10 U.S.C. § 133b — Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment

(a) Under Secretary of Defense. There is an Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. The President appoints this person from civilian life, with the Senate's advice and consent. The Under Secretary must come from people with extensive experience in system development, engineering, production, or managing complex programs. As with the Research and Engineering post, someone cannot take this job until seven years have passed since they left active duty as a commissioned officer in a regular branch of the armed forces. (b) Duties and Powers. Acting under the Secretary of Defense's authority, the Under Secretary performs the duties the Secretary assigns, including: (1) serving as the Department's chief acquisition and sustainment officer, delivering capabilities quickly and keeping the military's advantage cost-effective; (2) setting policy for, and supervising, acquisition — including designing, developing, producing, and procuring goods and services — and sustainment, including logistics, maintenance, and keeping equipment ready; (3) setting policy for access to the defense industrial base and critical materials, and for contract administration; (4) setting policy for, and overseeing, the nuclear command, control, and communications system; (5) serving in several roles at once — the Secretary's main advisor on acquisition and sustainment; the Department's senior procurement executive; the Defense Acquisition Executive; chairman of the Nuclear Weapons Council; and co-chairman of the Council on Oversight of the National Leadership Command, Control, and Communications System; (6) overseeing the sustainment and modernization of U.S. nuclear forces, including nuclear command, control, and communications, and military programs that defend against chemical and biological weapons and counter weapons of mass destruction; (7) directing the secretaries of the military departments and other Department leaders on matters the Under Secretary is responsible for — except that for a military service's own acquisition programs, where that service's acquisition executive makes the final decision, the Under Secretary only advises rather than directs; (8) when the Secretary directs it, overseeing all civilian and military staff in the Office of the Secretary of Defense on matters the Under Secretary is responsible for, unless another law says otherwise; (9) advising the Secretary on the defense acquisition system, on core logistics capabilities, and on the national technology and industrial base; and (10) advising the Secretary on, setting policy for, and supervising, international cooperation on industrial-base matters — joint development and production, reciprocal production, exportability, supply chain security, and related agreements. (c) Precedence in the Department of Defense. (1) On matters the Under Secretary is responsible for, this person ranks in the Department after the Secretary, the Deputy Secretary, and the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. (2) On every other matter, the Under Secretary ranks after those three officials plus the secretaries of the military departments.