Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense was a pre-War department of the United States government. The full scope of the Department's duties are unclear, given the continued existence of the Department of War by 2077, but they were deeply involved in matters of national security.

Background
In 2069, West Tek was the single largest contractor for the United States government, its largest contract being Powered Infantry Armor Model T-51b. In light of significant advances in 2076 by the West Tek Nuclear Biological Chemical Division on the Pan-Immunity Virion Project, the United States Defense Department, in fear of international espionage, moved a team onto the site to secure and oversee the project, now dubbed the Forced Evolutionary Virus project.

Sometime after the development of the T-51 power armor, the Joint Chiefs of Staff would commission the development of X-01 power armor, with functional prototypes existing before the Great War. While X-01 never saw wide scale deployment, its prototype schematics would serve as the base for the Enclave to develop Advanced power armor into mass production in 2220.

The department worked in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture in the National Water Enhancement Initiative, developing additives to be deployed in the water systems to improve the well-being of United States citizens.

The United States Army contracted REPCONN Aerospace to produce a new line of plasma rifles, to replace the aging P94 plasma caster. As part of the Quantum Plasma Modulation Matter Injection Rifle project, they worked through numerous failures and 34 redesigns before successfully developing a working prototype with some stolen information from a canceled Poseidon Energy project. Individuals suspected to be working for Poseidon Energy conspired with REPCONN's CFO, Julia Masters, to intercept and secure the prototype before it could be delivered to the Department of Defense.

They were also involved in the development of the Appalachian Automated Launch System, a system of automated nuclear missile silos in Appalachia, and an early warning system for inbound nuclear strikes. The warning system gave precedence to military contacts, leaving civilians with little time to prepare. This deeply upset Senator Sam Blackwell of the Appalachian Territory. A concerned member of the department had to send a threatening letter to the senator for fear that he would go public with the information, which would cause widespread panic.

After his company, Hornwright Industrial, developed the Auto-Miner, Daniel Hornwright hoped to continue automating other aspects of the mining industry. He initiated a series of pilot projects, and came across a promising candidate presented to him by a contact within the Defense Department. A project of theirs, the Vertibird, he believed he could automate and attach mineral detectors to, creating an reconnaissance drone able to automatically evaluate mining sites twenty times their current speed.

Shortly before the War, the Department knew that an attack from China was eminent, and began mobilizing units of the National Catastrophe Relief Auxiliary to evacuate the areas surrounding Washington, D.C.

Divisions
The War Relocation Authority was responsible for rounding up anyone anyone they believed posed a threat to national security, namely those of Chinese ancestry, and isolating them from the rest of the population. Chinese-Americans across the country were forced out of their homes and placed in concentration camps.

The United States Department of the Army oversaw the entire United States Army.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff were a pre-War advisory board to the President and Secretary of Defense, made up of the top military leaders of the nation.

The Reclamation and Restoration Division was responsible for the rehabilitation of old military sites, or defunct sources of materiel and supplies vital to the war effort.

The Defense Intelligence Agency was responsible for monitoring the threat of various foreign and domestic powers. They maintained an extensive intelligence network abroad and on the domestic front, comprising human intelligence, signals intelligence, data processing, and more.

Strategic Air Command was a specified command of the Defense Department, responsible for maintaining the United States' nuclear stockpile.

Last Secretary of Defense
On July 16 of 2077, Senator Sam Blackwell had lunch with the Secretary of Defense. The Secretary also sent a joint letter, alongside the President, to Governor Evans of the Appalachian Territory, thanking him for the continuous stream of raw materials supplying the war effort.

During the Great War, the Secretary was supposed to take shelter in the Congressional Bunker alongside the other members of Congress and the President's Cabinet. However, they were removed from the Cabinet Nuclear Alarm system in questionable circumstances, left to fend for themselves in the face of the Great War.

Appearances
The Department of Defense is mentioned in Fallout, Fallout 3, its add-ons Operation: Anchorage and Point Lookout, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4, its add-on Automatron, and Fallout 76. It would have been mentioned in the canceled Fallout 3 project codenamed Van Buren.

Behind the scenes

 * The Department would have been mentioned in Black Isle Studios' canceled Fallout 3 project.
 * The Department of Defense worked in conjunction with a division of Poseidon Energy to develop HERMES armor, intended to be the next generation of combat armor used by elite light infantry troops. It never moved out of the prototype phase, because members of the Enclave tried to keep its development a secret.