It’s a fairly recent development. It was created as the department of war by Washington and remained that until 1947 where it split into the departments of the air force and army, joining the already existing department of the navy, which together made up the national military establishment (NME), which was renamed 2 years later to the DOD.

• Military-industrial complex
• War machine
• Merchants of death

There are many names.

“The Ministry of Peace”

-Orwell

“Gentlemen! You can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!”

• President Muffley, in Dr Strangelove

Old joke from when I was in engineering college.

What’s the difference between a electrical engineer and a civil engineer?

One builds the bombs one builds the targets.

You’re talking about the same industry that coined the term “preemptive strike” instead of calling it what it is: starting a war.

“I didn’t shoot a baby, I neutralized a threat!” - the IDF

I’ve always heard to it referred to as the “military industrial complex”. Eisenhower tried to warn us about it in the 1950s.

They also cause Famines, Plagues, and Pestilence. They have whole departments devoted to nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

They’re not a one trick pony.

Yeah … no.

Ask Europeans if they feel working in that industry right now feels like anything but for defensive reasons.

For countries like Finland, the Ministry of Defense is not about offense, and is very heavily armed.

The attack industry

Soon to be the “Ministry of Peace”.

You just realized that?

WWII was the war to end all wars, so we couldn’t have a department of war anymore. Still “needed” and army , navy, marines and all the weapons for them though so we created the department of defense.