Index: wp-admin/options-general.php
===================================================================
--- wp-admin/options-general.php	(revision 20143)
+++ wp-admin/options-general.php	(working copy)
@@ -112,6 +112,11 @@
 <span class="description"><?php _e('Enter the address here if you want your site homepage <a href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Giving_WordPress_Its_Own_Directory">to be different from the directory</a> you installed WordPress.'); ?></span></td>
 </tr>
 <tr valign="top">
+<th scope="row"><label for="home"><?php _e('Site Description') ?></label></th>
+<td><textarea name="site_description" rows="5" cols="50" id="site_description" class="regular-text code"><?php echo esc_textarea( get_option( 'site_description' ) ); ?></textarea>
+<span class="description"><?php _e('Enter a longer description of what the site is about. This will be seen by search engines looking at your site.'); ?></span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr valign="top">
 <th scope="row"><label for="admin_email"><?php _e('E-mail Address') ?> </label></th>
 <td><input name="admin_email" type="text" id="admin_email" value="<?php form_option('admin_email'); ?>" class="regular-text ltr" />
 <span class="description"><?php _e('This address is used for admin purposes, like new user notification.') ?></span></td>
Index: wp-admin/options.php
===================================================================
--- wp-admin/options.php	(revision 20143)
+++ wp-admin/options.php	(working copy)
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
 	wp_die(__('Cheatin&#8217; uh?'));
 
 $whitelist_options = array(
-	'general' => array( 'blogname', 'blogdescription', 'gmt_offset', 'date_format', 'time_format', 'start_of_week', 'timezone_string' ),
+	'general' => array( 'blogname', 'blogdescription', 'site_description', 'gmt_offset', 'date_format', 'time_format', 'start_of_week', 'timezone_string' ),
 	'discussion' => array( 'default_pingback_flag', 'default_ping_status', 'default_comment_status', 'comments_notify', 'moderation_notify', 'comment_moderation', 'require_name_email', 'comment_whitelist', 'comment_max_links', 'moderation_keys', 'blacklist_keys', 'show_avatars', 'avatar_rating', 'avatar_default', 'close_comments_for_old_posts', 'close_comments_days_old', 'thread_comments', 'thread_comments_depth', 'page_comments', 'comments_per_page', 'default_comments_page', 'comment_order', 'comment_registration' ),
 	'media' => array( 'thumbnail_size_w', 'thumbnail_size_h', 'thumbnail_crop', 'medium_size_w', 'medium_size_h', 'large_size_w', 'large_size_h', 'image_default_size', 'image_default_align', 'image_default_link_type', 'embed_autourls', 'embed_size_w', 'embed_size_h' ),
 	'privacy' => array( 'blog_public' ),
Index: wp-includes/default-filters.php
===================================================================
--- wp-includes/default-filters.php	(revision 20143)
+++ wp-includes/default-filters.php	(working copy)
@@ -199,6 +199,7 @@
 add_action( 'wp_head',             'wp_enqueue_scripts',              1     );
 add_action( 'wp_head',             'feed_links',                      2     );
 add_action( 'wp_head',             'feed_links_extra',                3     );
+add_action( 'wp_head',             'the_description'                        );
 add_action( 'wp_head',             'rsd_link'                               );
 add_action( 'wp_head',             'wlwmanifest_link'                       );
 add_action( 'wp_head',             'adjacent_posts_rel_link_wp_head', 10, 0 );
Index: wp-includes/general-template.php
===================================================================
--- wp-includes/general-template.php	(revision 20143)
+++ wp-includes/general-template.php	(working copy)
@@ -2212,6 +2212,49 @@
 }
 
 /**
+ * Display the site description.
+ *
+ * Outputs the site description from the Settings->General field.
+ *
+ * @since 3.4.0
+ * @uses apply_filters() Calls 'the_description' hook.
+ *
+ * @param string $type The type of description to output - (html|meta)
+ */
+function the_description( $type = '' ) {
+	echo apply_filters('the_description', get_the_description($type), $type) . "\n";
+}
+
+/**
+ * Creates the description output
+ *
+ * Returns the correct site description type for the requested output format. Allows
+ * for a plugin to filter generators on an individual basis using the
+ * 'get_the_description_{$type}' filter.
+ *
+ * @since 3.4.0
+ * @uses apply_filters() Calls 'get_the_description_$type' hook.
+ *
+ * @param string $type The type of description to return - (html|meta) defaults to meta
+ * @return string The HTML content for the description.
+ */
+function get_the_description( $type = '' ) {
+	if ( empty( $type ) )
+		$type = 'meta';
+		
+	switch ( $type ) {
+		case 'html':
+			$des = get_option('site_description');
+			break;
+		case 'meta':
+			$des = '<meta name="description" content="' . esc_attr( get_option('site_description') ) . '" />';
+			break;
+	}
+	return apply_filters( 'get_the_description_{$type}', $des, $type );
+}
+
+
+/**
  * Outputs the html checked attribute.
  *
  * Compares the first two arguments and if identical marks as checked