White House Military Office WHMO

Military personnel have supported presidents since the Civil War, but the support grew enormously with the Second World War and the nuclear age, when the President needed to be able to command the armed forces from anywhere. The White House Military Office was organized in its modern form in 1977 to manage these units under a single director, usually a civilian senior White House official, with military aides assigned from each service.

Its components include the Presidential Airlift Group, which flies Air Force One, the Marine helicopter squadron HMX-1, which flies Marine One, the White House Communications Agency, which provides secure communications wherever the President goes, the Camp David retreat, the White House Medical Unit, the Presidential Food Service, and the Presidential Contingency Programs that support continuity of government. Several thousand military members serve in these units.

The President's military aides, drawn in rotation from each branch, accompany the President at all times and carry the emergency satchel known as the nuclear football, which holds the materials needed to authorize a nuclear strike. The office also coordinates with the Secret Service, which handles physical protection, and with the Defense Department, which funds most of its operations.