10 U.S.C. § 181 — Joint Requirements Oversight Council

(a) In General The Department of Defense has a Joint Requirements Oversight Council ("the Council"). (b) Mission Besides other jobs the President or Secretary of Defense may assign, the Council helps the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by: (1) studying global trends, new threats, and enemy capabilities to understand joint military problems and shape how the joint force is designed; (2) working with commanders of combatant commands to gather, refine, and rank joint operational problems; (3) continually reviewing the joint military capabilities of the defense components listed in section 111(b), in line with the national defense strategy under section 113(g); (4) finding and ranking gaps and opportunities in joint capabilities, and recommending fixes; (5) spotting new technology, commercial solutions, and operating concepts that could give the joint force a military edge; (6) recommending joint capability requirements that (A) explain the operational problem for context, (B) propose solutions without being too specific, and (C) make sure systems can work together where appropriate; (7) designing the joint force so it (A) addresses joint operational problems and (B) evaluates the armed services' force-design ideas and recommends accepting, adjusting, or replacing them; (8) keeping a repository of joint operational problems and the capabilities that address them; and (9) evaluating the effect of joint capability requirements for purposes of section 4376(a). (c) Composition (1) In general: The Council is made up of: (A) the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who chairs the Council and is the main adviser to the Chairman on joint capabilities; (B) an Army general; (C) a Navy admiral; (D) an Air Force general; (E) a Marine Corps general; and (F) a Space Force general. (2) Selection of members: the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs picks members (B) through (E), after consulting the Secretary of Defense, from generals or admirals recommended by the relevant military department's Secretary. (3) Recommendations: when the Vice Chairman makes a recommendation to the Chairman under (1)(A), the Vice Chairman must also share any Council members' dissenting views on that recommendation. (d) Advisors (1) In general: these Defense Department officials advise the Council on matters in their area: (A) Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; (B) Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security; (C) Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment; (D) Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, who serves as Chief Technical Advisor and (i) helps judge whether requirements are technically doable and (ii) points out new options from emerging technology; (E) Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller); (F) Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation; (G) Director of Operational Test and Evaluation; and (H) the commander of a combatant command, when a matter involves that command's area or duties. (2) Input from combatant commands: the Council must seek and give real weight to input from combatant command commanders. (3) Input from service chiefs: the Council must seek and consider service chiefs' views, since they use the capabilities the defense acquisition system delivers. (4) Input from vice chief of the national guard bureau: the Council must seek and consider the Vice Chief of the National Guard Bureau's views on non-federalized National Guard capabilities for homeland defense and civil support. (5) Input from industry: the Council must seek private companies' views on commercial technology that could fix joint operational problems or capability gaps. (e) Responsibility for Capability Requirements Each service chief is responsible for their own armed force's capability requirements. (f) Analytic and Engineering Support The Secretary of Defense must make sure that Defense Department analysis groups — such as the Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation and mission-engineering offices — give the Council the resources and expertise it needs for its mission under (b). (g) Availability of Oversight Information to Congressional Defense Committees When the Secretary approves a Chairman's recommendation, the Secretary must make sure that the supporting analysis behind it — produced through the Council's work — reaches the congressional defense committees promptly. (h) Definitions (1) "Joint capability requirement" means a capability that is critical or essential to solving a joint operational problem. (2) "Joint military capabilities" means all the capabilities across the joint force — both shared and service-specific — available for military operations. (3) "Joint operational problem" (A) means a challenge across the joint force in reaching a military goal, based on current doctrine, new threats, or future ideas; and (B) can include gaps in capability, capacity, resources, or the ability to coordinate well across the joint force, with another combatant command, or among joint capabilities. (4) "Oversight information" means the analysis and justification materials prepared to support a recommendation that reaches, and is approved by, the Secretary of Defense. (5) "Service chief" has the meaning given in section 3101 of this title.