Unites States Senate Committee on National Security & Foreign Affairs

The Committee on National Security & Foreign Affairs is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defense, military research and development, nuclear energy (as pertaining to national security), benefits for members of the military, the Selective Service System and other matters related to defense policy.

It also jurisdiction over matters related to the Department of Homeland Security and other homeland security concerns.

It is considered one of the most powerful Senate committees, its broad mandate allowed it to report some of the most extensive and revolutionary legislation during the Cold War years, including the National Security Act of 1947. The committee is highly influential.

Jurisdiction
According to the Senate Rules Committee, all proposed legislation, messages, petitions, memorials, and other matters relating to the following subjects are referred to the Armed Services Committee :


 * 1) Aeronautical and space activities peculiar to or primarily associated with the development of weapons systems or military operations.
 * 2) Common defense.
 * 3) Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force, generally.
 * 4) Maintenance and operation of the Panama Canal, including administration, sanitation, and government of the Canal Zone.
 * 5) Military research and development.
 * 6) National security aspects of nuclear energy.
 * 7) Naval petroleum reserves, except those in Alaska.
 * 8) Pay, promotion, retirement, and other benefits and privileges of members of the Armed Forces, including overseas education of civilian and military dependents.
 * 9) Selective service system.
 * 10) Strategic and critical materials necessary for the common defense.

Members, 114th Congress
The Committee is chaired by Democrat John Alexander of Pennsylvania, and the Ranking Member is Republican Jim Chaplin of Illinois.