Ministry of National Defense (Chile) 2.08

The Ministry of National Defense is the cabinet-level administrative office in charge of "maintaining the independence and sovereignty" of Chile. It is also charged with planning, directing, coordinating, executing, controlling and informing the defense policies formulated by the President of Chile. The minister supervises all the Chilean armed forces. The current Defense Minister is José Antonio Gómez.HistoryDuring the first days of the independence movements, the senior "secretary" of the respective Junta would function as the Secretary of Government with administrative power over the army. The office officially first came to be on March 17, 1814, when then Supreme Director Francisco de la Lastra dictated the Constitutional Norms approved on that date. It was then named Secretariat of War. It was abolished the same year by the Spanish authorities when, after the Battle of Rancagua, they re-asserted royal power.On October 23, 1818, after independence the secretariat was re-established, but this time with the inclusion of the Department of Navy as a "Secretariat of War and Navy" (1818-1837), though in common usage, the secretaries started to be called ministers when they held both secretariats (War and Navy) concurrently. Later on February 1, 1837 the office was officially renamed "Ministry of War and Navy" (1837-1932). In 1924, War and Navy were separated into two independent ministries, but on July 8, 1932 both branches were reunited again into one ministry renamed "Ministry of Defense", with the addition of the department of Aviation that had belonged to the Ministry of the Interior until that date.