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Committee
on Armed Services
Oversight Plan
108th Congress
This oversight plan is filed
pursuant to clause 2(d) of rule X of the
Rules of the House of Representatives which
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 will be conducted primarily within
the context of the committee's consideration
of the annual defense authorization bill.
This legislation covers the breadth of the
operations of the Department of Defense as
well as a significant portion of the annual
operating budget of the Department of
Energy. The annual national defense
function budget of approximately $393
billion involves millions of military and
civilian personnel, thousands of facilities,
and hundreds of agencies, departments, and
commands located throughout the world. The
committee will continue to perform general
oversight of the structure and management of
the Department of Defense and related
topics.
The committee conducts
continuous oversight of laws, programs, and
agencies under permanent authority in Titles
10 (Armed Forces), 32 (National Guard), 37
(Pay and Allowances), 42 (Atomic Energy),
and 50 (War and National Defense), United
States Code, which are within its
jurisdiction.
The jurisdiction of the
committee, pursuant to clause 2(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 (TIARA)
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. The committee will
regularly assess national security threats
and challenges as it begins consideration of
the fiscal year 2004 and fiscal year 2005
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 of the 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 those in private
life on these matters.
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
below are expected to be on-going areas of
oversight activity throughout the 108th
Congress. In addition, the committee will
continue to pay particular attention to the
mandates placed on executive departments and
agencies by Public Law 103-62, the
Government Performance and Results Act of
1993. 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.
Most recently, the committee conducted
extensive oversight into the aftermath of
the events of September 11, 2001, paying
particular attention to the conduct of the
war on terrorism, force protection of
military personnel, equipment and
installations. Additionally, the committee
has examined the United States' increasingly
uneasy relations with Iraq and is concerned
with the disturbing and evolving situation
in North Korea, especially with regard to
its nuclear weapons and missile programs.
Other examples of past, unanticipated
oversight include the terrorist bombing
attack on the U.S.S. Cole in Aden,
Yemen and the deployment of U.S. ground
forces to Bosnia. The breadth and demands
of these reviews are such that they can
dominate committee and staff resources,
sometimes at the expense of other planned
activities. The continuing unsettled nature
of the post-September 11 world is such that
the committee fully expects that this type
of event-driven oversight will continue to
be required and will inevitably have an
impact upon other planned oversight
activities.
In addition, 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, the Federal Acquisition
Workforce Improvement Act, the Federal
Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994, the
Federal Acquisition Reform Act of 1996, 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 has taken an
active role in the reauthorization of the
Export Administration Act and expects to
continue that effort in the 108th
Congress. 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
108th Congress:
National Military Strategy and Other Defense
Policy Issues
Particular attention will be
given, but not limited, to the following:
the adequacy of active and reserve component
force structure and end strength to carry
out the national military strategy of the
United States; Department of Defense efforts
to convert lower priority military personnel
spaces to higher priority requirements; an
examination of initiatives to enhance guard
and reserve forces and the integration of
active and reserve components; a continuing
assessment of the role of contingency
operations in the execution of the national
military strategy and the force structure
required to sustain such operations;
implementation of the National Military
Strategy delineated in the Quadrennial
Defense Review; an examination of the
technological, doctrinal, and other factors
affecting the long-term transformation of
the conduct of military operations; a review
of active and reserve general officer
authorizations and distributions; review of
the roles and responsibilities of the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and of
the combatant commands military
requirements; examination of roles and
missions of the armed services, and their
implications for modernization requirements
and the development of major weapons
systems; assessment of the new Assistant
Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense
and its implications for the organizational
structure of the Office of the Secretary of
Defense; and oversight of the realignment of
major combatant commands, including the
merger of Strategic and Space Commands, and
the establishment of the Northern Command to
complement the missions of the Department of
Homeland Security.
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 assess whether the
creation 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, has resulted in greater
integration and coordination within the DOD
intelligence community.
Missile Defense Programs
The committee will continue
to review the Department of Defense's plans
to accelerate fielding of initial capability
of several missile defense programs. This
acceleration, which signals a level of
confidence in the growing body of missile
defense program flight test results, will
likely entail increases in missile defense
funding and the combination of both
accelerated flight testing and simultaneous
fielding of emerging capabilities of
elements of the missile defense
system-of-system architecture.
Organization and Management of the
Department of Defense
The committee will continue
its review of the Department of Defense
infrastructure and organization. In
particular, the committee will evaluate
expected defense reform proposals
recommended by the administration. In
addition, the committee will assess the
success of the Goldwater-Nichols Department
of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 and
evaluate appropriate modifications to that
legislation, including associated
requirements for professional military
education.
Threats Posed by Unconventional Warfare
The committee will continue
its oversight of unconventional threats to
national security and U.S. military forces.
Particular attention will be given, but not
limited, to the response of the Department
of Defense to the events of September 11,
2001, the establishment and initial
operations of the Northern Command, an
assessment of the adequacy of force
protection measures, including the adequacy
of intelligence, operational, and tactical
doctrine; the equipment modernization
necessary to conduct the global war on
terrorism; progress in establishing a
national collaborative environment for
intelligence information; related
organizational matters; and the design of
installations and facilities to address
threats posed by terrorism utilizing either
conventional weapons or weapons of mass
destruction. Due to its increased role and
involvement in the war on terrorism, the
Special Operations Command is likely to see
a significant increase in its procurement
budget for fiscal year 2004.
In
the conduct of its oversight, the committee
will coordinate with the Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence on tactical
intelligence matters and
intelligence-related activities of the
Department of Defense.
Military Applications of Nuclear Energy
Particular attention will be
given, but not limited, to the following:
continuing modernization and maintenance of
U.S. defense nuclear force structure in
support of military and national security
requirements; assessment of possible effects
of a nuclear test ban, in whole or in part,
on the safety and reliability of the U.S.
nuclear deterrent; the security of defense
nuclear sites, and the safe and secure
transport of nuclear weapons, components,
and materials; 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;
examination of the restructuring of the
nuclear facility workforce; assessment of
options concerning the disposition of
plutonium and highly enriched uranium.
Additionally, the committee will pursue an
examination of future national stockpile
requirements for tritium; continuing
oversight of the implementation of the
reform of the management of the national
security programs of the Department of
Energy and the National Nuclear Security
Administration enacted by the 106th
Congress; implementation of the
recommendations of the Nuclear Posture
Review undertaken pursuant to sections 1041
and 1042 of the Floyd D. Spence National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2001; and the national security implications
of the Moscow Treaty requiring a reduction
in active, deployed strategic weapons to
3,800 in fiscal year 2007, and a level of
1,700-2,200 weapons by 2012.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Threat
Reduction
The committee will continue
its oversight of the Cooperative Threat
Reduction program and nuclear
non-proliferation issues. In particular,
the committee will focus on ensuring
increased transparency and high standards of
conduct from participating parties and
ensuring complete access and accountability
for these programs. The committee will also
assess the appropriate conditions to be
placed on non-proliferation assistance given
to the states of the former Soviet Union.
Technology Transfers and Export Controls
The committee will continue
to conduct a careful examination of the
current U.S. export control regime and its
effectiveness in preventing the transfer of
sensitive military-related technologies to
potential adversaries. In particular, the
committee will focus on the implementation
of legislative requirements related to the
export of high performance computers
(so-called "supercomputers"); assessing the
effect of globalization, including
industrial mergers and acquisitions, on the
ability of the United States to prevent the
flow of militarily sophisticated dual-use
technologies to potential adversaries; and
evaluating various proposals to modify
existing domestic and multilateral export
control regimes. In these and other export
control-related areas, the committee will
continue to coordinate with the Committee on
International Relations, especially in the
consideration of the likely reauthorization
of the Export Administration Act.
Transformation
The Secretary of Defense has
made transformation of U.S. military forces
to meet the challenges of the 21st
Century one of his highest priorities. The
2001 Quadrennial Defense Review outlined six
transformational goals for the Department of
Defense and the military services. The
committee expects that funding for
transformational programs and initiatives
will be an important aspect of the FY 2004
budget submission. The committee will hold
oversight hearings on a number of aspects
regarding transformation including funding
for the Department's transformation
investment accounts, and on various
transformation initiatives such as
anti-access capabilities, enhanced space
operations, leveraging information
technology and information operations.
Homeland Defense
The National Defense
Authorization Act for FY 2003 (P.L. 107-107)
created an Assistant Secretary of Defense
for Homeland Defense to oversee Department
of Defense activities related to homeland
security. In October 2002, the Department
issued the Unified Command Plan 2002
(UCP-02) 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 committee
will hold oversight hearings into the
progress the Department has made in the
various aspects of homeland defense and
receive updates in the implementation of P.L.
107-107 and UCP-02.
Military
Modernization and Acquisition Policy
The committee will continue
to monitor closely the ongoing
implementation of the Federal Acquisition
Streamlining Act of 1994, the Federal
Acquisition Reform Act of 1996, and other
recent reforms of the federal acquisition
system as they affect the procurement
practices of the Department of Defense. The
Department of Defense has chosen to
eliminate the current 5000 series
acquisition regulations that established
modernization program milestones and
decision criteria, and intends to replace
these regulations with more streamlined
guidance designed to support shorter
acquisition timelines. The committee will
reexamine the traditional oversight tools
such as multiple program milestone reviews
at various stages of development and
traditionally sequenced test, evaluation,
and procurement reviews prior to first
fielding and deployment. The committee will
continue to coordinate with the Committee on
Government Reform in these matters of shared
jurisdiction and interest.
Base Realignment and Closure
The committee will continue
to examine the costs and savings associated
with base realignment and closure actions
taken in 1988, 1991, 1993, and 1995. In
addition, the committee will closely monitor
Department of Defense preparations for
conduct of the base realignment and closure
round in 2005, authorized in the National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2002. The committee will continue to
examine the impact of base realignment and
closure actions on affected local
communities, particularly the effects of
regulations and statutes governing base
reuse, the disposal of real and personal
property, and community adjustment
assistance, including the continuing
implementation of conveyances of base
closure property for economic development
authorized by the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000. The
committee will also continue to assess the
effect of previous base realignment and
closure actions on readiness and future
force modernization.
Fiscal Management and Oversight of Weapons
Programs
Several programs have
experienced cost overruns within the past
year or in the previous two years. The
committee will assess the need for
legislative action by examining potential
causes for these overruns including, but not
limited to, optimistic previous cost
estimates, labor and material increases,
production and development schedule slips,
performance problems, requirements creep,
and increased industrial overhead costs.
National
Security Aspects of the Merchant Marine
The committee will continue
to examine programs designed to maintain the
U.S. flag commercial merchant fleet and its
role in strategic and sustainment sealift,
transparency of vessel ownership, and the
control and security of vessels operating
under the U.S. flag. Specifically, the
committee will continue its oversight of the
implementation of the Maritime Security Act
of 1996, and will address the issue of
reauthorization of this program in the 108th
Congress. The committee will also continue
to assess the condition of the National
Defense Reserve Fleet and the ability of
U.S. shipyards to transition to a
combination of defense and non-defense ship
construction.
Force Readiness
A continuing principal focus
of the committee during the 108th
Congress will be to assess the readiness of
the armed services and the adequacy of
planned expenditures for national defense to
support sustained readiness of U.S. military
forces. Particular attention will also be
given, but not limited, to the following: an
examination of the impact of the high pace
of deployments and the level of compensation
during deployment on service personnel and
their families; reevaluation of current
policy supporting officer and enlisted
recruiting, accessions, training,
promotions, separations, and retirements;
assessment of pay, compensation, and other
benefits of military service, including the
implementation by the Department of Defense
of assignment incentive pay as adopted in
the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2003 and health and
disability benefits for people participating
in pre-accession education and training
programs; and a continuing assessment of
recruitment and retention policies and
programs of the military services.
Concurrent Receipt of Military Retired Pay
and VA Disability Compensation
The Bob Stump National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2003 provided a compromise measure on
concurrent receipt: a new special
compensation for retirees with combat
related disabilities. Not later than May
31, 2003, the Secretary of Defense is
required to provide to retirees with combat
related disabilities monthly payments to
offset the amount of retired pay forfeited
due to the prohibition against concurrent
receipt. The implementation of the new
program will require the Department of
Defense to make a number of policy
determinations that will require close
oversight by the committee in the 108th
Congress in order to ensure the program is
promptly and equitably implemented.
Compensation and Benefits Parity Between
Reserve and Active Duty Members
Because of the increased
level of reserve component participation and
responsibility in military operations during
the last decade - and the likelihood that
the reserves will continue to play an
important role in the war on terrorism -
reservists, National Guardsmen, and their
supporters have initiated a number of
measures to equalize the current level of
reserve compensation and benefits in
comparison with those received by their
active duty counterparts. Given the desire
for a comprehensive look at all the issues,
the committee directed the Comptroller
General in the Bob Stump National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 to
review the terms and elements of reserve
compensation, benefit, and personnel support
programs to determine if these programs need
to be improved and whether they are fair and
equitable when compared to similar programs
conducted for the benefit of active duty
personnel. The review, due to Congress by
March 31, 2003, will require the immediate
attention of the committee.
Deployment Health and Force Health
Protection
The committee's efforts to
advance force health surveillance and
protection will include consideration of the
findings of an ongoing General Accounting
Office review - itself a follow-up to a 1997
GAO report - of the Department of Defense's
Deployment Health Surveillance policy
implementation. The current review is also
examining compliance with the National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
1998 that required specific deployment
health surveillance activities. Further,
the committee will assess the execution of
the new smallpox vaccination program to
ensure that lessons learned in implementing
the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program
contribute to better management of vaccine
administration, immunization record keeping,
education of service members and their
families, and monitoring/reporting adverse
reactions.
Domestic Violence in the Military
The committee anticipates
that the final report of the Department of
Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence will
provide a number of actionable proposals
that merit adoption and implementation. The
committee will be interested in the earliest
possible adoption of appropriate
recommendations and progress regarding other
proposals that the Department of Defense has
taken under study. The committee's
principal interest will be to expedite
implementation of appropriate policies,
programs and resources necessary to address
this important quality of life, good order
and discipline issue.
Military Absentee Voting Procedures
The National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 and
the Help America Vote Act of 2002 both
included new initiatives to assist military
members to vote by absentee ballot and to
improve the effectiveness of the Federal
Voting Assistance Program operated by the
Secretary of Defense and the process within
the Department of Defense for moving voting
materials by mail. In addition to closely
monitoring the effectiveness of defense
voting programs, the committee will also be
interested in giving oversight to the
Department of Defense effort to prepare for
and execute a broad demonstration of
electronic absentee voting during the 2004
Federal election.
Military and Military Retiree Health Care
The committee will continue
its efforts to assess the cost,
accessibility, and quality of peacetime
military health care, including the
transition to new TRICARE contracts and
changes to the TRICARE regional governance
structure. In particular, the Committee
will focus on the planning, execution and
effects of the transition from the current
twelve TRICARE regions and four Managed Care
Support Contractors to a new three-region,
three MCSC structure. The committee will
investigate the recent theft of personal
data on 500,000 service members from a DOD
health care contractor, the largest single
identity theft in the nation's history. The
committee will also be interested in the
implementation of the new national retail
pharmacy contract, and the establishment of
new local support and resource sharing
contracts. The committee's principal
interest will be that the Department of
Defense effort to transition to new
contracts does not negatively affect
beneficiaries, and that it improves
optimization of military medical treatment
facilities while preserving high quality,
accessible health care. The committee is
especially interested in TRICARE beneficiary
access to providers and reports of provider
shortages in some areas. Additionally, the
committee will continue to monitor the
delivery of health care benefits for members
of the National Guard and reservists called
to active duty, and their family members.
The committee will also closely monitor
efforts by the Department of Defense to
improve information security as it relates
to beneficiary data used in health care
venues. Finally, the committee will
continue to work with the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs in the oversight of
inter-agency arrangements related to the
sharing of health care resources available
to the Department of Defense and the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Programs
Particular attention will be
given, but not limited, to the following:
oversight of morale, welfare, and recreation
programs; examination of military exchanges
and commissaries; and oversight of
non-appropriated fund construction programs
and other non-appropriated fund
instrumentalities.
People and Quality of Life
The committee will continue
to address critical issues and programs
supporting the quality of life for military
personnel and their families and the effect
of those programs ultimately on military
readiness. Particular attention will be
given, but not limited to, the following:
examination of research and health care
issues related to the care of veterans of
the Persian Gulf War; assessment of
improvements in the basic allowance for
housing and the reduction of out-of-pocket
housing costs for military members;
oversight of the implementation of the
reform in the basic allowance for
subsistence; review of the current quality
and adequacy of the military family housing
supply; review of the current quality and
adequacy of barracks, bachelor enlisted
quarters, and dormitories; oversight of the
implementation of the Military Housing
Privatization Initiative authorized by the
National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 1996; and examination of the
backlog in the repair and maintenance of
military housing.
Restructuring of Service Career Management
Personnel Programs
Recruiting and retention
problems and the desire to create a more
cost efficient force have prompted new
emphasis on alternative strategies for
managing military personnel. The Secretary
of Defense has raised fundamental questions
about the value of maintaining the current
"up or out" military personnel system. The
U.S. Commission on National Security/21st
Century, the Defense Science Board, and
other government oversight agencies and
private sector think tanks are contemplating
alternative personnel and compensation
systems that would require numerous
legislative changes to implement.
Department of Defense officials are known to
be analyzing possible major changes in
military personnel management systems that,
when announced, will require extensive
oversight by the committee.
Chemical-Biological Defense Program
The preparedness of
U.S.
armed forces to fight effectively under the
threat of the use of chemical or biological
weapons by an adversary has been an area of
continuing interest and oversight by the
committee since before the 1990 Persian Gulf
War against Iraq. Significant advances have
been made in chemical-biological defense
capabilities of
U.S.
forces since the end of that conflict as a
result of increased funding and emphasis
within the Department of Defense and among
U.S.
military commanders. However, shortages of
the newest protective equipment in some
units and uncertainties with respect to the
biological threat raise concerns about the
current readiness of
U.S.
forces to fight in a chemical-biological
warfare environment. A major reorganization
of chemical-biological defense program
management within the Department of Defense
is being considered that should result in a
program that is more responsive to the needs
of the forces in the field (and to homeland
defense requirements). The committee will
review the current state of preparedness
among U.S. armed forces and assess the
effectiveness of the new program management
and the adequacy of program funding during
hearings on the fiscal year 2004 budget
request.
Chemical Demilitarization
Program
Under the Chemical Warfare
Convention Treaty the United States is
required to complete the destruction of its
stockpile of lethal chemical warfare agents
and munitions by September 2007. Although
approximately 25 percent of the U.S.
chemical weapons stockpile has been
destroyed, technical issues and political
and environmental controversies involving
the preferred method of destruction chosen
by the Army have resulted in significant
program delays, which put at risk the
ability of the United States to fulfill its
obligations under the treaty, and
significantly increased program costs (to
approximately $24 billion by program
completion). The Department of Defense is
reorganizing program management for the
second time within the past year to address
many of these concerns. The committee will
address the current state of the program and
measures that might be taken to accelerate
the destruction of the stockpile during
hearings on the fiscal year 2004 budget
request.
Environmental Programs
Particular attention will be
given, but not limited, to the following:
assessment of current federal, state, and
local environmental compliance, remediation,
and restoration requirements imposed on the
Department of Defense, the military
services, and the Department of Energy;
examination of current and planned funding
requirements for environmental programs of
the Department of Defense and the Department
of Energy, including an assessment of the
cost effectiveness of such programs; and
examination of encroachment and the
diversion of military training and
operations and maintenance funds to meet
environmental requirements and the impact
such diversion may have on training and
military readiness. Identified for special
emphasis is the effectiveness of the
Department of Energy's Environmental
Management Clean-Up Reform Program, in
refocusing environment remediation efforts
at Cold War legacy nuclear sites from risk
management to real risk reduction. Finally,
an examination of the environmental cleanup
of unexploded ordnance at current and former
military bases will be conducted.
Industrial and Technological
Base
Particular attention will be
given, but not limited, to the following:
assessment of current budget and policy
priorities on the maintenance of the defense
industrial and technology base; assessment
of the ramifications of mergers and
acquisitions in the defense industry on the
development of future weapons systems;
assessment of dual-use technology programs;
examination of the current defense
laboratory and testing system; assessment of
the role of defense funding for university
research in the maintenance of the
technology base; and the adequacy of the
science and technology base to support force
transformation.
Information Technology
Particular attention will be
given, but not limited to the following:
implementation by the Department of Defense
of the information security reforms
authorized by the E-Government Act of 2002,
the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996, as well as
numerous provisions in various National
Defense Authorization Acts; assessment of
the measures being taken by the Department
of Defense 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. In these
areas, the committee will continue to
coordinate with the Committee on Government
Reform. 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.
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