Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence

HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE.Established by the

Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, the House Armed Services

Committee has served as the principal authorization committee for

defense agencies and national security issues in the House of Repre-

sentatives. Less well known than its Senate counterpart, the commit-

tee held some oversight responsibilities over intelligence matters un-

til 1977, when the House of Representatives established the House

Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). The com-

mittee’s oversight responsibilities now are conducted within the con-

text of the annual defense authorization bill. This legislation covers

the Department of Defense(DOD) as well as a significant portion

of the annual operating budget of the Department of Energy (DOE).

See alsoSENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE.

HOUSE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE. A

standing committee of the House of Representatives. The House In-

ternational Relations Committee shares jurisdiction with other

committees on foreign policy and national security matters. It is the

primary house committee overseeing U.S. foreign relations, princi-

pally through its power to authorize foreign economic and military

assistance.

The committee evolved from the Committee of Secret Corre-

spondenceestablished in 1775. In 1777, a name change to the

Committee for Foreign Affairs suggested the committee’s addi-

tional responsibilities for the new nation’s foreign affairs. With the

new federal constitution, approved in 1789, however, foreign af-

fairs powers shifted to the Senate and the executive branch, leav-

ing the house committee without much authority. In 1822, the

House of Representatives made the Committee on Foreign Affairs

a standing committee, with jurisdiction over U.S. foreign relations.

In 1885, the committee gained authority to report germane appro-

priations measures, a power it lost to the House Appropriations

Committee in 1920.

The committee changed its name yet again at the end of the Cold

Warto reflect new realities in global politics. Its jurisdiction now

covers declaration of war and neutrality, military intervention abroad,

foreign commercial relations, payments to international organiza-

tions, acquisition of official property abroad, protection of American

citizens abroad, and foreign relations generally.

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