Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

Information about Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

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Ministry of Defence Combined Services Badge
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''Template {{}} needs its first parameter as beg[in], mid[dle], or end. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces.

The MOD states that its principal objective is to defend the United Kingdom and its interests.[1] With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War the MOD does not foresee any short-term conventional military threat; rather, it has identified weapons of mass destruction, international terrorism, and failed and failing states as the overriding threats to the UK's interests. The MOD also manages day to day running of the armed forces, contingency planning and defence procurement.

History

During the 1920s and 1930s, British civil servants and politicians, looking back at the performance of the state during World War I, concluded that there was a need for greater co-ordination between the three Services that made up the armed forces of the United Kingdom—the British Army, the Royal Navy, and the Royal Air Force. The formation of a united ministry of defence was rejected by Prime Minister David Lloyd George's coalition government in 1921; but the Chiefs of Staff Committee was formed in 1923, for the purposes of inter-Service co-ordination. As rearmament became a concern during the 1930s, Stanley Baldwin created the position of Minister for Coordination of Defence. Lord Chatfield held the post until the fall of Neville Chamberlain's government, in 1940; but his success was limited by his lack of control over the existing Service departments and his limited political influence.

Winston Churchill, on forming his government in 1940, created the office of Minister of Defence to exercise ministerial control over the Chiefs of Staff Committee and to co-ordinate defence matters. The post was held by the Prime Minister of the day until Clement Attlee's government introduced the Ministry of Defence Act of 1946. The new ministry was headed by a Minister of Defence who possessed a seat in the Cabinet. The three existing service Ministers — the Secretary of State for War, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and the Secretary of State for Air — remained in direct operational control of their respective services, but ceased to attend Cabinet.

From 1946 to 1964 five Departments of State did the work of the modern Ministry of Defence: the Admiralty, the War Office, the Air Ministry, the Ministry of Aviation, and an earlier form of the Ministry of Defence. These departments merged in 1964; the defence functions of the Ministry of Aviation Supply merged into the Ministry of Defence in 1971.[2]

Defence policy

The 1998 Strategic Defence Review and the 2003 Delivering Security in a Changing World White Paper outlined the following posture for the British Armed Forces:
  • The ability to support three simultaneous small- to medium-scale operations, with at least one as an enduring peace-keeping mission (e.g. Kosovo). These forces must be capable of representing the UK as lead nation in any coalition operations.
  • The ability, at longer notice, to deploy forces in a large-scale operation while running a concurrent small-scale operation.

Senior officials

Permanent Secretaries and other senior officials

The Ministers and Chiefs of the Defence Staff are supported by a number of civilian, scientific and professional military advisors. The Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence (generally known as the Permanent Secretary) is the senior civil servant at the MOD. His role is to ensure the MOD operates effectively as a department of the government.

Chiefs of the Defence Staff

The current Chief of the Defence Staff, the professional head of the British Armed Forces, is Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup. He is supported by the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff and by the professional heads of the three sections of the armed forces. There are also several Deputy Chiefs of the Defence Staff with particular remits, such as Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Equipment Capability), Deputy CDS (Personnel) and Deputy CDS (Commitments). The Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Health), Lt Gen Robert Baxter, represents the Defence Medical Services on the Defence Staff, even though the Surgeon General, Lt Gen Louis Lilliewhite, is the clinical head of that service.[3]

Departmental Agencies

The following executive agencies report directly to Ministers in the Ministry of Defence.
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Main Building—The Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence, Whitehall, Westminster, London
1 reporting to the Minister of State for the Armed Forces.
2 reporting to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Minister of State for Defence Equippment & Support
3 reporting to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Minister for Veterans

Property portfolio

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A British armed forces recruitment centre in Oxford.
The Ministry of Defence is one of the United Kingdom's largest landowners, with hundreds of sites across the country, including military training grounds, ranges, storage and distribution centres, barracks, military-family accommodation and administrative buildings, etc. These are largely managed by the Defence Estates agency. A 2005 National Audit Office report values the MOD's estate at £15,300,000,000 and puts the area covered at 2,400 square kilometres (927 square miles) (or just under 1% of UK's land area). This figure has been much reduced since the Second World War and continues to diminish through rationalisation of bases, etc. Of this, a third is classified as "built"; two thirds are "rural" (mostly training areas whose natural environments have been little altered). The National Audit Office also estimates annual expenditure on the defence estate at £1,300,000,000.

Henry VIII's wine cellar at the Palace of Whitehall, built in 1514–1516, is in the basement of the Ministry of Defence headquarters (commonly known as "Main Building") in Whitehall, and is used for entertainment. The entire structure was moved a short distance in 1949.

Notes

1. ^ Ministry of Defence website, accessed 23 April 2006.
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ Defence Medical Services Department. www.dmsd.mod.uk. DMS. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.

References

  • Chester, D. N and Willson, F. M. G. The Organisation of British Central Government 1914–1964: Chapters VI and X (2nd edition). London: George Allen & Unwin, 1968.

External links

Her Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom contains a number of Ministers and Secretaries of State. These members of the Cabinet are supported by civil servants in Ministerial Departments.
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British Armed Forces or Her Majesty's Armed Forces, and sometimes legally the Armed Forces of the Crown,[1] encompasses a navy, army, and an air force.
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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2]   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
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Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (abbreviated USSR, Russian: (help info ) ; tr.
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The Cold War was the period of conflict, tension and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s.
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For the Xzibit album, see .
. A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a weapon which can kill large numbers of human beings, animals and plants.
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Terrorism in the modern sense[1] is violence or other harmful acts committed (or threatened) against civilians for political or other ideological goals.[2]
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Armed Forces
(1979) Get Happy
(1980)

Alternate cover

US 1979 and 2002 reissue cover, also known as "paint spatter cover"

For the military meaning, see Armed forces.

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civil servant or public servant is a civilian career public sector employee working for a government department or agency. The term explicitly excludes the armed services, although civilian officials will work at "Defence Ministry" headquarters.
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Clockwise from top: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.
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The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with unification of the governments and armed forces of England and Scotland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.
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Naval Service

Components
Royal Navy
  • Surface Fleet
  • Fleet Air Arm
  • Submarine Service
  • Royal Navy Regulating Branch
  • Royal Naval Reserve
  • Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service
Royal Marines
  • (includes Royal Marines Reserve)

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Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. The RAF was formed on 1 April 1918 and has since taken a significant role in British military history since then, playing a large part in World War II and in conflicts such as the recent war in Iraq.
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Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Logo of Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent:
The Right Honourable Gordon Brown, MP.

Origins:
gradual.

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David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, OM, PC (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister throughout the latter half of World War I and the first four years of the subseqeunt peace.
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The Chiefs of Staff Committee is composed of the most senior military personnel in the British forces. It was initially established as a sub-committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence in 1923.
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Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC (3 August 1867 – 14 December 1947) was a British statesman and thrice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Early life


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The position of Minister for Coordination of Defence was a British Cabinet position established in 1936 to oversee and co-ordinate the rearmament on Britain's defences.
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Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield, GCB, OM, KCMG, CVO, PC, RN (27 September 1873 - 15 November 1967) was a British naval officer and held the position of First Sea Lord from 1933 to 1938.
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Arthur Neville Chamberlain, known as Neville Chamberlain (18 March 1869 – 9 November 1940), was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940.
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Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can). (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955.
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Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC (3 January 1883 – 8 October 1967) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951. The Labour Party under Attlee won a landslide election victory over Winston Churchill immediately after Churchill had led
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The position of Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a British cabinet-level position, first applied to Henry Dundas (appointed in 1794). In 1801 the post became that of Secretary of State for War and the Colonies.
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Naval Service

Components
Royal Navy
  • Surface Fleet
  • Fleet Air Arm
  • Submarine Service
  • Royal Navy Regulating Branch
  • Royal Naval Reserve
  • Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service
Royal Marines
  • (includes Royal Marines Reserve)

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The Secretary of State for Air was a cabinet level British position, in charge of the Air Ministry. It was created on January 10, 1919 to manage the Royal Air Force. On April 1, 1964 the Air Ministry was incorporated into the Ministry of Defence and the position of Secretary of
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Naval Service

Components
Royal Navy
  • Surface Fleet
  • Fleet Air Arm
  • Submarine Service
  • Royal Navy Regulating Branch
  • Royal Naval Reserve
  • Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service
Royal Marines
  • (includes Royal Marines Reserve)

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War Department was the United Kingdom government department responsible for the supply of equipment to the armed forces of the United Kingdom and the pursuance of military activity. In 1857 it became the War Office.
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Air Ministry was formerly a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force.

Organizations before the Air Ministry

The Air Committee


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Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government, established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply.
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The Strategic Defence Review (or SDR) was a policy document produced by the Labour Government that came to power in 1997. Then Secretary of State for Defence, George Robertson, set out the initial defence policy of the new government, with a series of key decisions designed to
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