U.S. Department of Defense, executive division of the U.S. federal government responsible for ensuring national security and supervising U.S. military forces. Based in the Pentagon, it includes the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the departments of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force, and numerous
In 1975, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was captured by the FBI in San Francisco, 19 months after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.