A Brief History

Following WWII, there was a need to consolidate government to increase efficiency. The result was the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, a piece of legislation which sought to shrink the number of committees and properly re-define their jurisdictions for the post-Depression, hands-on government. Merged in the Act were the Committee on Naval Affairs and that of Military Affairs (both created in 1816).

The Armed Services Committee was off to work early. In 1947 came the passage of the National Security Act, a child of the Reorganization Act, no doubt. The one time Department of War and the Department of the Navy merged into the National Military Establishment (later known as the Department of Defense). Additionally, the act created the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Jurisdiction

Since its inception, the Senate Committee on Armed Services has become extremely important as a voice in the legislative oversight of military power, arguably due to its very broad jurisdiction over all things military. The official government website lists the Committee's jurisdiction as the following:

• Aeronautical and space activities peculiar to or primarily associated with the development of weapons systems or military operations.
• The common defense.
• The Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force, generally.
• Maintenance and operation of the Panama Canal, including administration, sanitation, and government of the Canal Zone.
• Military research and development.
• National security aspects of nuclear energy.
• Naval petroleum reserves, except those in Alaska.
• Pay, promotion, retirement, and other benefits and privileges of members of the Armed Forces, including overseas education of civilian and military dependents.
• Selective service system.
• Strategic and critical materials necessary for the common defense.
• Comprehensive study and review of matters relating to the common defense policy of the United States. (Source: Senate)