National Security Committee

Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, formerly the House Committee on Armed Services, which is a standing committee of Congress concerned with national security issues. The National Security Committee is responsible for supervising the activities of and making appropriations to support the military forces of the United States.

Composed of approximately 55 members of Congress and a staff more than twice as large, the National Security Committee includes five subcommittees with responsibility for military installations and facilities, military personnel, military procurement, military readiness, and military research and development. The committee was established on January 2, 1947, as a part of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, by merging the Committee on Military Affairs and the Committee on Naval Affairs. The committee has jurisdiction over military and naval activities and appropriations, as well as oversight jurisdiction to review and study on a continuing basis all laws, programs, and government activities dealing with or involving international arms control and disarmament and the education of military dependents in schools.

The committee also has jurisdiction over ammunition depots; forts; arsenals; Army, Navy, and Air Force reservations and establishments; the common defense in general; conservation, development, and use of naval petroleum and oil shale reserves; and general aspects of the Department of Defense (DoD). The [Page 500]House of Representatives granted the committee additional legislative and supervisory authority over merchant marine academies, national security aspects of the merchant marine policy and programs, and interoceanic canals. The enabling legislation for the committee codified the existing jurisdiction of the committee over tactical intelligence matters and the intelligence-related activities of the DoD.

In practice, the committee has interests that range far and wide. In 1997, for example, topics considered by the committee included ballistic missile defense, base realignment and consolidation, and the People's Republic of China (PRC). The committee also covers lesser concerns, such as the shooting down of two army helicopters in Iraq before the Iraq War of 2003, prisoners of war and troops missing in action from the Vietnam War and the Korean War, and extremism within the ranks of the military. Working in conjunction with the U.S. Senate and the executive branch, the committee is a key actor in the national security process.