10 U.S.C. § 132: Deputy Secretary of Defense

There is a Deputy Secretary of Defense, appointed from civilian life by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Deputy Secretary shall be appointed from among persons most highly qualified for the position by reason of background and experience, including persons with appropriate management experience. A person may not be appointed as Deputy Secretary of Defense within seven years after relief from active duty as a commissioned officer of a regular component of an armed force. The Deputy Secretary shall perform such duties and exercise such powers as the Secretary of Defense may prescribe. The Deputy Secretary shall act for, and exercise the powers of, the Secretary when the Secretary dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to perform the functions and duties of the office. The Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Appropriations, and the majority and minority leaders of the Senate. The Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Appropriations, the Speaker, and the minority leader of the House of Representatives. The Deputy Secretary takes precedence in the Department of Defense immediately after the Secretary. Executive Order No. 13299 of May 12, 2003 (68 Fed. Reg. 25477; 48 U.S.C. note prec. 1451; relating to the Interagency Group on Insular Affairs). Executive Order No. 12788 of January 15, 1992 , as amended (57 Fed. Reg. 2213; relating to the Defense Economic Adjustment Program). The staff of the Director of the Strategic Capabilities Office shall include a senior contracting official (as defined in section 1737 of title 10 , United States Code) who shall have the authority to enter into and administer contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and other transactions in execution of the program activities of the Strategic Capabilities Office. The authorities described in subsection (a) shall take effect 30 days after the date on which the Secretary of Defense submits the plan described in paragraph (2). A plan for oversight of the senior contracting official described under subsection (a). An assessment of the acquisition workforce needs of the Strategic Capabilities Office to support the authority provided under subsection (a). Other matters as appropriate.” close collaboration with the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, the combatant commands, and the military services regarding operational requirements and requirements satisfaction relating to joint all domain command and control; and objective assessments to the Deputy Secretary and Vice Chairman about the progress of the Department of Defense in achieving the objectives of joint all domain command and control. identify a prioritized list of difficult mission-critical operational challenges specific to the area of operations of the designated commands; design and recommend resourcing options, through the Office of Cost Analysis and Program Evaluation and the Management Action Group of the Deputy Secretary, a series of multi-domain, multi-service and multi-agency, multi-platform, and multisystem end-to-end integrated kinetic and non-kinetic mission threads, including necessary battle management functions, to solve the operational challenges identified in clause (i); demonstrate the ability to execute the integrated mission threads identified in clause (ii) in realistic conditions on a repeatable basis, including the ability to achieve, through mission integration software, interoperability among effects chain components that do not conform to common interface standards, including the use of the System of Systems Technology Integration Tool Chain for Heterogeneous Electronic Systems (commonly known as ‘STITCHES’) managed by the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing of the Department of the Air Force; and create a plan to deploy the mission threads to the area of operations of the United States Indo-Pacific Command and such other combatant commands as may be designated by Deputy Secretary, and execute the mission threads at the scale and pace required to solve the identified operational challenges, including necessary logistics and sustainment capabilities. Designate organizations to serve as transition partners for integrated mission threads and ensure such integrated mission threads are maintained and exercised as operational capabilities in the United States Indo-Pacific Command and such other combatant commands as may be designated by Deputy Secretary. serving as mission managers for composing and demonstrating the integrated mission threads under the mission management pilot program established by section 871 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 ( Public Law 117–81 ; 10 U.S.C. 191 note); providing continuing support and sustainment for, and training and exercising of, the integrated mission threads under the operational command of the Commander of United States Indo-Pacific Command and such other combatant commands as may be designated by Deputy Secretary; Joint data integration approaches; mission integration capabilities, especially software; and Joint tactics, techniques, and procedures; assisting in fielding mission integration software to encourage the development and employment of such software on a larger scale, especially at the designated combatant commands; assessing and integrating, as appropriate, the capabilities of Assault Breaker II, developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and related developmental efforts as those efforts transition to operational deployment; and integrating joint all domain command and control mission threads and mission command and control, including in conflicts that arise with minimal warning, and exercising other joint all domain command and control capabilities and functions. the Production, Exploitation, and Dissemination Center in the United States Indo-Pacific Command; the Family of Integrated Targeting Cells; and the tactical dissemination and information sharing systems for the Armed Forces and allies of the United States, including the Mission Partner Environment and the Maven Smart System. to support the emphasis of the National Defense Strategy on adversary-specific deterrence postures; critical mission threads, such as kinetic kill chains and non-kinetic effects chains; and integrated concepts of operation; to support demonstrations and experimentation; and to achieve the objectives of the Joint All Domain Command and Control Strategy and Implementation Plan approved by the Deputy Secretary of Defense. beginning in the third quarter of fiscal year 2023, demonstrate new integrated mission threads on a regularly recurring basis multiple times each year; and include such demonstrations, as feasible, in the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve campaign of experimentation, Valiant Shield, Northern Edge, the Large Scale Global Exercise, the quarterly Scarlet Dragon exercises, the Global Information Dominance Experiments, and annual force exercises in the area of responsibility of the United States Indo-Pacific Command. The term ‘Deputy Secretary’ means the Deputy Secretary of Defense. The term ‘Family of Integrated Targeting Cells’ means the Maritime Targeting Cell-Afloat, the Maritime Targeting Cell-Expeditionary, the Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node, Tactical Operations Center Medium/Light, and other interoperable command and control nodes that are able to task the collection of, receive, process, and disseminate track and targeting information from many sensing systems in disconnected, denied, intermittent or limited bandwidth conditions. The term ‘joint all domain command and control’ refers to the warfighting capabilities that support commander decision making at all echelons from campaigning to conflict, across all domains, and with partners, to deliver information advantage. The term ‘mission command’ is the employment of military operations through decentralized execution based upon mission-type orders and the intent of commanders. The terms ‘mission thread’, ‘kill chain’, and ‘effects chain’ have the meanings given those terms in the publication of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering titled ‘Mission Engineering Guide’ and dated November 2020. The term ‘Vice Chairman’ means the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.” The Deputy Secretary of Defense shall exercise authority and direction over the Strategic Capabilities Office of the Department of Defense (referred to in this section as the ‘Office’). The Director of the Office shall report directly to the Deputy Secretary of Defense. In exercising authority and direction over the Office under subsection (a), the Deputy Secretary of Defense may delegate administrative, management, and other duties to the Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, as needed, to effectively and efficiently execute the mission of the Office. research and development programs of the military services and other agencies of the Department of Defense; and programs of such services and agencies in operational use. A technical cross functional team to improve the continuous technical assessment and review of the programs of the Office during program selection and execution. The Deputy Secretary of Defense shall select individuals to serve on the cross-functional teams described in paragraph (1) from among individuals in the defense research and engineering enterprise, acquisition community, Joint Staff, combatant commands, and other organizations, as determined to be appropriate by the Deputy Secretary.” The Secretary of Defense shall assign duties and authorities relating to the management of the business operations of the Department of Defense. The Secretary shall assign such duties and authorities to the Chief Management Officer as are necessary for that official to effectively and efficiently organize the business operations of the Department of Defense. The Secretary shall assign such duties and authorities to the Deputy Chief Management Officer as are necessary for that official to assist the Chief Management Officer to effectively and efficiently organize the business operations of the Department of Defense. The Deputy Chief Management Officer shall perform the duties and have the authorities assigned by the Secretary under subparagraph (C) and perform such duties and have such authorities as are delegated by the Chief Management Officer.” The Secretary of a military department shall assign duties and authorities relating to the management of the business operations of such military department. The Secretary of a military department, in assigning duties and authorities under paragraph (1) shall designate the Under Secretary of such military department to have the primary management responsibility for business operations, to be known in the performance of such duties as the Chief Management Officer. The Secretary shall assign such duties and authorities to the Chief Management Officer as are necessary for that official to effectively and efficiently organize the business operations of the military department concerned. The Chief Management Officer of each military department shall promptly provide such information relating to the business operations of such department to the Chief Management Officer of the Department of Defense as is necessary to assist the Chief Management Officer in the performance of the duties assigned to such official.”