The United States Defense Department was the command authority for the United States of America's military forces, based in the Pentagon. In 1984, the Defense Department was secretly funding the research at Da Vinci Research Base through the Environmental Protection Agency and National Institute of Science in order to create a superweapon that would allow them to control Earth's atmosphere. Their chance of getting this weapon was blown when Gary Seven convinved the project's lead scientist, Wilson Evergreen, to blow up the base and destroy his research. (TOS novel: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 1)