Defense Budget: Role of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council
This document also available in PDF Image . In 1986, Congress addressed perceived inefficiencies in the organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff through the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986. Title II of Goldwater-Nichols broadened the responsibilities of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), and created the position of Vice-Chairman. The Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), an instrument of the Chairman, assists him in assessing military requirements for defense acquisition programs; the extent to which the program recommendations and proposals of the Armed Services conform with established priorities; and the validity of the program requirement recommendations identified by the regional combatant Commanders in Chief (CINCs) and the Services. The Joint Requirements Oversight Council conducts requirements analyses, validates mission needs and key performance parameters for weapons programs, and develops joint priorities for those needs. Since the enactment of Goldwater-Nichols, Congress has manifested a growing interest in the JROC as an instrument of the Chairman of the JCS for integrating competing Service priorities. The National Defense Act for Fiscal Year 1996 ( P.L. 104-106 ) directed the Secretary of Defense to establish the JROC in the Department of Defense. According to this Act, which took effect on January 31, 1997, the Chairman of the JCS shall serve as the JROC Chairman. Prior to enactment of a statutory charter, the Vice Chairman has served as the Chairman of the JROC. The National Defense Act for Fiscal Year 1997 ( H.R. 3230 , Sec. 908) directs the Secretary of Defense to make available to the congressional defense committees JROC analyses, or justification, that supports a recommendation of the Chairman of the JCS to the Secretary and is subsequently approved. This legislation will bring greater congressional scrutiny to the Joint Warfare Capabilities Assessments of the JROC. If defense procurement spending continues to decline, in real terms, JROC analyses and recommendations are likely to be the subject of growing congressional and Service interest.
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