secretary of defense

1. The civilian head of the United States Department of Defense and a member of the cabinet, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The secretary of defense works with civilian and military advisers to formulate American military policies and make foreign policy recommendations to the president.

Example Sentences

It was in 1947 that President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act, which among other things consolidated all the branches of the armed forces into the National Military Establishment, supervised by a civilian secretary of defense.

From Slate

The Joint Chiefs of Staff were designated “the principal military advisers to the President and the Secretary of Defense.”

From Slate

As Steven Rearden wrote in his authoritative book, History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense: The Formative Years, 1947–1950, “Perhaps the premier accomplishment of the National Security Act was its recognition that the military had a vital part to play in the development of national policy in peacetime as well as wartime.”

From Slate

Under both the NME and the DOD, the job of the secretary of defense was to be “the principal assistant to the President in all matters relating to the national security.”

From Slate

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has removed the name of LGBTQ+ hero Harvey Milk from a Navy ship and restored the names of Army bases that had honored Confederate officers.

From Los Angeles Times