9/11 Commission Recommendations: Joint Committee on Atomic Energy -- A Model for Congressional Oversight?

Publication Date: August 2004

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

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Research Area: Government

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Abstract:

In its July 22, 2004, final report, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the "9/11 Commission") proposed a five-part plan to build unity of effort across the U.S. government in fighting terrorism. The commission's report includes specific recommendations for "centralizing and strengthening congressional oversight of intelligence and homeland security issues" including a recommendation that Congress consider creating a joint committee for intelligence, using the Joint Atomic Energy Committee as its model.

Created in the wake of the explosion of the first atomic weapon in the summer of 1945, the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (JCAE 1946-1977) has been described as one of the most powerful congressional committees in history.

Congress gave the JCAE exclusive jurisdiction over "all bills, resolutions, and other matters" relating to civilian and military aspects of nuclear power, and made it the only permanent joint committee in modern times to have legislative authority. The panel coupled these legislative powers with exclusive access to the information upon which its highly secretive deliberations were based. As overseer of the Atomic Energy Commission, the joint committee was also entitled by statute to be kept "fully and currently informed" of all commission activities and vigorously exercised that statutory right, demanding information and attention from the executive branch in a fashion that arguably has no equivalent today.

This report provides an outline of the structure and history of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy and raises a number of issues that might be considered by policymakers as they weigh the suitability of the JCAE as a possible model when crafting congressional oversight mechanisms. For example, one factor that might be weighed by policymakers is evidence that shows that the JCAE was not created to be one of the most powerful committees in congressional history; it evolved into one as a result of personalities and circumstances.

This report will be updated as circumstances warrant.