SYLLABUS

(3-22-06)

NS 3037

THE ROLE OF CONGRESS IN U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY

NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL

MONTEREY, CA

SPRING QUARTER

March 27 - June 16, 2006

Mondays and Wednesdays, 1300-1450, Glasgow 306

Professor Archie Barrett Professor Glen Browder

Office: Quarters B Room 006 Office: Quarters B Room 008

E-mail: adbarret@nps.edu E-mail: jgbrowder@nps.edu

Phone: 831-656-3589 Phone: 831-656-2733

Administrative Assistant: Donna Trombly

Quarters B Office 007

E-mail: datrombl@nps.edu

Phone: 831-656-7619

Office Hours: By Appointment

THE COURSE

FOCUS AND INSTRUCTORS

This course focuses on the Congress and examines how it fulfills its role in national security policymaking. The course will cover the Constitutional foundation of the legislature and its evolution; congressional leadership and committee structure; rules and procedures; the roles and functions of political parties; congressional member recruitment and campaigning; budget, authorization, and appropriation processes; congressional staff activities; staff relationships to legislators; development of legislative language; development of legislative strategy; subcommittee, full committee, and floor debate; conference between the two houses of Congress; oversight of the Executive Branch to include congressional investigations and interactions with the Department of Defense. The course will also include a case study of the legislative process leading to the passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act in 1986. In addition to learning about the legislative process, the student should gain an understanding of the legal foundations of civil-military relations and civilian control of the military.

The two professors offering the course have extensive experience in the legislative process. Both served on the House Armed Services Committee, Dr. Browder as a Congressman from 1989 to 1996, and Dr. Barrett as a member of the professional staff from 1981 to 1994. Dr. Browder was also a member of the House Budget Committee. His defense-related legislative work involved military readiness, installations, research and development, investigations and oversight, and morale-welfare-recreation responsibilities; he was chairman of the Military Depot Caucus and the Military Base Closure Fairness Network. His Budget Committee work focused on balancing the federal budget. He was also a founding leader of the “Blue Dog” Democratic movement emphasizing both strong defense and fiscal responsibility. Dr. Barrett’s congressional responsibilities included participation in the investigation of the terrorist bombing of the Marine headquarters in Lebanon in 1983, staff preparation of the hearings and legislative proposals on defense reorganization that culminated in the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, and staff oversight of the Skelton Panel on Military Education. Dr. Barrett also served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs from 1994 to 1997. Both Browder and Barrett have continued their involvement in defense-oriented activity and analysis since leaving Washington.

REQUIREMENTS

Class participation will determine forty percent of the grade. That participation will include seminars and other assignments that involve classroom activity and associated outside preparation. Sixty percent of the grade will be based on the mid-term and a course paper.

MATERIALS

Roger H. Davidson and Walter J. Oleszek, Congress and Its Members, Tenth Edition (Washington, D. C.: CQ Press, 2006).

James R. Locher III, Victory on the Potomac, The Goldwater-Nichols Act Unifies the Potomac (College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 2002).

Additional readings will be provided as handouts, transmitted by e-mail, or placed on hold in the library.

OUTLINE AND SCHEDULE

Part I. Introduction to the U.S. Congress (Lessons 1-2)

Monday, March 27/Lesson 1. Understanding the American System

This Course and the Study of Civil-Military Relations

A Conceptual Framework for the American Experiment in Democracy

Course paper assignment.

Read for Lessons 1-2: Davidson & Oleszek, Congress and Its Members, Ch. 1 & 2 (34 pages)

Locher, Victory on the Potomac, Prologue and Ch. 1-3 (67 pages)

Constitution of the United States, Articles 1 & 2 (4 pages)

Wednesday March 29/Lesson 2. Understanding the American System (continued)

The Nature of Congress and Constitutional Government.

Submit tentative course paper subject.

Part II. The Members of Congress (Lessons 3-6)

Monday, April 3/Lesson 3. Recruitment, Running, Governing

Read for Lessons 3-6: Davidson & Oleszek, Ch. 3, 4, & 5 (107 pages)

Locher, Ch. 4-6 (59 pages)

Wednesday, April 5/Lesson 4. Recruitment, Running, Governing (continued)

Submit specific title of course paper and preliminary list of sources.

Monday, April 10/Lesson 5. Research on Congress

NOTE: Meet in Library Room 263, (the Library Conference Room)

Guest Lecturer: Ms. Greta Marlatt, Head, Information Services, Dudley Knox Library

Wednesday, April 12/Lesson 6. Recruitment, Running, Operating (continued)

Guest Lecturers: Mrs. Becky Browder, Congressional spouse and former campaign manager; Mrs. Miriam Barrett, former member of Congressman Martin Sabo’s staff.

Part III. The Congressional System (Lessons 7- 11)

Monday, April 17/Lesson 7. Leaders and Parties

Read for lesson 7: Davidson & Oleszek, Ch. 6 (44 pages)

Locher, Ch. 11-13 (60 pages)

Submit course paper prospectus containing a description of the proposed paper and the bibliography.

Wednesday, April 19/Lesson 8. Organization and Processes

Read for two lessons: Davidson & Oleszek, Ch. 7, 8 & 9 (112 pages)

Locher, Ch. 4-6 (review)

Locher, Ch. 7 & 9 (37 pages)

Monday, April 24/Lesson 9. Organization and Processes (continued)

Handout Midterm Exam

Wednesday, April 26/Lesson 10. The House, the Senate, and the Executive Branch

Guest Lecturer: Professor Paul Stockton, Associate Provost for Institutional Development, Naval Postgraduate School: “Reflections of a Former Senate Staffer”

Read: Davidson & Oleszek, Ch. 10, & 11, (58 pages)

Locher, Ch. 14 & 15 (43 pages)

Monday, May 1/Lesson 11. “Show-and-Tell”: A Documentary Demonstration of the Defense

Policy Process

Classroom team projects -- Review of Prof. Barrett’s Committee Staff Files

Review of Prof. Browder’s Work Files

Part IV. Dynamics of the Defense Policy Process (Lessons 12-13)

Wednesday, May 3/Lesson 12. The Budget and the Budget Process

Guest Lecturer: Professor Richard Doyle, Associate Professor of Public Budgeting,

Naval Postgraduate School: “Budgeting and Defense”

Read: Davidson & Oleszek, Ch 14 (30 pages)

Locher, Ch. 8 (17 pages)

Submit Midterm Exam.

Monday, May 8/Lesson 13. Budgeting for Defense (continued)

Read: Locher, Ch. 16-18 (23 pages)

Part V. Topics in Foreign and Military Policymaking (Lessons 14-18)

Wednesday, May 10/Lesson 14. Congressional Role in Organizing for National Defense: The

Goldwater-Nichols Act

Reading assignment for Lessons 14-18 to be announced later

Monday, May 15/Lesson 15. Congressional Role in Organizing for National Defense: The

Goldwater-Nichols Act (cont.)

Wednesday, May 17/Lesson 16. Congressional Role in Organizing for National Defense: The

Goldwater-Nichols Act (cont.)

Submit a draft of the course paper.

Monday, May 22/Lesson 17. Congressional Role in Organizing for National Defense: The

Goldwater-Nichols Act (cont.)

Wednesday, May 24/Lesson 18. Congressional Role in Organizing for National Defense: The

Goldwater-Nichols Act (cont.). The Senate Legislative Process

Guest Lecturer: Hon. James Locher, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict: “The Senate Legislative Process”

Monday, May 29 – No class/Memorial Day

Wednesday, May 31/Lesson 19. Practicalities of Defense Authorization/Appropriation for FY 07

Guest Lecturer: Mr. John Chapla, Senior Staff Member, House Committee on Armed Services: “From the Perspective of the House Committee on Armed Services”

Read: Davidson & Oleszek, Ch. 15 (25 pages)

Monday, June 5/Lesson 20. Homeland Security, National Security, and the Changing Nature of

Defense Policy-Making

Submit course paper.

Wednesday, June 7/Lesson 21. The Future of American Democracy