(September 2015) The Finnish Defence Command (Finnish: PÃ¤Ã¤esikunta, Swedish: Huvudstaben) is the headquarters of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its duty is to care for the maintenance, planning and preparedness of the military defence of the realm.
Making foreign policy requires the participation of the President, the executive branch, Congress and the public. Conducting foreign policy, on the other hand, is the exclusive prerogative of the President and his subordinates in the executive branch. The distinction is fuzzy but important: you make policy when you decide to protect the security of the Persian Gulf; you conduct policy when you send the Navy to do it.
The US Department of State is responsible for handling the foreign affairs of the United States government. The State Department, originally known as the Department of Foreign Affairs when it was created in 1789, is the oldest of the cabinet-level agencies in the Executive Branch.