The Very First Department of War

With the Constitution ratified and elections held, the 1st U.S. Congress convened and set about doing its business. In many ways, it was unhindered by precedent because the Constitution sets forth its specific roles and responsibilities. Our Founding Fathers now had to pass legislation that would create the government envisaged by the writers of the Constitution. What had been done under the Continental Congress, a.k.a. the Confederation Congress, didn’t apply.

The seventh bill that was sent to President Washington for signature was An Act to establish an Executive Department, to be denominated the Department of War. Signed into law on August 7th, 1789, the bill has four sections.

Section 1 states That there  shall be an executive department to be denominated the Department of War and that there shall be a principal officer therein, to be called the Secretary for the Department of War, his duty. who shall perform and execute such duties as shall from time to time be enjoined on, or entrusted to him by the President of the United States agreeably to the Constitution, relative to military commissions, or to the land or naval forces or warlike stores of the United States, or to such other matters respecting military or naval affairs….”

Interesting that the original bill put the Army and Navy under the same department. That would change with the Navy Act of 1794, but originally, the Secretary of War had responsibility for both services.

Section 1 goes on to provide the scope of the new Secretary of War’s responsibilities by stating “…as the President of the United States shall assign to the said department, or relative to the granting of lands to persons entitled thereto, for military services rendered to the United States, or relative to Indian affairs; and furthermore, that the said principal officer shall conduct the business of the said department in such manner, as the President of the United States shall from time to time order or instruct.”

Net net – the Secretary of War is responsible for equipping and directing the U.S. military as so directed by the Commander-in-Chief, the President as per Article II – Executive, Section 1, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution.

In Section 2, the act requires that That there shall be in the said department an inferior officer, to be appointed by the said principal officer, to be employed therein as he shall deem proper, and to be called the chief clerk in the department of war, and who, whenever the said principal officer shall be removed from office by the President of the United States, or in any other case of vacancy, shall, during such vacancy, have the charge and custody of all records, books and papers, appertaining to the said department.

In other words, the Secretary of War is required to appoint a deputy to act in his absence and be responsible for all record keeping. Now we know where the Pentagon’s mammoth bureaucracy has its roots.

Section 3 requires That the said principal officer, and every other person to be appointed or employed in the said department, shall, before he enters on the execution of his office or employment, take an oath or affirmation well and faithfully to execute the trust committed to him. This is the source that all of us, civilian and uniformed military, take to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

In Section 4, restates, even more clearly, the record keeping responsibilities of the Department of War. That the Secretary for the department of war, to be appointed in consequence of this act, shall forthwith after his appointment, be entitled to have the custody and charge of all records, books and papers in the office of Secretary for the department of war, heretofore established by the United States in Congress assembled.

Our Founding Fathers intent wanted the Department of War to be a good steward of the taxpayers’ money. Something that, often thanks to poor decision making by military leaders, the Department of War/Defense and Congressional interference, it has not done.

U.S. history is littered with failed programs that either through walking away or mismanagement have cost us, the taxpayer, trillions. Worse, in some cases, the Department of War/Defense saddled the warfighters with substandard equipment that cost lives.

U.S. Navy photo of test in which the Mk 14 torpedo passes under the target and didn’t explode. The Mk.14s problems plagued the U.S. Navy for the first two and half years of the war.