United States Senate Committee on Armed Services

Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and former Chairman John Warner (R-VA) listen to Admiral Mike Mullen's confirmation hearing before the Armed Services Committee to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Armed Services Committee is the prime scene of discussion regarding U.S. Military in the Senate.

The Committee on Armed Services is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defense, military research and development, nuclear energy (as pertaining to national security), benefits for members of the military, the Selective Service System and other matters related to defense policy. The Armed Services Committee was created as a result of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 following U.S. victory in the Second World War. It merged the responsibilities of the Committee on Naval Affairs (established in 1816) and the Committee on Military Affairs (also established in 1816). Considered one of the most powerful Senate committees, its broad mandate allowed it to report some of the most extensive and revolutionary legislation during the Cold War years, including the National Security Act of 1947. The committee is highly influential.

Jurisdiction

According to the Senate Rules Committee, all proposed legislation, messages, petitions, memorials, and other matters relating to the following subjects are referred to the Armed Services Committee^[1]:

1. Aeronautical and space activities pertaining to or primarily associated with the development of weapons systems or military operations.
2. Common defense.
3. Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force, generally.
4. Maintenance and operation of the Panama Canal, including administration, sanitation, and government of the Canal Zone.
5. Military research and development.
6. National security aspects of nuclear energy.
7. Naval petroleum reserves, except those in Alaska.
8. Pay, promotion, retirement, and other benefits and privileges of members of the Armed Forces, including overseas education of civilian and military dependents.
9. Selective service system.
10. Strategic and critical materials necessary for the common defense.

Members, 112th Congress

The Committee is chaired by Democrat Carl Levin of Michigan, and the Ranking Member is Republican John McCain of Arizona.

In June 2009, Armed Services Committee senators Joe Lieberman, Carl Levin (chair), and John McCain, listen to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus deliver his opening remarks for the fiscal year 2010 budget request.

Majority	Minority
Carl Levin, Michigan, Chairman Joseph Lieberman, Connecticut[2] Jack Reed, Rhode Island Daniel Akaka, Hawaii Ben Nelson, Nebraska Jim Webb, Virginia Claire McCaskill, Missouri Mark Udall, Colorado Kay Hagan, North Carolina Mark Begich, Alaska Joe Manchin, West Virginia Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut	John McCain, Arizona, Ranking Member James Inhofe, Oklahoma Jeff Sessions, Alabama Saxby Chambliss, Georgia Roger Wicker, Mississippi Scott Brown, Massachusetts Rob Portman, Ohio Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire Susan Collins, Maine Lindsey Graham, South Carolina John Cornyn, Texas David Vitter, Louisiana

Source: 2011 Congressional Record, Vol. 157, Page S557

Subcommittees

Subcommittee Name	Chair		Ranking Member
Airland		Joe Lieberman (I-CT)		Scott Brown (R-MA)
Emerging Threats and Capabilities		Bill Nelson (D-FL)		Rob Portman (R-OH)
Personnel		Jim Webb (D-VA)		Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Readiness and Management Support		Claire McCaskill (D-MO)		Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)
SeaPower		Jack Reed (D-RI)		Roger Wicker (R-MS)
Strategic Forces		Ben Nelson (D-NE)		Jeff Sessions (R-AL)

Chairmen

Committee on Military Affairs, 1816-1947

Chairman		Party	State	Years
	John Williams	DR	TN	1816–1817
	George M. Troup	DR	GA	1817–1818
	John Williams	DR	TN	1818–1823
	Andrew Jackson	DR	TN	1823–1825
	William Henry Harrison	NR	OH	1825–1828
	Thomas Hart Benton	D	MO	1828–1841
	William Preston	W	SC	1841–1842
	John J. Crittenden	W	KY	1842–1845
	Thomas Hart Benton	D	MO	1845–1849
	Jefferson Davis	D	MS	1849–1851
	James Shields	D	IL	1851–1855
	John Weller	D	CA	1855–1857
	Jefferson Davis	D	MS	1857–1861
	Henry Wilson	R	MA	1861–1872
	John A. Logan	R	IL	1872–1877
	George E. Spencer	R	AL	1877–1879
	Theodore Randolph	D	NJ	1879–1881
	John A. Logan	R	IL	1881–1886
	Joseph R. Hawley	R	CT	1887–1893
	Edward Walthall	D	MS	1893–1895
	Joseph R. Hawley	R	CT	1895–1905
	Francis E. Warren	R	WY	1905–1911
	Henry A. du Pont	R	DE	1911–1913
	Joseph F. Johnston	D	AL	1913
	George E. Chamberlain	D	OR	1913–1919
	James W. Wadsworth, Jr.	R	NY	1919–1927
	David A. Reed	R	PA	1927–1933
	Morris Sheppard	D	TX	1933–1941
	Robert R. Reynolds	D	NC	1941–1945
	Elbert Thomas	D	UT	1945–1947

Committee on Naval Affairs, 1816-1947

Chairman		Party	State	Years
	Charles Tait	R	GA	1816–1818
	Nathan Sanford	R	NY	1818–1819
	James Pleasants	R	VA	1819–1823
	James Lloyd	F	MA	1823–1825
	Robert Y. Hayne	D	SC	1825–1832
	George M. Dallas	D	PA	1832–1833
	Samuel Southard	W	NJ	1833–1836
	William C. Rives	D	VA	1836–1839
	Reuel Williams	D	ME	1839–1841
	Willie P. Mangum	W	NC	1841–1842
	Richard H. Bayard	W	DE	1842–1845
	John Fairfield	D	ME	1845–1847
	David Levy Yulee	D	FL	1847–1851
	William M. Gwin	D	CA	1851–1855
	Stephen Mallory	D	FL	1855–1861
	John P. Hale	R	NH	1861–1864
	James Grimes	R	IA	1864–1870
	Aaron Cragin	R	NH	1870–1877
	Aaron A. Sargent	R	CA	1877–1879
	John R. McPherson	D	NJ	1879–1881
	James Donald Cameron	R	PA	1881–1893
	John R. McPherson	D	NJ	1893–1895
	James Donald Cameron	R	PA	1895–1897
	Eugene Hale	R	ME	1897–1909
	George C. Perkins	R	CA	1909–1913
	Benjamin Tillman	D	SC	1913–1918
	Claude A. Swanson	D	VA	1918–1919
	Carroll S. Page	R	VT	1919–1923
	Frederick Hale	R	ME	1923–1933
	Park Trammell	D	FL	1933–1937
	David I. Walsh	D	MA	1937–1947

Committee on Armed Services, 1947-present

Chairman		Party	State	Years
	Chan Gurney	Republican	South Dakota	1947–1949
	Millard E. Tydings	Democratic	Maryland	1949–1951
	Richard B. Russell	Democratic	Georgia	1951–1953
	Leverett Saltonstall	Republican	Massachusetts	1953–1955
	Richard B. Russell	Democratic	Georgia	1955–1969
	John C. Stennis	Democratic	Mississippi	1969–1981
	John Tower	Republican	Texas	1981–1984
	Barry Goldwater	Republican	Arizona	1985–1987
	Sam Nunn	Democratic	Georgia	1987–1995
	Strom Thurmond	Republican	South Carolina	1995–1999
	John Warner	Republican	Virginia	1999–2001
	Carl Levin	Democratic	Michigan	2001
	John Warner	Republican	Virginia	2001
	Carl Levin	Democratic	Michigan	2001–2003
	John Warner	Republican	Virginia	2003–2007
	Carl Levin	Democratic	Michigan	2007–present

See also

• United States House Committee on Armed Services

Footnotes

1. ^ Rule XXV: Committees, Standing Rules of the United States Senate.
2. ^ Joe Lieberman is an Independent Democrat, but caucuses with Democrats on the committee.

External links

• United States Senate Armed Services Committee Website
  • Committee Publications
  • Committee Hearing Schedule & Archive
  • Committee Press Releases
• Department of Defense
  • Department of the Air Force
  • Department of the Army
  • Department of the Navy
• Armed Forces Retirement Home
• Selected Service System
• Four Torture Memos Released April 16, 2009, in response to FOIA suit by ACLU Senate Armed Services Committee Report on Torture released April 22, 2009.
• Senate Armed Services Committee member profiles at WhoRunsGov at The Washington Post