9/11 Commission Recommendations: Joint Committee on Atomic Energy - A Model for Congressional Oversight? Page: 6 of 38
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CRS-3
military aspects of nuclear power, and made it the only permanent joint committee
in modern times to have legislative authority.9
The JCAE coupled these legislative powers with exclusive access to the
information upon which its highly secretive deliberations were based. Simply put,
the JCAE had access to restricted data not available to other committees of the House
or Senate. The joint committee jealously guarded that information and this gave the
committee tremendous power in its area of expertise.
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. It vigorously exercised that statutory right, demanding information and
attention from the executive branch in a fashion that arguably has no equivalent
today.
Creation of the JCAE
Against the backdrop of the dawning atomic age, Congress faced the question
as scholars Harold P. Green and Allen Rosenthal observed in their 1961 study of the
JCAE, of how to "maintain its position"in relation to the executive branch and, "deal
effectively with a vital national security program requiring secrecy, involving highly
esoteric technical data at the frontiers of scientific knowledge and necessitating
considerable urgency and flexibility?"'0
Following World War II, Congress was facing not only the challenges posed by
the atom, but also coming to terms with its own authority and position in relation to
the executive branch of government.
In the summer of 1946, Congress had finally passed, after nearly two years of
study, the landmark Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, which was motivated,
in part, by Congress's desire to have more power and resources in relation to the
President. The act, which gave birth to the modern congressional committee system,
made "improvements in such [House and Senate] organization and operation with a
view toward strengthening the Congress, simplifying its operations, [and] improving
its relationships with the other branches of the United States Government."" The
motivation for the "creation of the JCAE should be considered in the context of the9 Few temporary Joint Committees have had legislative authority. For example, the Joint
Committee on Reorganization, which was created on Dec. 29, 1920 (41 Stat. 1083) to study
the organization of the executive branch, was given permission to "prepare and submit bills
or resolutions." The JCAE, however, was the only permanent joint committee with such
power.
10 Green and Rosenthal, p. 288.
"CRS Report RL31835, Reorganization of the House ofRepresentatives: Modern Reform
Efforts, by Judy Schneider, Christopher M. Davis, and Betsy Palmer.
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Davis, Christopher M. 9/11 Commission Recommendations: Joint Committee on Atomic Energy - A Model for Congressional Oversight?, report, August 20, 2004; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs5766/m1/6/: accessed June 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.