secretary of defense

1. The civilian head of the United States Department of Defense and a member of the cabinet, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The secretary of defense works with civilian and military advisers to formulate American military policies and make foreign policy recommendations to the president.

Example Sentences

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has managed to ignite cross‑ideological media solidarity with his unprecedented attempt to silence journalists.

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And no less unfortunately, we’re speeding down it quickly with a maniac in the driver’s seat, and it lacks the guardrails of a law-abiding Supreme Court and a constitutionally aware secretary of defense.

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To repair Israel’s standing in the world, “first the war needs to end and quite possibly a new Israeli leadership needs to emerge for it to be a viable project,” said Daniel Shapiro, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel in the Obama administration and as deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East in the Biden administration.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had hollered a similar message in a warmup speech to the senior officers.

Read more on Slate

Looking at the straight-faced generals and admirals—the nation’s top officers, entrusted with the 2.1 million members of the U.S. armed forces and a nearly $1 trillion budget designed to deter and, if necessary, fight wars against real threats and adversaries—one could only wonder what they made of the juvenile fist-bumping by their two highest-ranking civilian overseers, the commander in chief and the secretary of defense.

Read more on Slate