(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 the Hawaii emergency management agency as established in section 127A-3.
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 Hawaii emergency management agency in the absence of the adjutant general, as director of the agency, shall be within the agency.
(b) 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.