Defense minister

Defense minister

A defense minister (American English) or defence minister (British English) is a cabinet portfolio which regulates the armed forces in a sovereign nation. The minister of defense is usually a very important role in a cabinet. When cabinets first started appearing in the late 18th century, they were often called "Ministers of War", who were in charge of the land forces of a nation. Since the end of World War II, the change was made from war to defense, and also often involved putting the defense minister in charge of both land and sea warfare. Another common reform which occurred at the end of World War II was to place the defense minister in a National Security Council or inner cabinet which allows the head of government to coordinate both military and diplomatic activities.

The defense/defence ministry in some countries is a very important ministry, sometimes considered more important than the foreign minister. It is often assumed by the Prime Minister if war is common for that nation (for example, no less than five Prime Ministers of Israel have held the Defense Ministry during their Premiership). In many nations, it is the very strong convention that the defense minister be a civilian to emphasize civilian control over the military.

In the United States, the defense minister has been called the Secretary of Defense since 1947, when the once separate War Department and the Department of the Navy were merged (though the Secretary of the Navy still exists to this day, however it is no longer a Cabinet level position). In the United States, military orders must go from the President of the United States through the Secretary.

In the United Kingdom, the Defense minister is called the Secretary of State for Defence. In many countries the formal title is Minister for Defence or Minister for Defense.

The People's Republic of China is very unusual in that the Minister of National Defense (who is usually a seinor although not the highest ranking military officer) and the Ministry of National Defense are both very low ranking, relatively powerless groups which to not have command over the People's Liberation Army. Command of the military belongs in the party and state Central Military Commissions, and the MND exists primarily as a liasion and protocol organization to communicate with foreign militaries. Essentially, the MND exists only because most other nations have defense ministries and for protocol and liason purposes, the PRC needs to have an institution corresponding with that of other governments.

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