Pub. L. 87-651, tit. II, sec. 201

Sec. 201. (a) Chapter 3 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 123: “§ 124. Combatant commands: establishment; composition; functions; administration and support “(a) With the advice and assistance of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the President, through the Secretary of Defense, shall— “(1) establish unified combatant commands or specified combatant commands to perform military missions; and 76 Stat. 515 “(2) shall prescribe the force structure of those commands. “(b) The military departments shall assign forces to combatant commands established under this section to perform the missions of those commands. A force so assigned is under the full operational command of the commander of the command to which it is assigned. It may be transferred from the command to which it is assigned only by authority of the Secretary and under procedures prescribed by the Secretary with the approval of the President. A force not so assigned remains, for all purposes, in the military department concerned. “(c) Combatant commands established under this section are responsible to the President and to the Secretary for such military missions as may be assigned to them by the Secretary with the approval of the President. “(d) Subject to the authority, direction, and control of the Secretary, each military department is responsible for the administration of forces assigned by that department to combatant commands established under this section. The Secretary shall assign the responsibility for the support of forces assigned to those commands to one or more of the military departments. “§ 125. Functions, powers, and duties: transfer, reassignment, consolidation, or abolition “(a) Subject to section 401 of title 50, the Secretary of Defense shall take appropriate action (including the transfer, reassignment, consolidation, or abolition of any function, power, or duty) to provide more effective, efficient, and economical administration and operation, and to eliminate duplication, in the Department of Defense. However, except as provided by subsections (b) and (c), a function, power, or duty vested in the Department of Defense, or an officer, official, or agency thereof, by law may not be substantially transferred, reassigned, consolidated, or abolished unless the Secretary reports the details of the proposed transfer, reassignment, consolidation, or abolition to the Committees on Armed Services or the Senate and House of Representatives. The transfer, reassignment, consolidation, or abolition concerned takes effect on the first day after the expiration of the first 30 days that Congress is in continuous session after the Secretary so reports, unless either of those Committees, within that period, reports a resolution recommending that the proposed transfer, reassignment, consolidation, or abolition be rejected by the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, because it— “(1) proposes to transfer, reassign, consolidate, or abolish a major combatant function, power, or duty assigned to the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps by section 3062(b), 5012, 5013, or 8062(c) of this title; and “(2) would, in its judgment, tend to impair the defense of the United States. If either of those Committees, within that period, reports such a resolution and it is not adopted by the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, within the first 40 days that Congress is in continuous session after that resolution is so reported, the transfer, reassignment, consolidation, or abolition concerned takes effect on the first day after the expiration of that forty-day period. For the purposes of this subsection, a session may be considered as not continuous only if broken by an adjournment of Congress sine die. However, in computing the period that Congress is in continuous session, days that the Senate or the House of Representatives is not in session because of an adjournment of more than three days to a day certain are not counted. 76 Stat. 516 “(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), if the President determines it to be necessary because of hostilities or an imminent threat of hostilities, any function, power, or duty, including one assigned to the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps by section 3062(b), 5012, 5013, or 8062(c) of this title, may be transferred, reassigned, or consolidated. The transfer, reassignment, or consolidation remains in effect until the President determines that hostilities have terminated or that there is no longer an imminent threat of hostilities, as the case may be. “(c) Notwithstanding subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense may assign or reassign the development and operational use of new weapons or weapons systems to one or more of the military departments or one or more of the armed forces. “(d) In subsection (a)(1), ‘major combatant function, power, or duty’ does not include a supply or service activity common to more than one military department. The Secretary of Defense shall, whenever he determines it will be more effective, economical, or efficient, provide for the performance of such an activity by one agency or such other organizations as he considers appropriate. “§ 126. Transfer of funds and employees “(a) When a function, power, or duty or an activity of a department or agency of the Department of Defense is transferred or assigned to another department or agency of that department, balances of appropriations that the Secretary of Defense determines are available and needed to finance or discharge that function, power, duty, or activity, as the case may be, may, with the approval of the President, be transferred to the department or agency to which that function, power, duty, or activity, as the case may be, is transferred, and used for any purpose for which those appropriations were originally available. Balances of appropriations so transferred shall— “(1) be credited to any applicable appropriation account of the receiving department or agency; or “(2) be credited to a new account that may be established on the books of the Department of the Treasury; and be merged with the funds already credited to that account and accounted for as one fund. Balances of appropriations credited to an account under clause (1) are subject only to such limitations as are specifically applicable to that account. Balances of appropriations credited to an account under clause (2) are subject only to such limitations as are applicable to the appropriations from which they are transferred. “(b) When a function, power, or duty or an activity of a department or agency of the Department of Defense is transferred to another department or agency of that department, those civilian employees of the department or agency from which the transfer is made that the Secretary of Defense determines are needed to perform that function, power, or duty, or for that activity, as the case may be, may, with the approval of the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, be transferred to the department or agency to which that function, power, duty, or activity, as the case may be, is transferred. The authorized strength in civilian employees of a department or agency from which employees are transferred under this section is reduced by the number of employees so transferred. The authorized strength in civilian employees of a department or agency to which employees are transferred under this section is increased by the number of employees so transferred.” 76 Stat. 517 (b) Chapter 3 of title 10, United States Code, is further amended by adding at the end of the analysis: “124. Combatant commands: establishment; composition; functions; administration and support. “125. Functions, powers, and duties: transfer, reassignment, consolidation, or abolition. “126. Transfer of funds and employees.”