§181. Joint Requirements Oversight Council

(a) Establishment.-The Secretary of Defense shall establish a Joint Requirements Oversight Council in the Department of Defense.

(b) Mission.-In addition to other matters assigned to it by the President or Secretary of Defense, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council shall-

(1) assist the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in identifying and assessing the priority of joint military requirements (including existing systems and equipment) to meet the national military strategy;

(2) assist the Chairman in considering alternatives to any acquisition program that has been identified to meet military requirements by evaluating the cost, schedule, and performance criteria of the program and of the identified alternatives; and

(3) as part of its mission to assist the Chairman in assigning joint priority among existing and future programs meeting valid requirements, ensure that the assignment of such priorities conforms to and reflects resource levels projected by the Secretary of Defense through defense planning guidance.

(c) Composition.-(1) The Joint Requirements Oversight Council is composed of-

(A) the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is the chairman of the Council;

(B) an Army officer in the grade of general;

(C) a Navy officer in the grade of admiral;

(D) an Air Force officer in the grade of general; and

(E) a Marine Corps officer in the grade of general.

(2) Members of the Council, other than the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shall be selected by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after consultation with the Secretary of Defense, from officers in the grade of general or admiral, as the case may be, who are recommended for such selection by the Secretary of the military department concerned.

(3) The functions of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as chairman of the Council may only be delegated to the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

(d) Availability of Oversight Information to Congressional Defense Committees.-(1) The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that, in the case of a recommendation by the Chairman to the Secretary that is approved by the Secretary, oversight information with respect to such recommendation that is produced as a result of the activities of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council is made available in a timely fashion to the congressional defense committees.

(2) In this subsection:

(A) The term "oversight information" means information and materials comprising analysis and justification that are prepared to support a recommendation that is made to, and approved by, the Secretary of Defense.

(B) The term "congressional defense committees" means-

(i) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and

(ii) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.

(Added Pub. L. 104–106, div. A, title IX, §905(a)(1), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 403 ; amended Pub. L. 104–201, div. A, title IX, §908, Sept. 23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2621 ; Pub. L. 106–65, div. A, title X, §1067(1), Oct. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 774 .)

Amendments

1999-Subsec. (d)(2)(B)(ii). Pub. L. 106–65 substituted "Committee on Armed Services" for "Committee on National Security".

1996-Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 104–201 added subsec. (d).

Effective Date

Section 905(b) of Pub. L. 104–106 provided that: "The amendments made by this section [enacting this section] shall take effect on January 31, 1997."

Semiannual Report on Joint Requirements Oversight Council Reform Initiative

Pub. L. 106–398, §1 [[div. A], title IX, §916], Oct. 30, 2000, 114 Stat. 1654 , 1654A-231, provided that:

"(a) Semiannual Report.-The Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a series of five semiannual reports, as prescribed by subsection (b), on the activities of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council. The principal focus of each such report shall be on the progress made on the initiative of the Chairman to reform and refocus the Joint Requirements Oversight Council.

"(b) Submission of Reports.-Reports under this section shall be submitted not later than March 1, 2001, September 1, 2001, March 1, 2002, September 1, 2002, and March 1, 2003. Each report shall cover the half of a fiscal year that ends five months before the date on which the report is due.

"(c) Content.-In the case of any report under this section after the first such report, if any matter to be included is unchanged from the preceding report, that matter may be included by reference to the preceding report. Each such report shall include, to the extent practicable, the following:

"(1) A listing of each of the capability areas designated by the Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff as being within the principal domain of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council and a justification for each such designation.

"(2) A listing of the joint requirements developed, considered, or approved within each of the capability areas listed pursuant to paragraph (1).

"(3) A listing and explanation of the decisions made by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council and, to the extent appropriate, a listing of each of the recommendations to the Council made by the commander of the United States Joint Forces Command.

"(4) An assessment of-

"(A) the progress made in shifting the Joint Requirements Oversight Council to having a more strategic focus on future war fighting requirements;

"(B) the progress made on integration of requirements; and

"(C) the progress made on development of overarching common architectures for defense information systems to ensure that common defense information systems are fully interoperable.

"(5) A description of any actions that have been taken to improve the Joint Requirements Oversight Council."