Secretariat of National Defense (Mexico)

The Mexican Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA); Spanish: Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional is the government department responsible for managing Mexico's Army and Air Forces. Its head is the Secretary of National Defense who, like the co-equal Secretary of the Navy, is directly answerable to the President.[1] Before 1937, the position was called the Secretary of War and of the Navy (Secretaría de Guerra y Marina). The agency has its headquarters in Lomas de Sotelo, Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City.[2] Some key figures who answer directly to the Secretary are the Assistant Secretary, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, and all military tribunals.

Mexico
Secretariat of National Defense

Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional (SEDENA)
Logo of the Mexican Secretariat of National Defense
Ministry of Defence overview
Formed	1821 (1821) (As War and Navy Secretariat)
Preceding Ministry of Defence	War and Navy Secretariat (1821–1937)
Jurisdiction	Mexico
Headquarters	Boulevard Manuel Ávila Camacho S/N. Esq. Av. Ind. Mil. Col. Lomas de Sotelo; Deleg. Miguel Hidalgo Mexico City, 11200 19°26′25″N 99°12′57″W
Minister responsible	Luis Cresencio Sandoval, Secretary of National Defense
Parent department	President of Mexico
Child agencies	Mexican Army Mexican Air Force
Website	www.gob.mx/sedena

Under the Federal Public Administration Act (Ley Orgánica de la Administración Pública Federal), the Secretary has the following duties:

• Organize, administer and prepare the Army and the Air Force.
• Organize and prepare the National Military Service.
• Management of the Army, Air Force, National Guard and armed contingents which don't belong to state's national guard.
• Plan, direct and handle mobilization of the country in the event of war; formulating and executing, in due case, plans and orders necessary to the country defense, as well as directing and advising civil defense.
• Construct and prepare the forts and all kind of military buildings for Army and Air Force use, as well as administration of barracks, hospitals and other military buildings.
• Administer military justice.
• Acquire and build armaments, ammunition, and all kinds of materials and elements for the use of Army and Air Force.
• Grant permission for an expedition force to enter another country or to allow another country to send their forces to Mexico.
• Manage the issuing of licenses to bear firearms with the aim of preventing the use of arms expressly banned in law and also those types of arms restricted by the state for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy and National Guard, with the exception of what is established by the 13th section of Article 30 of the Constitution, as well as the supervision and issuing of permits for the sale, transport and storage of firearms, chemical weapons, explosives and strategic weapons.