Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense
Integrate strategic priorities, assign departmental responsibilities, approve reserved actions, and resolve cross-component resource and execution issues.
29 routing nodes
Find responsible offices
Understand what each office contributes, what it does not control, and which research records mention its role.
29 office routing nodes
These entries include overlapping umbrella organizations and specific executors. They are not 29 independent approval authorities. Additional partners remain visible in individual capability records.
USD(Policy)
Translate national strategy into defense strategy, campaign/contingency planning guidance, force-posture policy, and Defense Planning Guidance; oversee DoD export-control policy.
USD(Research and Engineering)
Chief technology officer; supervise research, technology development, experimentation, prototyping and transition. FY2026 law explicitly adds directive authority within assigned responsibility and developmental prototyping/field experimentation.
USD(Acquisition and Sustainment)
Chief acquisition/sustainment and senior procurement executive; defense industrial-base, materials, logistics, maintenance, contract-administration and international industrial-cooperation policy.
Assistant Secretary for International Armaments Cooperation
Statutory office established in FY2026 under USD(A&S) for international armaments and industrial-base cooperation responsibilities.
USD(Comptroller) and component comptrollers
Prepare and execute budgets, oversee fiscal/accounting policy, identify appropriation availability, and assemble transfer/reprogramming requests. Component account owners connect the chosen authority to lawful funds.
Director, Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE)
Provide independent cost and program assessment to support resource tradeoffs, alternatives, and program decisions.
USD(Intelligence and Security)
Direct and supervise Military Intelligence Program policy, planning, execution and resource use; carry out delegated DoD National Intelligence Program functions; oversee personnel, physical and industrial security and information protection.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Joint Staff
Develop joint military advice and requirements priorities; assess capability shortfalls and plans; route qualifying Combatant Commander Initiative Fund support.
Combatant commands and component commands
Define campaign needs and integrate capabilities into plans and operations. FY2026 §873 authorizes experimentation, prototyping and technology demonstrations addressing command operational needs; a commander’s post-demonstration written determination may satisfy specified noncompetitive-acquisition justification and capability-need requirements. This authority sunsets September 30, 2028.
USSOCOM and its acquisition executive
Validate SOF requirements, propose resources and develop/acquire special-operations-peculiar equipment, materiel, supplies and services; coordinate supporting military departments.
Department of the Army
Army Secretary and responsible acquisition, science, contracting, installation and logistics organizations carry out the Army’s express organizing, supplying, equipping, construction, maintenance and related functions. Specific offices appear in capability records.
Department of the Navy, including Marine Corps
Navy Secretary and Navy/Marine Corps acquisition, research, systems, contracting, logistics and facilities organizations connect requirements to execution. Specific systems commands and offices appear in capability records.
Department of the Air Force, including Space Force
Air Force Secretary and Air Force/Space Force acquisition, laboratory, contracting, space and installation organizations provide departmental acquisition and resource pathways.
Defense Agencies and DoD Field Activities / fourth estate
Provide cross-Service supply, information, logistics, contracting support, research, intelligence and security functions. DLA, DISA, DARPA, DCMA, DCAA, DIA, NGA, NSA, NRO, DCSA and other named organizations are mapped where a capability needs them.
Office of Strategic Capital
Use the §149 credit/capital-assistance architecture and partner with appropriate industrial and private-finance actors.
General Counsel, component counsel and authorized award officials
Counsel test the chosen mechanism against law; the actual contracting, grants, agreements, real-property, credit or claims official exercises the particular delegated authority.
DDI Programs, Resources & Enterprise Management (PREM)
Enterprise capability/resource routing within OUSD(I&S): connect ISR, battlespace-awareness, analysis, architecture/PED and MIP/security-resource requirements to the responsible program owners. Route an unfunded intelligence capability here for alignment and advocacy, then to its agency/Service comptroller and execution office.
DDI Sensitive Activities & Special Programs (SASP)
Route sensitive-activity and special-program proposals through the offices responsible for HUMINT, national programs and special programs; align their mission sponsor, legal/oversight review and properly authorized implementing element.
DDI Counterintelligence, Law Enforcement & Security (CL&S)
Policy/integration route across information and acquisition protection, personnel vetting, physical/operations security, CI/identity intelligence and law enforcement. Pair industrial-protection requirements with DCSA, affected program owners and competent investigative partners.
DDI Warfighter Support (WS)
Connect geographic/functional command intelligence needs with Defense intelligence programs and international partnerships. Regional desks, Global Operations & Integration, WMD Deterrence and Global Partnerships offer public routing points for aligning demand and partner arrangements.
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
Route all-source military intelligence and applicable Defense HUMINT/CI requirements to the appropriate DIA mission sponsor. Its finance/acquisition workforce provides programming, budgeting, allocation and contracting functions. DIA-specific pathways include foreign shared-intelligence funding and narrowly authorized confidential NIP expenses.
Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA)
For contractor protection, route through Industrial Security and relevant field support for facility security, FOCI mitigation and protected-information risk. Personnel Security handles workforce vetting; CI/Insider Threat supports those missions and coordinates external partners; Security Training builds practitioner capability.
National Security Agency / Central Security Service (NSA/CSS)
Statutory SIGINT mission element and a route for cryptologic R&D requirements. Director NSA has express grant authority for qualifying cryptologic research; foreign cryptologic support uses its separate purpose-limited funding pathway. Pair a technical sponsor with the agency acquisition/grants and financial offices.
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
Route geospatial-data and service needs to the mission/program owner and authorized acquisition or exchange officials. NGA has specific tools for government/partner product exchange, bounded nongovernmental exchanges and use of map-sale receipts to pay foreign data-acquisition fees.
National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
Statutory overhead-reconnaissance R&D, acquisition and operating mission. Route commercial remote-sensing proposals to NRO mission/acquisition channels; its February 2026 commercial-contract announcement is public evidence of actual commercial acquisition activity, not merely a planning aspiration.
Army Counterintelligence Command (ACIC)
Army CI routing for foreign-intelligence threats to modernization, critical infrastructure and theater requirements. Its regional headquarters, battalions and local offices provide CI support to commanders and organizations; pair affected acquisition/security programs with the appropriate supporting CI element.
Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), including Economic Crimes Field Office
NCIS provides a Department of the Navy investigative route; its Economic Crimes Field Office specifically addresses procurement fraud, corruption, product substitution and foreign exploitation of acquisition. Route relevant allegations through competent investigators, coordinated with program/contract officials; DOJ and U.S. Attorneys handle prosecution.
Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI)
Investigative/CI partner serving Air Force and Space Force equities. Route technology-protection and foreign-threat concerns affecting relevant programs through AFOSI and the responsible program/security office; public OSI material identifies support for both Services and engagement around advanced technology.