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

• Author: Book, Elizabeth G.

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...