§26-21  Department of defense.  (a)  The
department of defense shall be headed by a single executive to be known as the
adjutant general.  The adjutant general shall also be the director of civil
defense.



There shall be a full-time vice director of
civil defense who shall be appointed and may be removed by the director.



The department shall be responsible for the
defense of the State and its people from mass violence, originating from either
human or natural causes.



The devolution of command of the military
forces in the absence of the adjutant general shall be within the military
establishment.  The devolution of command of the civil defense agency in the
absence of the director of civil defense shall be within the civil defense
agency.



(b)  There shall be within the department of
defense a commission to be known as the civil defense advisory council which
shall sit in an advisory capacity to the director of civil defense on matters
pertaining to civil defense.  The composition of the commission shall be as
heretofore provided by law for the civil defense advisory council existing
immediately prior to November 25, 1959.



(c)  The functions and authority heretofore
exercised by the military department and the civil defense agency as heretofore
constituted are transferred to the department of defense established by this
chapter.



The office of veterans' services and the
advisory board on veterans' services as constituted by chapter 363 are placed
within the department of defense for administrative purposes. [L Sp 1959 2d, c
1, §28; Supp, §14A-27; HRS §26-21; am L 1969, c 122, §1; am L 1981, c 82, §2
and c 135, §4; am L 1988, c 115, §2]