House Armed Services panel reorganized: new subcommittee lineup to address 'mission needs,' says HASC chairman.

A reorganization of the House Armed Services Committee was needed, in order for the six subcommittees to focus on critical military missions rather than on traditional lines of budget categories, said HASC Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.

The restructuring will allow the committee to focus more on current mission areas, with "greater emphasis on unconventional threats and enhancing our capabilities to respond to them," he said.

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., is the committee's vice chairman as well as chair of the subcommittee on tactical land and air forces. He is known as a tireless advocate of increased defense spending and as an expert in Russia-U.S. relations.

Weldon said he joined Hunter several years ago in calling for the reorganization of the committee as a way to streamline conference negotiations with the Senate Armed Services Committee.

As vice chairman, Weldon said he planned to "take a lead role in increasing the activity of junior members of the committee, continue to lead outreach efforts to gain support from universities, labor unions and ethnic groups as well as working to ensure that cooperative threat reduction programs receive the attention they deserve."

The tactical air and land forces subcommittee, which Weldon chairs, has jurisdiction over the annual authorization for Army and Air Force acquisition programs, Naval and Marine Corps tactical aviation and National Guard, Army and Air Force Reserve equipment. The new subcommittee will oversee approximately $60 billion in military funds.

Rep. Terry Everett, R-Ala., is the chair of the subcommittee on strategic forces.

Everett's subcommittee will have involvement in the war on terrorism, Saddam Hussein and Iraq, the renewed tension on the Korean peninsula, and the threat of ballistic missile attack.

"This subcommittee will be responsible for shepherding a $45 billion budget for research, development and procurement annually," said Everett. He has jurisdiction over key Army missile-defense and air-defense programs.

Rep. Jim Saxton, R-N.J., chairs the subcommittee on terrorism, unconventional threats and capabilities. The panel oversees counter terrorism efforts and emerging threats.

"Iraq, North Korea, Iran, the Middle East, and the re-emergence of the al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Africa pose new and potentially dangerous international problems which we will have to confront in the near future," said Saxton. He oversees $7 billion in budgetary authority.

Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., is chairman of the subcommittee on total force, which is responsible for military personnel policy, reserve component integration and employment, military health care, military education, prisoner of war/missing in action (POW/MIA) issues, morale, welfare, recreation and quality of life programs.

The subcommittee oversees more than $70 billion in defense spending related to personnel issues and $15 billion in health benefits.

"These times of heightened security and increased deployments can be very challenging for our military men and women and their families," said McHugh. "The issues of end strength and quality of life are perhaps, now more important than ever. In recent years, Congress has done a much better job of protecting and promoting the interests of soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines, but there's still more work to be done," he said.

Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., was named chairman of the subcommittee on readiness. He previously served as chairman of the subcommittee on military installations and facilities. The subcommittee will have primary jurisdiction over military construction, installations and family housing, including the base closure process, as well as the operation and maintenance of all military bases. It is responsible for the readiness of military personnel, availability and condition of equipment, civilian personnel and maintenance depots.

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., is the chairman of the subcommittee on projection forces. "Force projection is what our enemies see when they look at America's military," said Bartlett. "I believe strongly that the most certain path to peace is to prepare for war," he said. "I look forward to the challenge of moving from a model of Lighting the last war to transforming our military capability to be more flexible, agile, and formidable to meet a wider array of threats from hostile forces- some of which call no one country home," said Bartlett.

"When I first joined the Armed Services Committee, there was a bad joke among defense contractors that our military had been buying yesterday's technology to meet tomorrow's demands. Since I have been on the committee, I have been working to modernize our procurement practices to buy the performance our military needs," he said.

Among the subcommittee's responsibilities will be Navy and Marine Corps Programs (not including tactical aviation), deep strike systems, strategic lift programs and Naval Reserve equipment.

RELATED ARTICLE: Freshman democrats join armed services committee

There are seven new Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., is serving his second term in Congress, but this is his first full appointment to the Armed Services Committee. Larson told National Defense that his main priorities include ensuring that "our women and men who serve our country in the military are adequately provided for with good salaries, housing and benefits."

Larsen indicated that he would fight for several programs. "In these uncertain times, it is important to increase funding and the effectiveness of programs such as the Cooperative Threat Reduction Initiative that ensure that nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in the former Soviet Union do not fall into the wrong hands," Larsen said

"Locally, I will work to highlight the strategic importance and value that the military facilities in Washington State have for the defense of our nation, especially the naval bases in my district, Naval Station Everett and Whidbey Naval Air Station, It is very important that in future base-closure rounds, the decision to close bases and other infrastructure are based solely on merit," he said.

Democratic Rep. Madeleine Bordallo, of Guam, is a U.S. territory representative, which means she cannot vote on legislation brought to the floor of the House. However, she can cast votes as a member of committees.

As a member of HASC, Bordallo said she was "working to enable the military to best utilize its resources available on Guam to fight and win these conflicts. The home porting of the USS Houston in 2004 and the increased operations at Andersen Air Force Base are promising indications of this process," she said.

Bordallo said she had several issues she planned to bring up in the committee during the new session of Congress. "Given the terrorist attack on the USS Cole, I am deeply concerned about repair work done on Navy vessels in foreign countries and believe that the forward deployed loophole should be closed," Bordallo said.

Long-term goals for Bordallo are "to bring in additional submarines, especially the new SSGN class that would be well-placed on Guam, and basing strategic bombers that could project forces deep into the Asia-Pacific region. In tandem with the increased operational activity, I would like to see an upgrade to the aging military infrastructure on Guam, such as the Fena Reservoir and the Naval Hospital," she said.

Regarding the base closure and realignment process, Bordallo said "The base closure process has had quite an impact on Guam, and I absolutely cannot see how any further reductions can be made without sacrificing critical national security interests. In fact, I believe that as tensions with North Korea increase, the Department of Defense may be regretting some of the downsizing it did on Guam in BRAC '93," she said.

Rep. Kendrick Meek, a Democrat from Florida, is a former police captain who previously served on a public safety committee in the Florida State legislature. In addition to his spot on HASC, he will be serving on the Select Committee on Homeland Security.

"In addition to more than 115,000 active military personnel, Florida has one of the largest reserve components and the highest number of military retirees in the country," he said.

"As military alignment has changed over the years, Florida bases have trained thousands more troops and developed some of their high-tech weapons. McDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, is headquarters for the U.S. Central Command that oversees military activities in the Persian Gulf region," he said.

Meek said he would be looking closely at funding levels for reserve and National Guard troops. "There is some concern for me that we may be funding reserve and National Guard training at levels lower than what we might need, The key to readiness for our soldiers, leaders and units to deploy and fight is through challenging training with a focus on wartime missions. Reservists are being deployed side by side with first-to-fight units. To maintain acceptable training readiness, the Army must have sufficient funding to support operational tempo, realistic maneuver training, adequate training ammunition levels, distributed interactive simulations, and participation in joint and combined exercises," he said.

"Unfortunately, I see only minor increases in the training budgets, and decreases in the overall operations budgets of the reserve and National Guard budgets.

Democratic Rep. Rodney Alexander, from Louisiana, is a veteran of the Air Force reserves. One of his priorities is "to ensure the quality of life and the safety of our military personnel. Our servicemen place their lives on the line to protect our nation, and they deserve the best that we can do by them-everything from pay and healthcare to ensuring that they are the best equipped and armed forces in the world," Alexander said.

Regarding the BRAC process, Alexander said that military bases serve many important functions, "not the least of which is their impact on the economy of the community in which they are located," he said. However, "the existence and use of a base must be justified by its military need," he said.

Other new Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee are Reps. Jim Marshall, of Georgia; Jim Cooper, of Tennessee, and Steve Israel, of New York