HDAC Co-Sponsors Defense Oversight Program for Pakistani Defense Commission Members

Partnering with the Center for Near East and South Asia Strategic Studies at the National Defense University and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the House Democracy Assistance Commission co-sponsored a defense oversight program for 10 Members of the Defense Committee of the National Assembly of Pakistan.

Taking place March 9 to 13, 2009, the program's main objective was to provide an introduction to the principles of civil military relations and the importance of the legislature's oversight function, with emphasis on the defense sector. It also exposed the participants to U.S. policy and decision making in regards to national security and defense oversight.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives shared with their Pakistani counterparts their experience in scrutinizing the executive's defense sector plans, determining appropriations funding levels for defense, and overseeing security assistance spending. Some of the Members that engaged in this peer-to-peer exchange with the Pakistani Defense Committee included: Rep. David Price (D-North Carolina), Member of the Committee on Appropriations, Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, and host as HDAC Chairman; Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Missouri), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee; Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Arkansas), Chairman of the Armed Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee; Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and Senior Member of the Armed Services Committee; Rep. John Tierney (D-Massachusetts), Chairman of the National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; Rep. David Dreier (R-California), Ranking Member of the Committee on Rules and Ranking Member of HDAC; and Rep. Dan Burton (R-Indiana), co-chair of the Pakistan Caucus.

In addition to their meetings with individual U.S. legislators, the participants were given a conceptual framework by Congressional Research Service specialists on general committee functions, with an emphasis on the operations of House Armed Services Committee and its various subcommittees. Further, the Pakistani Members observed a live hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on security challenges arising from the global financial crisis and met with Colonel David J. Furness, Director of the U.S. Marine Corps Liaison Office in the House of Representatives and Wyndee Parker, Defense Specialist for the Speaker's Office.