Title 10 of the United States Code in the context of "Secretary of the Navy"

The United States Department of the Air Force (DAF) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The Department of the Air Force was formed on September 18, 1947, per the National Security Act of 1947 (codified into Title 10 of the United States Code) and it is the military department within which the United States Air Force and the United States Space Force are organized.

The Department of the Air Force is headed by the secretary of the Air Force (SAF/OS), a civilian, who has the authority to conduct all of its affairs, subject to the authority, direction and control of the secretary of defense. The secretary of the Air Force's principal deputy is the under secretary of the Air Force (SAF/US). Their senior staff assistants in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force are five assistant secretaries for acquisition, technology & logistics; financial management & comptroller; installations, environment & energy; manpower & reserve affairs; and space acquisition & integration and a general counsel. The highest-ranking military officers in the department, and senior military advisers to the secretary, are the chief of staff of the Air Force and chief of space operations.

The United States has eight federal uniformed services that commission officers as defined by Title 10 and subsequently structured and organized by Titles 10, 14, 32, 33, and 42 of the U.S. Code.

The chief of staff of the Army (CSA) is a statutory position in the United States Army held by a general officer. As the highest-ranking officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, the chief is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the secretary of the Army. In a separate capacity, the CSA is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (10 U.S.C. § 151) and, thereby, a military advisor to the National Security Council, the secretary of defense, and the president of the United States. The CSA is typically the highest-ranking officer on active duty in the U.S. Army unless the chairman or the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are Army officers.

The chief of staff of the Army is an administrative position based in the Pentagon. While the CSA does not have operational command authority over Army forces proper (which is within the purview of the combatant commanders who report to the secretary of defense), the CSA does exercise supervision of army units and organizations as the designee of the secretary of the Army.

The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the U.S. military's reserve components of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force when activated for federal missions. It is a military reserve force composed of National Guard military members or units of each state, the territories of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, for a total of 54 separate organizations. It is officially created under Congress's Article I, Section 8 enumerated power to "raise and support Armies". All members of the National Guard are also members of the organized militia of the United States as defined by 10 U.S.C. § 246. National Guard units are under the dual control of U.S. state governments and the U.S. federal government.

The majority of National Guard soldiers and airmen hold a civilian job full-time while serving part-time as a National Guard member. These part-time guardsmen are augmented by a full-time cadre of Active Guard & Reserve (AGR) personnel in both the Army National Guard and Air National Guard, plus Army Reserve Technicians in the Army National Guard and Air Reserve Technicians (ART) in the Air National Guard.

The secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer (10 U.S.C. § 8013) and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On March 25, 2025, John Phelan was confirmed as Secretary of the Navy.

By law, the secretary of the Navy must be a civilian at least seven years removed from active military service (10 U.S.C. § 8013). The secretary is appointed by the president and requires confirmation by the Senate.

Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics) (SAF/AQ) is a civilian position in the Department of the Air Force that is appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate. This position is established under Title 10 US Code Section 9016 and is one of five assistant secretary positions under the secretary of the air force. The assistant secretary reports to the secretary of the air force.

Under the law a principal military deputy serves with the assistant secretary of the air force for acquisition. The principal military deputy is required to be an active duty officer with a background in acquisition and program management. If the assistant secretary position is vacant the law permits the principal military deputy to serve up to a year as the acting assistant secretary. Of the five assistant secretary positions established by law, only the assistant secretary for acquisition is required to have a principal military deputy.

The assistant secretary of the air force for space acquisition and integration (SAF/SQ) is a civilian position in the United States Department of the Air Force that is appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate. This position is established under Title 10 US Code Section 9016. The assistant secretary reports to the secretary of the air force.

Title 50 of the United States Code outlines the role of War and National Defense in the United States Code.

• Chapter 1: Council of National Defense
• Chapter 2: Board of Ordnance and Fortification (repealed)
• Chapter 3: Alien Enemies
• Chapter 4: Espionage (repealed/transferred)
• Chapter 4a: Photographing, Sketching, Mapping, Etc., Defensive Installations (repealed)
• Chapter 4b: Disclosure of Classified Information (repealed)
• Chapter 4c: Atomic Weapons and Special Nuclear Materials Information Rewards
• Chapter 5: Arsenals, Armories, Arms, And War Material Generally
• Chapter 6: Willful Destruction, Etc., Of War Or National-Defense Material (repealed)
• Chapter 7: Interference With Homing Pigeons Owned by United States (repealed)
• Chapter 8: Explosives; Manufacture, Distribution, Storage, Use, And Possession Regulated (repealed)
• Chapter 9: Aircraft (repealed/transferred/omitted)
• Chapter 10: Helium Gas
• Chapter 11: Acquisition Of And Expenditures On Land For National-Defense Purposes (repealed/transferred/omitted)
• Chapter 12: Vessels In Territorial Waters of United States
• Chapter 13: Insurrection
• Chapter 14: Wartime Voting by Land and Naval Forces (repealed)
• Chapter 15: National Security (transferred)
• Chapter 16: Defense Industrial Reserves
• Chapter 17: Arming American Vessels (repealed)
• Chapter 18: Air-Warning Screen
• Chapter 19: Guided Missiles
• Chapter 20: Wind Tunnels
• Chapter 21: Abacá Production (omitted)
• Chapter 22: Uniform Code of Military Justice Repealed – see Title 10 of the United States Code
• Chapter 22a: Representation Of Armed Forces Personnel Before Foreign Judicial Tribunals (repealed)
• Chapter 23: Internal Security
• Chapter 24: National Defense Facilities (repealed)
• Chapter 25: Armed Forces Reserve (repealed/omitted)
• Chapter 26: Gifts for Defense Purposes (repealed)
• Chapter 27: Reserve Officer Personnel Program (repealed/omitted)
• Chapter 28: Status of Armed Forces Personnel Appointed to Service Academies (repealed)
• Chapter 29: National Defense Contracts
• Chapter 30: Federal Absentee Voting Assistance (transferred)
• Chapter 31: Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (transferred)
• Chapter 32: Chemical and Biological Warfare Program
• Chapter 33: War Powers Resolution
• Chapter 34: National Emergencies
• Chapter 35: International Emergency Economic Powers
• Chapter 36: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
• Chapter 37: National Security Scholarships, Fellowships, and Grants
• Chapter 38: Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability
• Chapter 39: Spoils of War
• Chapter 40: Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction
• Chapter 41: National Nuclear Security Administration
• Chapter 42: Atomic Energy Defense Provisions
• Chapter 43: Preventing Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism
• Chapter 44: National Security
• Chapter 45: Miscellaneous Intelligence Community Authorities
• Chapter 46: Central Intelligence Agency
• Chapter 47: National Security Agency
• Chapter 48: Department of Defense Cooperative Threat Reduction
• Chapter 49: Military Selective Service
• Chapter 50: Servicemembers Civil Relief
• Chapter 51: War Claims
• Chapter 52: Restitution for World War II Internment of Japanese Americans and Aleuts
• Chapter 53: Trading with the Enemy
• Chapter 54: Merchant Ship Sales (repealed/transferred)
• Chapter 55: Defense Production Act
• Chapter 56: Export Administration
• Chapter 57: Claims Under the Clarification Act
• Chapter 58: Export Control Reform