/CFO from 2014 to 2017 and again from 2021 to 2025. Later in 2017,McCord was elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
Caral Elizabeth Spangler (née Erickson);is an American government official who had served as the Assistant Secretary of the Army.
Carlos Del Toro is a Cuban-American entrepreneur and retired United States Navy officer who served as the 78th United States Secretary of the Navy from 2021 to 2025. He is the second Hispanic American to serve as the Secretary of the Navy,after Edward Hidalgo.
Melissa Griffin Dalton is an American defense official who served as the under secretary of the Air Force from 2024 to 2025. She previously served as the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs in the Biden administration.
John F. Plumb is an American aerospace engineer,politician,and United States Navy Reserve captain who served as the first assistant secretary of defense for space policy. He was previously the chief of government relations at The Aerospace Corporation. In 2016,he unsuccessfully ran as the Democratic Party candidate for the 23rd congressional district in New York.
United States Army