Defence Secretary (Mexico)

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The **Secretary for National Defence** (Spanish: **Secretario del la Defensa Nacional**), colloquially known as the **Defence Secretary** or as the **Minister of Defence**, is a senior government position in Mexico and a member of the Council of Ministers. Within the Mexican order of precedence, the secretary for national defence is the fourth highest civil office. The office's control over the armed forces and influence within the joint chiefs of staff makes the secretary for national defence one of the most powerful and influential figures within government.

As head of the Secretariat of National Defence, the defence secretary is responsible for the political oversight of the Mexican armed forces and for ensuring that the armed forces enact the directives of the Mexican government. Whilst the minister is not the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, they are constitutionally empowered to take command of the armed forces during periods of "exceptional military circumstances" and have the power to make promotions and change commands without direct oversight, though these changes can be halted either by imperial decree or by the passing of an act through the Congress of Mexico. The defence secretary is responsible to both the prime minister and to congress, and is expected to inform congress of the actions of the Secretariat of National Defence through legislative questioning, select committees, and the publication of written statements. Within government, the defence secretary is required to work closely with the treasury secretary to secure funding for the maintenance and expansion of the Mexican armed forces.

Similarly to all government ministers, the secretary for national defence is appointed by the emperor at the recommendation of the prime minister, though the emperor retains the power to reject a recommendation. The incumbent officeholder must either be a sitting member of the Congress of Mexico or a serving member of the armed forces in order to hold office, but is not subject to any term limits for their position. Instead, they serve at the pleasure of the emperor, who has the power to dismiss the secretary for national defence at any given point. Similarly, the Congress of Mexico also has the power to remove the defence secretary from office with a simple majority vote, but the emperor can veto any such resolution. Like most other cabinet ministers, the secretary for national defence is bound by departmental responsibility; this means that any failures of the Secretariat for National Defence are automatically considered to be failures of the incumbent minister, who is consequently expected to offer their resignation to either the emperor or the prime minister.

The office of secretary of State for Defence was first created in November 1828 during a government reshuffle by prime minister Valentín Gómez Farías. Since the office's creation, there have been 13 people to hold office as secretary of national defence, across 18 separate periods in office. The longest serving defence secretary was Rafael Perez Maldonado, who served for 23 years and 348 days between 1828 and 1852. The shortest serving finance secretary was Juan Almonte, who served for 151 days during the First Mexican Revolution before vacating the office after assuming the office of president in 1870.

## See Also

* President of the Council of Ministers of Mexico