A
department is an administrative sector of the
government. It designates administrative areas of (a priori) centralized countries, e.g. the
départements of
France or the
departamentos[?] of
Bolivia.
In some countries (e.g. United States, Switzerland), department is a term used instead of ministry to define a specific sector of the federal government, for example the Department of Justice or Department of Defense. Government departments are usually led by a secretary, administrator[?] or director.
Department, is a term used, by the
US Army, mostly prior to
World War I. In
1920, most of the departments were redesignated as
corps areas. However, the
Hawaiian[?],
Panama Canal[?], and
Philippine Departments retained their old names. In
1939, the
Puerto Rican Department[?] was created and in May of
1941 the Panama Canal and Puerto Rican Departments were combined as the
Caribbean Defense Command[?], although each was still referred to as a department.
See also: military science, Military History of the United States