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UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
110th Congress
Oversight Plan
This oversight plan is filed pursuant to clause 2(d) of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives that requires that, not later than February 15 of the first session of a Congress, each standing committee of the House shall adopt its oversight plan for that Congress.
Introduction
The oversight responsibilities of the Committee on Armed Services are conducted throughout the calendar year. They are instrumental in the committee's consideration of the annual defense authorization bill, which covers the breadth of the operations of the Department of Defense (DOD) as well as the national security functions of the Department of Energy and other related areas. The annual national defense budget involves millions of military and civilian personnel, thousands of facilities, and hundreds of agencies, departments, and commands located throughout the world. The DOD involvement in two large ongoing contingency operations will continue to expand the range of topics requiring committee oversight including strategic, operational, and budgetary issues of great scope and complexity.
The committee has jurisdiction over laws, programs, and agencies under permanent authority in numerous titles of the United States Code, including Titles 10 (Armed Forces), 32 (National Guard), 37 (Pay and Allowances of the Uniformed Services), 42 (Atomic Energy), and 50 (War and National Defense).
The jurisdiction of the committee, pursuant to clause 1(c) of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives is as follows:
1. Ammunition depots; forts; arsenals; Army, Navy, and Air Force reservations and establishments.
2. Common defense generally.
3. Conservation, development, and use of naval petroleum and oil shale reserves.
4. The Department of Defense generally, including the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force generally.
5. Interoceanic canals generally, including measures relating to the maintenance, operation, and administration of interoceanic canals.
6. Merchant Marine Academy, and State Merchant Marine Academies.
7. Military applications of nuclear energy.
8. Tactical intelligence and intelligence related activities of the Department of Defense.
9. National security aspects of merchant marine, including financial assistance for the construction and operation of vessels, the maintenance of the U.S. shipbuilding and ship repair industrial base, cabotage, cargo preference, and merchant marine officers and seamen as these matters relate to national security.
10. Pay, promotion, retirement, and other benefits and privileges of members of the armed services.
11. Scientific research and development in support of the armed services.
12. Selective service.
13. Size and composition of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force.
14. Soldiers' and sailors' homes.
15. Strategic and critical materials necessary for the common defense.
In addition to its legislative jurisdiction and general oversight function, the committee has special oversight functions with respect to international arms control and disarmament and the education of military dependents in schools pursuant to clause 3(g) of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives.
Oversight Agenda
The committee will continue its oversight and assessment of threats to U.S. national security as it considers the fiscal year 2008 and fiscal year 2009 defense budget requests. This effort will involve appropriate oversight hearings with the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the individual service secretaries and chiefs of staff, combatant commanders, other officials of the Department of Defense and the military departments, officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency and other defense-related intelligence agencies, and the Secretary of Energy, the Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and other officials of the Department of Energy. In addition, the committee will invite the views and perspectives of outside experts in academia, industry, associations and advocacy organizations, and those in private life on these matters. Finally, the committee will initiate an aggressive new outreach program to seek the views and perspectives of service members and their families to include active duty, National Guard, and reserve members across the United States and at deployed locations overseas.
The committee carries out its oversight of the Department of Defense and its subordinate departments and agencies as well as portions of the Department of Energy through activities involving the full committee and its standing subcommittees. Each subcommittee conducts oversight of the programs within its jurisdiction as specified in the committee’s rules.
Until the 104th Congress, the committee maintained an Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee as allowed by House Rules (Rule X, clauses 2 and 5). That subcommittee enjoyed specific areas of legislative jurisdiction and “investigative authority in relation to the committee’s general oversight responsibilities.”
For the 110th Congress, the committee reestablishes the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations but without legislative jurisdiction. Pursuant to new Committee Rule 4, the subcommittee shall conduct oversight and investigations regarding any matter within the jurisdiction of the committee, subject to the concurrence of the Chairman of the committee and, as appropriate, the Chairman or Chairmen of the subcommittee or subcommittees with legislative jurisdiction over the matter, and with consultation of the appropriate Ranking Minority Member or Ranking Minority Members. The subcommittee’s work will not only include separate hearings and potentially separate reports, but will also support the hearings and oversight responsibilities of the other subcommittees and the full committee in their authorization and legislative responsibilities.
The oversight agenda below, unless otherwise noted, is designed to support the consideration by the committee and, ultimately, the House of Representatives of the annual defense authorization bill as well as the committee’s broader oversight responsibilities. The issues identified are expected to be on-going areas of oversight activity throughout the 110th Congress. In addition, the committee will continue to pay particular attention to the mandates placed on executive departments and agencies by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-62). The committee will examine closely the progress of the Department of Defense, the military departments, and the Department of Energy in implementing Public Law 103-62) to include the use of performance-based budgeting techniques and five-year strategic planning documents, for programs within its jurisdiction. In this context, pursuant to clause 2(d)(1) of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the committee will also examine relevant rules, regulations, statutes, and court decisions affecting the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy for their effects on efficiency and good management practices.
Given the unique nature of national security issues and related oversight of the armed forces, the committee reiterates that the oversight agenda is subject to the emergence of unforeseen events that may displace previously planned activities. Such events significantly complicate the ability to prescribe with great accuracy or specificity the entire oversight agenda of the committee. For instance, the oversight of defense activities by the committee has historically involved in-depth assessments of military operations and other major events that are generally difficult to predict in advance, such as emerging operational issues in Iraq and responses to catastrophic events, such as the military support provided after Hurricane Katrina. These reviews can dominate committee and staff resources, sometimes at the expense of other planned activities. The committee fully expects that this type of event-driven oversight will continue to be required.
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations’ agenda, even more than that of the full committee, will be difficult to predict over the two-year time period. The subcommittee will respond to concerns brought by all members of the committee, by other Members of Congress, and by other parties both within and outside the government. The subcommittee will pursue coordinated and constructive oversight that will likely identify best practices and model organizations in addition to identifying those areas in need of correction and reform.
The committee has a long tradition of translating oversight activities into prescriptive legislative action as reflected in past comprehensive efforts to provide for concurrent receipt of retirement and disability benefits for veterans with qualifying combat related disabilities, to reform the military retirement system, the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-433), the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act of 1991 (Public Law 101-510), the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-355), the Federal Acquisition Reform Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-106), the establishment of the National Nuclear Security Administration and related reform of the management of the national security programs of the Department of Energy, and reform of the military health care system. Additionally, the committee played a lead role in passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-366) in the 109th Congress and will continue to oversee this Act and carefully review its provisions in the 110th Congress. In general, the committee will continue to maintain a strong linkage between formal oversight efforts and legislative initiatives.
In addition to the above, the following specific areas and subjects are identified for special attention during the 110th Congress.
Policy Issues
National Defense Strategy, National Military Strategy and Related Defense Policy Issues
The committee is committed to ensuring that American military is properly postured to meet the complex security demands of the 21st century. This will involve closely reviewing how the National Defense Strategy and the National Military Strategy articulate those demands and thoroughly evaluating how the Department of Defense (DOD) postures itself to meet those demands. In 2006, the Department recognized the changing security environment by explicitly stating that stability operations, defined as “military and civilian activities conducted across the spectrum from peace to conflict to establish or maintain order in States and regions,” are a core U.S. military mission. In so doing, those operations have been elevated to co-equal status with the combat operations for which the Department has traditionally prepared. While also ensuring the Department remains capable of executing its traditional missions, the committee will provide oversight to ensure that all DOD activities, capabilities and functions, including doctrine, organization, training, education, exercises, materiel, leadership, personnel, facilities, and planning appropriately reflect this major shift, and that DOD efforts are integrated into a comprehensive national approach to stability operations.
Furthermore, when considering the overall posture of the Department, the committee will monitor the implementation of the recommendations delineated in the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, including the still-outstanding “roadmaps;” the adequacy of active and reserve component force structure and end strength; an examination of initiatives to enhance guard and reserve forces; the so-called “train and equip” authorities required to provide logistics support, supplies, and services to foreign military forces participating in operations with U.S. armed forces; an examination of the technological, doctrinal, and other factors affecting the long-term transformation of the conduct of military operations; a review of the roles and responsibilities of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and of the combatant commands military requirements including: the proposed creation of an “Africa Command;” the evolving mission of other recently established or recently modified commands; an examination of the roles and missions of the armed services and their implications for modernization requirements and the development of major weapons systems; and other relevant areas.
Most critically, the committee will conduct all the activities mentioned above within the context of a comprehensive approach to understanding the strategic risk facing the United States. In so doing, the committee will seek to determine what level of strategic risk is acceptable, what factors increase that risk, and what factors reduce it.
Through its Constitutional responsibility arising from Article One, Section Eight to raise and support armies and to provide and maintain a Navy, the committee has a responsibility to ensure that the military can meet its future missions, as well as today’s operational requirements. The committee’s examination of strategic risk, in simple terms, will look to ensure that these joint forces retain the ability, regardless of present operational pressures, to deter any potential foe, respond to any contingency that threatens U.S. interests, and in the worst case defeat any adversary who might threaten America’s interests. In this regard, the committee will examine seriously DOD’s range of assumptions about future threats made in strategy documents to assess the adequacy of forces, the resources available, and the likely level of strategic risk. By the same token, the committee will also look at current operational demands and whether those demands—through readiness and force strains or through other impacts such as on potential coalition partners—increase our strategic risk for meeting future challenges. The committee will take seriously its obligation to monitor strategic risk and take action to mitigate it when necessary.
The War in Iraq
The committee will devote a significant amount of its oversight resources to the ongoing war in Iraq. Operations in Iraq are an enormous undertaking, consuming vast amounts of resources, including a significant human toll, and have reached a pivotal moment. At the time of the writing of this oversight plan, President George W. Bush is preparing to present a revised strategy for Iraq. In the near term, the committee will consider carefully any change in the mission and required force strength in Iraq and the potential implications of this proposed strategy—for the overall security and political situation in Iraq; for the size and duration of future rotations of American combat units; and for the American military’s readiness to take on future missions wherever they might arise. On an ongoing basis, the committee will place a great priority on oversight of any continuing military activities in Iraq, on determining the progress made in achieving the goals of the President’s new strategy, and on encouraging the swift and effective turn-over of security responsibilities to Iraqi Security Forces.
To date, the pace of change in this conflict has consistently exceeded the ability of senior leaders to predict its future course. Important questions about the conflict remain without conclusive answers. In order to keep abreast of this complex and constantly changing environment, the committee will hold regular hearings on Iraq throughout the 110th Congress, beginning with a comprehensive set of hearings early in the First session.
The committee recognizes that the issues in play in Iraq are extremely complex, and that the military situation in Iraq must be understood as part of a larger picture along with complex political, social, and economic challenges. Since these challenges relate and contribute to the military problems in Iraq, they must be addressed in the committee’s oversight plans to the extent that they are directly relevant to the Department. As a result, committee oversight hearings will seek to cover a broad array of topics including understanding the insurgency and the sectarian schisms in Iraqi society that threaten the unity government, lessons learned in reconstruction activities, and efforts at institution building for application both in the current conflict and in future stabilization and reconstruction efforts.
The committee will focus on topics considered critical to success, including a close examination of the requirements for standing up robust, capable, and independent Iraqi Security Forces, which can take control from U.S. forces in many areas. The committee will examine the initial and ongoing training of these forces including the use of embedded training teams consisting of US military personnel, efforts to measure the readiness and effectiveness of these forces, the equipping of these forces, and the development of Iraqi institutions that support these forces.
The committee will also examine what the specific lessons learned in the war in Iraq reveal for the broader examination of potential changes in the shape and size of the force, including changes in doctrine and technology required. The committee will also continue to focus closely on force protection in Iraq.
Finally, the committee will examine the costs of the war in Iraq both as a necessary and appropriate oversight activity, but also as an essential element in forecasting the immediate, short term, and long term funding requirements for the Department.
Afghanistan
The war in Afghanistan is a central component in the war on terror, and due in large part to its unique significance, will be a major area of focus for oversight. The security situation in Afghanistan remains extremely challenging more than five years after the initiation of the conflict. Most critically, the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan remains a major front for combating al Qaeda. The war in Afghanistan constantly vies with the war in Iraq for attention and resources, not least in terms of the oversight capabilities of the committee, and should receive the attention and priority it deserves. The committee will provide increased attention to the war in Afghanistan, and will ensure that the appropriate level of DOD management attention and resources are also provided. The committee will focus on topics including: the status of the NATO led International Security Assistance Force and of US forces; the status of efforts to find and fight terrorists on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border; the role that drug production is playing in fueling the opposition and efforts to eradicate it; and the status of efforts to stand up, train and equip a viable Afghan National Army able to provide for the security of the Afghan people.
War on Terrorism
Since September 11, 2001, the Department has conducted military operations in a number of countries around the world against those who threaten the security of the United States or its friends and allies. The war on terrorism has also forced the Department to consider and implement new doctrines, organizations, and capabilities in an effort to take on a mission that is historically a non-traditional one for many of DOD components. The committee will focus attention on how the Department and the military services are prioritizing these efforts and if they are devoting the appropriate resources to match the requirement. In addition, the committee recognizes that the war on terrorism will be a long-term campaign, and will examine the implications of the nature of this “Long War” on the capabilities of the Department as well as the ability of the Department to contribute to the success of government-wide efforts to prevail in the war on terrorism.
The committee, and especially the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities, will continue its oversight of the full range of unconventional threats to national security and U.S. military forces and the capabilities needed to respond. Particular attention will be given to, but not limited to: the role and involvement of U.S. Special Operations Command, especially recruiting and retention programs within the special operations community to determine challenges that confront field commanders; implementation of the DOD 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) objective of strengthening interagency operations; progress in establishing a national collaborative environment for intelligence information; the conduct of information operations; terrorism related organizational matters, modernization requirements, and unique force protection challenges including the design of installations and facilities to address threats posed by terrorism utilizing either conventional weapons or weapons of mass destruction.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Threat Reduction
The committee will continue its oversight of the nation’s nonproliferation programs carried out by the Departments of Energy and Defense. The committee will assess the threat posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the effectiveness of existing programs, and areas where they can be expanded and improved. In particular the committee will examine how these programs need to be strengthened to respond to the 9-11 Commission’s recommendations and to prevent weapons of mass destruction proliferation and terrorism. The committee will look carefully at the Department of Energy’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative, the Proliferation Security Initiative and Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. The committee will also closely assess inter-agency coordination and the timely and effective use of funds, given past obstacles that have created unobligated balances. Additionally, the committee will examine how programs could be strengthened to respond to emerging threats from weapons of mass destruction throughout the world, including Iran and North Korea, and to increase cooperation with Russia and other countries on activities to prevent weapons of mass destruction proliferation and terrorism. The committee will pay close attention to new areas across the globe where nonproliferation efforts may advance U.S. security interests and how existing authorities allowing the use of threat reduction program funding in areas beyond the former Soviet Union can be helpful. The committee will also consider the impact and effectiveness of international regimes, cooperative arrangements, and national policies on addressing the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction. The committee will continue to assess appropriate means of ensuring accountability in these programs, particularly those in the States of the former Soviet Union.
Intelligence
The committee will continue to coordinate with the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on tactical intelligence matters and intelligence-related activities of the Department of Defense, and intelligence and counterintelligence activities of the Department of Energy in the course of its annual oversight of the intelligence community and the authorization of appropriations for intelligence activities shared by the two committees. In addition, the committee will continue to monitor and assess the effects of the new Under Secretary for Intelligence position within the Department of Defense, as authorized by the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 (Public Law 107-314). Moreover, the committee will monitor the reorganization of the Intelligence Community, through implementation of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-458). The committee will also evaluate intelligence related acquisition programs both for effectiveness and affordability. All of the committee’s efforts will be focused on ensuring the highest possible quality of intelligence support to the warfighter.
Military Commissions and Detainees
Enacted in October 2006, the Military Commissions Act (MCA) (Public Law 109-366), establishes the legal framework governing the operation of military tribunals and codifying some of the procedural rights of detainees. The committee will closely monitor the implementation of the MCA, including the finalization of the rules of procedure for the tribunals, the conduct of the trials under the MCA, and the functioning of appellate review by the newly established Court of Military Commission Review and eventually the Supreme Court. The Committee will also monitor how certain evidence is presented with particular attention paid to how classified information is used during these MCA-authorized adjudications.
The military tribunals and the detainees at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere raise a number of critical issues that fall within the jurisdiction of the committee. The Committee will conduct thorough oversight of, among other things, the possible implication of members of the armed services in alleged incidents of detainee abuse, plans of the Department to construct facilities for the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, and the possible implications of the MCA on the protections that are afforded to U.S. military personnel by the Geneva Conventions.
Space Policy and Programs
In 2006, a new National Space Policy was released, which will shape the future of defense space programs for years to come. And as has been the case for several years, space programs continue to include some of the highest risk modernization activities of the Department. The committee will continue to provide rigorous oversight to space programs. Particular attention will be given to, but not be limited to, the following: improvement of space situational awareness; national space policy and doctrinal statements on space; development of a professional space cadre; examination of the policy and programs regarding protection of national security space assets; maximization of space-based effects in military operations; program management; space acquisitions and prioritization of space programs; and the adequacy of and need for a separate space acquisition policy. Particular attention will be given to the technical readiness of various space systems currently in development. The committee will assess DOD efforts to leverage industry and academia for the purposes of increasing the quality of space-qualified personnel involved in space programs. Further, the committee will engage the space community to examine the space policy as well as explore opportunities to further integrate space assets with the nation’s warfighting capability.
Organization and Management of the Department of Defense
The committee will review DOD infrastructure and organization to insure that it is properly postured to meet the complex security threats of the 21st century. Part of this will include monitoring the ongoing efforts of “transformation” within the Department as outlined in the 2006 QDR, among other defense reform proposals recommended by the administration or implemented in light of lessons learned from past efforts at defense transformation and ongoing operations. Of particular interest to the committee are the QDR’s still-outstanding “roadmaps,” including: department institutional reform and governance, irregular warfare, building partnership capacity, strategic communication, and intelligence. The committee will also examine how the Department is posturing itself to meet those requirements that have arisen from the publication of DOD Directive 3000.05, "Military Support for Stability, Security, Transition, and Reconstruction Operations.” Furthermore, the committee will closely monitor the reorganization of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Policy) and any proposed changes to the combatant command structure, including the potential formation of an Africa Command, and changes to the unified command plan. Additionally, the committee will monitor and assess the DOD reformation of joint officer management under the authorities granted by the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (Public Law 109-364).
Department of Defense’s Counter-Narcotics Activities
The committee will continue to monitor DOD activities which are related to the interdiction of illicit narcotics, particularly in and from major drug-producing and drug-transit countries. In fiscal year 2007, the Department received over $1.0 billion in counter-drug funding. This funding reflects DOD’s role as the leading federal agency in the detection and monitoring of the aerial and maritime transit of illegal narcotics into the United States. In addition to contributing to curtailing narcotics trafficking into our country and our allies, the DOD counternarcotics efforts impact its ability to combat terrorism, since a number of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and al Qaeda, rely on the financial and materiel networks of narcotics traffickers.
Specifically, the committee’s oversight will include an assessment of the DOD plans to reorganize its counternarcotics activities under a new Assistant Secretary for Global Security Affairs and the impact of this reorganization on the Central Transfer Account; a review of tactical intelligence gathering and use for counter-drug purposes; an assessment of the efficacy of Plan Colombia and the Andean Counter-drug Initiative as implemented by the Department and proposals to consolidate these programs; a review of DOD efforts to curb poppy cultivation and opium production and trafficking in Afghanistan; a review of DOD interdiction of illicit narcotics, including cocaine, methamphetamine, and opium, transiting from Mexico, Central America, the Andean region, and the Caribbean Basin into the United States; and a review of the DOD training of foreign law enforcement and other security forces for the purpose of combating the trafficking of illicit narcotics.
The Interagency Process and Reform
National security issues continue to increase in complexity and increasingly are transnational in character. The United States must use all means of national power to address almost every situation that arises. The Department is an active participant in the interagency process, and there is a growing recognition of the extent to which military problems, especially those involving homeland defense, stabilization, and reconstruction activities, intelligence and counter-insurgency operations call upon the resources and expertise of multiple federal departments and agencies, State and local governments, and international partners. The committee will work to identify ways in which the Department can be better postured to plan for, ask for and receive necessary support from other agencies, and how the Department can be better postured to support other agencies in helping to achieve those agencies missions to ensure all departments and agencies are effectively coordinated towards achieving national objectives.
Health of the Force
Readiness of Military Forces
The committee will increase its oversight of the services’ readiness programs to ensure that military units possess the required resources and training to complete their assigned full-spectrum combat mission. Continuous combat operations have placed significant stress on ground and air equipment stocks. Shortages have resulted and are manifest in declining readiness rates for units not currently assigned to the combat theater. Declining readiness has reduced the training readiness of military units and created increased strategic risk to the nation. The committee intends to conduct vigorous oversight of all of the Department of Defense’s (DOD) readiness plans and programs to ensure military units are fully trained and equipped for combat.
Resetting the Force
The operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have placed significant surge requirements on the depots and the industrial base for resetting ground forces’ equipment. Combat operations are consuming equipment at a greatly accelerated rate, which has reduced overall readiness across the military services. The repair, recapitalization, and replacement of equipment are very significant challenges facing the Department. This challenge has not been fully met by the Department and additional effort must be focused on supplying military units with the equipment they need to train, deploy and fight. The committee will continue to conduct oversight of reset as requirements continue to grow and strict oversight is required to ensure that our forces are ready for combat and that money is not wasted. Reset costs totaled over $20.0 billion in fiscal year 2006 alone, and this enormous expenditure places additional importance on increased oversight by the committee.
Total Force, Personnel, and Health Issues
Future end strength
The current operational deployment schedule has placed tremendous pressure on active duty troops; the committee is concerned that if the current deployment pace continues it will have a long-term adverse impact on our forces, particularly the ground component. The committee will continue its effort to assess the level of active and reserve end strength needed to meet current and future operational requirements. Utilization of the reserve components and deployment standards will also be reviewed given the shift of the reserve components from a strategic reserve force to an operational reserve force. End strength increases authorized during the 109th Congress will need to be examined to determine whether end strength levels are sufficient for the global challenges facing our nation in the future. In addition, force structure requirements will be reviewed to determine whether additional increases are necessary and whether changes to the active and reserve component force structure mix being undertaken by the services are enhancing the armed forces ability to meet mission requirements. Specifically, the committee will closely scrutinize any plans proposed by the President to increase the end strengths of the Army and the Marine Corps to ensure that the desired increases meet mission needs, are achievable, will enhance combat capability, and meet the long term requirement to balance end strength requirements and cost. The committee will also review the proposed force structure reductions proposed for the Navy and Air Force to ensure that vital combat capability is not being forfeited. The committee will continue to closely monitor the Department of Defense’s (DOD) increasing use of Navy and Air Force personnel to meet forward deployed mission requirements in lieu of Army and Marine Corps personnel.
Recruiting
Because of increasing college attendance rates, a strong job market, and the difficulty of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the recruiting environment for the services is expected to continue to be highly challenging. The committee will be closely monitoring the Army and Marine Corps recruiting programs as they continue to increase their end strengths. The committee is also concerned about the preparedness of the Air Force and Navy to transition from relatively low recruiting objectives during several years of force reduction to the larger objectives that will be required when the services return to force sustainment recruiting levels. The committee will focus on how the difficult recruiting environment has affected recruitment of qualified individuals; particularly those with specific skills and training that are required by the services, such as linguists and specialty medical providers. The committee expects to also examine the quality of recruits and the implications associated with such recruitment challenges. The committee expects to examine all aspects of recruit quality to include age, education level, test scores, and the number of waivers to recruit standards relating to conduct and medical requirements. The committee will explore options to improve recruit quality to prevent the negative consequences for good order and discipline and mission accomplishment associated with reductions in quality. The committee will also investigate trends in recruiter improprieties to verify that recruiters who commit crimes or are guilty of unethical conduct receive appropriate punishment. The committee will also pursue improvements to the recruiting environment that will preempt the need for recruiters to push procedural boundries and allow early identification of misconduct.
Retention
The increasing stress of current high operations tempo and competition from a strong private-sector job market will increase the pressure on retention programs throughout the military. Although service retention programs have been successful up to this point, costs have increased significantly and the services must manage retention closely and increase resources to meet new challenges as they occur. The committee will closely monitor retention trends to identify emerging problems quickly and ensure that the services are responding with the resources necessary to be successful. The committee will also seek the views of current service members to ensure that the appropriate remedies are implemented by the services. Finally, the committee will closely monitor retention of service members serving in shortage skills to ensure that the services possess the legislated tools necessary to protect these critical skills.
Education benefits
The committee will continue to ensure fairness and equity in educational benefits provided to members of the active and reserve components, particularly those who have been deployed. Educational benefits provided to active duty service members have helped in their transition to civilian lives and the committee will continue its efforts to ensure that all service members are afforded the opportunities to leave service with the necessary support for a smooth transition.
Joint Professional Military Education
Professional military education is the backbone in the development of our nation’s armed forces, and the quality of that military education distinguishes American forces around the world. It begins from the time a member enters the military and continues through their entire career. Therefore, the committee remains committed to ensuring that the quality and availability of professional military education programs remain a priority for the services and the Department, and is considered career enhancing, even during times of high-operational tempo, when the Department may be tempted to shortchange educational opportunities for service members to provide manpower in the short term. As part of its oversight responsibilities of this important issue, the committee expects that it will actively engage in monitoring the rigor and relevance of the curricula being offered at all levels, including those provided to meet joint professional military educational requirements. Additionally, an important part of this program includes opportunities for service members to attend advanced civil schooling in a wide variety of disciplines, including the liberal arts and the committee will explore innovative approaches to providing such opportunities to the widest group of service members possible.
Force Morale and Family Welfare
As the stress on military forces and their families continues to grow fueled by multiple deployments, minimal dwell time between deployments, and increased operations tempo at home station, the committee will pursue a better understanding of the implications for service members and their families and the potential remedies that will make a difference in their lives. The committee will focus on reaching out to service members and families to better understand the challenges they confront in their daily lives and to identify the programs and policies that can be developed or modified to improve the morale of the force and safeguard the welfare of families. Programs and policies such as force utilization, health care, compensation, leave, family support, and childcare will be explored for opportunities to expand capabilities and make improvements.
Appropriated Funding for Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) and Military Resale Programs
Reduced funding for installation operations and generally tight budgets among the armed services has resulted in increased evidence that funding for MWR and military resale programs is being reduced and withheld. Reduced funding for these programs has direct implications for service member and family morale and their quality of life. The committee will focus on appropriated funding to support MWR programs, commissaries, and exchanges to include historic and current funding patterns, trends in the availability of MWR program services, and the fiscal solvency of military commissaries and exchanges. The committee will also explore options for improving funding for MWR and military resale programs and setting a funding course that ensures future stability of the programs.
Funding for Nonappropriated Fund Construction Programs
The committee is concerned that the DOD nonappropriated fund construction program is not adequate to maintain and replace Morale, Welfare, and Recreation facilities, commissary stores, and exchange stores at a level of frequency and investment that is consistent with the high standards deserved by the military community. The committee will pursue a better understanding of the standards that are needed for these facilities, the resources required to maintain those standards, and any shortfall in the resources available. The committee will also explore options to find new funding and change policies and programs to ensure that future funding for nonappropriated construction is adequate.
Military Health Care System
Similar to the civilian sector, the cost of care within the military health system continues to grow. The committee is well aware of the potential adverse impact of uncontrolled cost growth within the military health care system on the Department. The committee will continue its efforts to contain cost growth within the military health care system, while improving access to quality health care for service members, retirees, and their families. The committee will also oversee recent enhancements to the health care program to provide TRICARE Standard Coverage to reserve component members and their families, as well as assess efforts to improve and enhance mental health programs and policies, including those addressing traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, and severe depression, for service members. Additionally, the committee remains committed to a robust medical research and development program focused on military heath issues, such as blast injury mitigation and treatment, combat trauma care, military infectious diseases, and medical biological/chemical defense.
Uniform Code of Military Justice and Investigations
The committee will continue its oversight of the Military Justice System to ensure that its processes are transparent and just. The committee will focus on incidents of sexual assault, and on investigations into misconduct in Iraq and Afghanistan that may indicate other problems related to recruit screening, training deficiencies, or command responsibility. It is also important that the Military Justice System protect the individual rights of service members. In that regard, the committee will specifically review the practice of “titling” which is the decision to place the name of a service member in the “subject” block of a criminal report of investigation (ROI) when credible information exists which would cause a reasonable person to suspect that a person committed a criminal offense. The committee will ensure that the “titling” process is not only fair towards military personnel, but also contributes to good order and discipline.
Civilian Personnel
The committee will significantly increase oversight of civilian personnel pay and policies. The Department has begun implementing the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) giving rise to problems that the Committee must examine closely. The committee intends to pay close attention to implementation of the pay for performance system, and developments with the DOD attempt to modify the collective bargaining and employee appeal rights portions of NSPS. In addition to NSPS, the committee will also increase its oversight of the Department's use of authorities such as A-76 to contract out DOD activities. The committee is concerned about the increased use of these authorities and will closely examine the cost-benefit analyses of the existing and future contracting out of functions done by DOD employees or military members.
Military Personnel System Reform
Many public and private sector agencies have studied the current military personnel system and concluded that the U.S. military would benefit from a more flexible personnel system that provides for disparate career lengths, compensation, and retirement benefits based on the unique manpower needs of specific occupational specialties. The committee will examine the ongoing efforts to establish a more flexible system and consider any additional revisions of the system that can be approached in an incremental manner. The committee will also study the potential to adopt more sweeping changes and determine the positive and negative implications of such changes.
Decorations
During the 109th Congress, the Subcommittee on Military Personnel held a hearing to examine the criteria and process used by the military services and the Department in determining valor awards and decorations. The committee will continue to monitor the awards and decorations process to ensure that it is consistent and service members are publicly recognized for their heroism with the appropriate award.
Compensation Systems and Debt Collection
Congress adopted a series of measures in the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (Public Law 109-364) to protect the fiscal interests and welfare of service members and their families by providing guidelines to ensure responsible collection of debts to the government and expanding the government’s authority to forgive debt when it is incurred through no fault of the member. The committee will be reviewing the implementation of these initiatives to ensure the programs reflect the increased sensitivity to the welfare of service members that was intended. Additionally, the committee remains concerned about the accuracy and efficiency of military pay systems that have caused military members and families so much hardship, particularly for those members of the reserve components who are mobilized to serve on active duty. Accordingly, the committee will continue to examine military pay systems to ensure that progress is realized.
Grade Structure Increases Related to Transformation and Joint Operations
The committee has received increasing evidence that the ongoing transformation of the military and increased frequency of joint military operations has increased the officer billet requirements in terms of both numbers and grades. Due to the grade table limitations included in the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act (DOPMA) (Public Law 97-22), the services claim they are no longer able to meet the grade requirements necessary to ensure successful combat capability. The committee will study these requirements carefully to determine if the ongoing changes to military operations and force structure also require the revision of the DOPMA grade tables.
Ongoing Reviews of Personnel Issues
The 109th Congress made significant changes in law and policy with respect to sexual harassment within the services. The committee will continue to ensure that changes to policies and programs are implemented and assessed for their effectiveness in reducing sexual harassment and assault within the Department. The committee will also continue its efforts to ensure that wounded and disabled service members and their families are afforded the support that they need. Significant changes to improve the programs and policies that support wounded and disabled service members have been made and the committee will continue to ensure that these programs and policies evolve to address issues that are raised by service members and their families. The committee will also actively monitor the progress by the military services in providing quality casualty assistance programs to support family members of those killed and wounded while serving on active duty.
Acquisition Issues
The Acquisition System and Acquisition Policy
The committee will continue to provide oversight of the defense acquisition system and address growing concerns about cost growth in major defense acquisition programs and the responsiveness of the system to compelling military needs. In 2005, three major studies examining the defense acquisition system were released including the Defense Acquisition Performance Assessment, the Defense Science Board Acquisition Study, and the Beyond Goldwater Nichols Report. Each of these studies found substantial problems in the current acquisition system and recommended several significant changes. The committee will monitor the efforts of the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics to implement the recommendations of these reports.
As part of its oversight, the committee will examine in depth the military requirements process that is the foundation of the acquisition system. Weapons system programs begin with the validation of a military requirement, the process by which this occurs, while lengthy and filled with cross service consultation, continues to produce outcomes which do not reflect the jointness that the military has achieved at the operating level.
The committee has adopted numerous revisions to existing acquisition statutes in recent years including revisions to the Nunn-McCurdy Amendment (10 U.S.C. 2433) requiring the reporting of cost growth in weapons system, revisions to laws controlling the government’s interest in technical data rights, and revisions to laws governing the management structure for contracting for services. The committee will monitor the implementation of these and other statutes and continue to recommend revisions where necessary.
The committee will also continue to push for accountability and integrity in contracting. In 2006, the committee authorized the Department to establish a Panel on Contracting Integrity. This panel is charged with finding vulnerabilities within the processes and policies of the acquisition system that allow or encourage fraud, waste, and abuse. The committee will work with the Panel on Contracting Integrity, working in part through the reconstituted Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, to identify and eliminate as many contracting vulnerabilities as possible.
Defense Industrial Base and Technology Transfers
The committee will give close examination to the health of the defense industrial base. In a number of sectors, the industrial base for complex major weapons systems has shrunk to as few as two companies. Even with this consolidation, some of these suppliers appear to be struggling to generate profit margins large enough to justify long-term investments in infrastructure and technology. These long-term investments are vital to the health of the defense industrial base.
The Department has struggled to maintain a viable shipbuilding industrial base in the face of declining naval ship orders and foreign competition for commercial vessels. The committee will attempt to understand what policies are necessary to provide incentives to the remaining shipbuilders for infrastructure improvements which could lead to improved efficiencies and ultimately lower cost for naval vessels and a fair competitive base to compete for commercial work.
The committee will also examine the structure of the defense industrial base. The last decade has witnessed a number of mergers and acquisitions in the defense industry that has resulted in creating a handful of large defense companies operating largely as system integrators. In addition, there has been substantial consolidation among second- and third-tier suppliers. The committee will examine the effects of this consolidation on competition and the extent to which contractors may be taking on management roles previously performed by the government. And the committee will continue to review issues surrounding contractors on the battlefield and the outsourcing of inherently governmental operational functions.
The committee will continue to examine the U.S. export control regime and its effectiveness in preventing the transfer of sensitive military-related technologies to potential adversaries. The consolidation of the defense industry and its increasingly global nature will increasingly challenge the capabilities of the current system. In this area, the committee will continue to coordinate with the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Financial Management
The Department continues to receive a grade of unsatisfactory, the lowest rating, from the Office of Management and Budget for its financial performance. The DOD’s inability to track and account for billions of dollars in funding and millions of dollars of assets continues to undermine its financial management systems. It also creates a lack of transparency that significantly limits congressional oversight. The committee will examine the causes of the DOD’s inability to consolidate its financial information, and monitor closely the hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on business systems modernization programs that the Department has proposed to address its financial management problems.
The committee will also continue to ensure that programs to modernize the business systems of the Department are coordinated across all of the military services and defense agencies in accordance with a sound strategic plan, and that the Department observes strict compliance with all laws relating to the use and purpose of appropriated funds.
Modernization and Investment Issues
Cost Growth in Weapons Systems
Major air, land, space, maritime, and information technology acquisition programs continue to experience cost growth, schedule delays, and/or performance degradation from envisioned capabilities. The committee will conduct hearings and briefings, and assess the need for legislative action by examining the causes of these problems including too many programs competing for too few resources; requirements determination, definition, and growth; failures of cost estimation; unrealistic program schedules related to immature technology and insufficient funding; instability in funding profiles; labor and material cost increases; and management shortfalls.
Military Modernization
Aging equipment, high operational tempo, and the broad spectrum of military capabilities required to meet the diverse current and projected threats to national security, pose a potentially overwhelming fiscal challenge. The committee will seek to ensure that that the highest priority requirements of the nation’s active, guard and reserve land, sea, and air forces are properly resourced. The committee will first emphasize force protection and the maintenance of current capabilities through the timely repair and upgrade of equipment – “resetting” – being used in Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. Further, the committee will support, to the extent fiscal resources will permit, the development and fielding of capabilities such as Army modernization; shipbuilding; anti-submarine and mine warfare; expeditionary forces; tactical aviation; strategic nuclear forces; space; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; special operations; air and sea lift; ammunition and munitions; and the military industrial base. Finally, the committee will seek to ensure that the services develop and field systems that will provide the maximum commonality and interoperability among the military services, as well as, when possible, our allies and friends.
Force Protection
The committee will continue to place emphasis on supporting capabilities that protect personnel and equipment against both symmetrical and asymmetrical threats from an offensive as well as defensive perspective. The committee will pursue a holistic approach to force protection with an examination of military force posture and forward presence, tactics, techniques and procedures, and overall technological capability. In Iraq and Afghanistan, significant attention will continue to be given to personnel body armor, tactical wheeled vehicle armor protection and countermeasures to improvised explosive devices (IED). Additional priority will also be given to ensuring that resources and the commitment to “attacking the network” of those endangering our forces is appropriately placed, including the support of persistent surveillance directly commanded and controlled by tactical ground forces and solutions to counter the growing sniper threat. Globally, the committee will continue to review the relative vulnerability of U.S. forces in transit or positioned in fixed locations. Overall, the committee will explore innovative acquisition policies and procedures in an effort to provide sufficient flexibility in support of requirement identification, research and development, immediate procurement, and rapid operational testing and fielding of additional capabilities. Finally, the committee will maintain close oversight of the Joint IED Defeat Organization and its task forces to ensure appropriate intra-departmental coordination for fielding effective and affordable force protection measures.
Missile Defense Programs
The committee will continue to monitor the Department of Defense’s (DOD) efforts to field an initial capability for national missile defense as well as other systems that can or do protect our deployed service members and allies. The committee will focus on three areas: tracking of key milestones for the development and testing of missile defense elements and the effect on future program viability; tracking the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 (Public Law 108-375) requirement for establishing system baselines and operational test and evaluation criteria; and transitioning of missile defense elements to individual services. The committee will be particularly interested in the Department’s efforts to implement section 223 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (Public Law 109-364), which established the U.S. policy that the Department accord a priority within the missile defense program to the development, testing, fielding, and improvement of effective near-term missile defense capabilities.
Military Applications of Nuclear Energy
The committee will continue to oversee the Atomic Energy Defense Activities carried out by the Department of Energy, including, but not limited to, the following: modernization and maintenance of U.S. defense nuclear force structure in support of military and national security requirements including the plan for transformation of the nuclear weapons complex as required by the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (Public Law 109-364) and implementation of the Reliable Replacement Warhead program in accordance the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (Public Law 109-163); impact of a nuclear test ban on the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent and U.S. national security; the adequacy of the Department of Energy’s science-based stockpile stewardship program to guarantee the safety, reliability and performance of the stockpile in the absence of testing with an emphasis on assessing the adequacy of the quantification of margins and uncertainty methodology including findings of the National Academy of Science study directed by the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (Public Law 109-364); the Department’s plan for transformation of the nuclear weapons complex required by the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (Public Law 109-364); implementation of options for consolidation and disposition of weapons-grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium; Department of Energy compliance with Design Basis Threat requirements; management of defense nuclear waste including implementation of Waste Incidental to Reprocessing changes. Additionally, the committee will pursue an assessment of security standards and practices at all National Nuclear Security Administration sites, with a specific focus on the quality of federal oversight of laboratory management and operating contractor security practices; an evaluation of National Nuclear Security Administration performance of its roles and missions under Title 32 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 (Public Law 106-65); and evaluation of the current U.S. nuclear weapons posture and doctrine.
In addition, the committee will provide oversight to the Department of the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program and focus on the potential for the expansion of nuclear propulsion systems for the Navy’s future fleet.
Space Technology
The committee will closely monitor and encourage the development of small-satellite and responsive launch technology with the objective of full demonstration and eventual operational deployment. Additionally, the committee will continue to monitor general space technology developments and technology maturation to decrease technical risk in acquisition programs.
Accelerated Fielding of Advanced Technologies
The pace at which new technology moves from the laboratory to a fielded system has been an area of continuing concern to the Department and to the committee. There are a number of initiatives underway in the Department to address this problem including, but not limited to: the Advanced and Joint Concept Technology Demonstration programs; the services’ rapid fielding initiatives; the congressionally sponsored Technology Transition Initiative and the Defense Challenge Program; the expansion of the role of small business in the development and transition of technology through the Small Business Innovative Research program; the implementation of congressional direction to the Secretary of Defense to prescribe rapid acquisition and deployment procedures and of the use of special emergency procurement authority for use in support of contingency operations or in response to a nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological attack; and the establishment of the quick reaction special projects program. The committee will review the effectiveness of these programs and assess additional measures recommended by the Department to accelerate the transition and fielding of advanced technologies to meet emerging critical needs, and ensure the DOD test and evaluation procedures reflect an appropriate balance between rapid fielding and a thorough understanding of the operational sustainability of fielded systems.
Chemical Demilitarization Program
Under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, otherwise know as the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) the United States is required to complete the destruction of its stockpile of lethal chemical warfare agents and munitions by September, 2012. Although nearly 40 percent of the CWC-declared U.S. chemical weapons stockpile has been destroyed and good progress is being made in bringing on line the last of the Army’s baseline incineration plants, long-term technical issues and political and environmental controversies have resulted in significant program delays and cost growth in the Army-managed program and in the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternative program managed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The committee will address the current state of the program and measures that might be taken to reduce program costs and accelerate the destruction of the stockpile during hearings on the fiscal year 2008 and 2009 budget requests.
Chemical Biological Defense Program
In the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2002 (Public Law 107-107), Congress directed the Secretary of Defense to accelerate DOD efforts to develop medical countermeasures against biological warfare agents and for the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council to identify new approaches to accelerate the process for review and approval of such countermeasures. In the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (Public Law 108-136), Congress also provided the authority for the Secretary to establish an enhanced biomedical countermeasures program to protect members of the armed forces from attack with chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear agents. During consideration of the fiscal year 2005 budget request, the committee directed the Secretary to provide the Department’s strategic plan implementing these authorities. The committee expects to address the effectiveness of the plan during oversight hearings on the chemical-biological defense program.”
In addition, the committee will provide continued oversight of the Transformational Medical Technology Initiative to ensure the Department effectively implements the 2006 QDR recommendation to develop broad-spectrum medical counter-measures against advanced bio-terror threats; the committee will review the DOD modernization plan for legacy nuclear, biological, and chemical contamination avoidance, defense, protection and decontamination systems; the committee will review the effectiveness of the Joint Program Executive Office in addressing National Guard and Reserve chemical-biological defense requirements; and the committee will review how the Department will achieve the nuclear, chemical, and biological defense training objective addressed in the 2006 QDR.
Environmental Programs
The committee will significantly increase its oversight of the Department and military services’ environmental management. The committee believes more attention is required to monitor DOD funding and adherence to federal, state, and local requirements for cleanup, compliance, and pollution prevention. The committee will examine the DOD efforts to remediate existing contamination on federal lands with particular attention paid to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) installations locations where contamination may be affecting local populations. Additionally, the committee intends to closely monitor the activities of the Department to ensure that military training is in full compliance with applicable federal state and local environmental laws.
Homeland Defense
In October 2002, the Department issued the Unified Command Plan 2002 that established a new combatant command, U.S. Northern Command, to provide unity of command for the land, sea and air defense of the United States. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (P.L. 107-107) created an Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense (ASD-HD) to oversee DOD activities related to homeland security. Further, the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 (P.L. 108-375) created new authority for the use of the National Guard under title 32, United States Code, in support of homeland defense activities. Measures have been established to coordinate DOD homeland defense and counter-terrorism functions with those of other departments, as well as the National Guard and individual states. The coordination between U.S. Northern Command, ASD-HD, the National Guard and the States will continue to be a focus of committee oversight activities.
Information Technology
The committee will continue to focus on the management and acquisition of the DOD information technology programs. Particular attention will be given, but not limited to the following: implementation by the Department of the information security reforms authorized by the E-Government Act of 2002, the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 a section of the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act, 1997 (Public Law 104-208), as well as numerous provisions in various National Defense Authorization Acts; assessment of the measures being taken by the Department to reduce the number of legacy systems and to improve the security of information technology networks; establishment and implementation of a standard architecture for all information technology applications; and reduction of the vulnerability of information technology systems to unauthorized access and use, the theft of information, and new forms of information warfare and terrorism. Strict scrutiny will be given to the DOD’s enterprise-wide business systems relative to cost and deployment schedules for these and other business systems. Committee oversight will also focus on gaining a better understanding of the architecture for tactical information technology systems and how the personnel, intelligence, operations, logistics, communications, and others tactical information technology systems fit together under an enterprise architecture that ensures cost savings and minimizes redundant capabilities to the operators. As appropriate, the committee will continue to coordinate with the Committee on Government Reform in these areas. Additionally, the committee will review the management of radio frequency spectrum to ensure that national security requirements are adequately addressed. In that review, the committee will continue to coordinate with the Committee on Energy and Commerce in this matter of shared jurisdiction and interest.
Base Realignment and Closure
The committee will closely monitor the conduct of the Department as it implements the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) decisions. The committee will ensure that the Department adheres to regulations and statutes governing base reuse, property disposal, and community adjustment assistance. The committee will monitor DOD efforts to complete closure and transfer from prior rounds of BRAC will examine the costs and savings associated with BRAC actions taken in 1988, 1991, 1993, 1995 and 2005. Additionally, the committee will examine the DOD re-stationing of units from overseas. These rebasing movements not only affect the U.S. strategic posture but they also have significant repercussions on readiness, surge capability, military construction and quality of life for military members and their families. The committee also recognizes that as a result of base realignments and closures there may be an influx in the number of dependent children attending local off base schools. As a result, the committee will closely monitor the Impact Aid Program which distributes money to local educational agencies that are financially burdened by federal activities and which provides technical assistance and support services to staff and other interested parties.
National Security Aspects of the Merchant Marine
The committee will continue its oversight of the implementation of Chapter 531, Maritime Security Fleet, of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (Public Law 108-136). In addition, the committee will continue to monitor the administration’s national security tanker program, the Title XI loan guarantee program of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, and assess the condition of the National Defense Reserve Fleet and the administration’s efforts at disposing of the vessels using domestic sources in an environmentally sound manner.
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