Congress and defense: Somebody finally steps up to explain how this thing works

One of the puzzlements I've had for some time is why there are so few experts on
the politics of defense, especially in the role of Congress plays. One of the few people
who genuinely has studied this subject (which is different from participating
in it) is Pat Towell,
who covered the politics of defense for decades until going upmarket and
working for the Congressional Research Service.

I mention this because I've just been reading Towell's essay
in a fairly new book, Congress and the Politics of National
Security. I covered the military for decades, but I didn't realize it
until reading the essay that the Armed
Services Committees are anomalies, having unique and far more intrusive
powers than do other committees. "The Constitution assigns Congress a degree of
authority over the organization and equipage of the armed services that has no
parallel in terms of the relationship of the legislative branch with other
executive branch agencies," he writes. "The Senate Armed Services Committees
draws particularly strong leverage from the fact that promotions for military
officers-unlike those for civil servants-require Senate confirmation."

He also makes the broader point that congressional power is
more negative than positive. "In general, it is far easier for Congress to
block a presidential initiative than to force some course of action on a
reluctant executive, simply because it is easier to mobilize a blocking
coalition."

One quibble: He says that "talented members" still seek
seats on the armed services panels. I wonder if that is still true. From what
I've seen, since the end of the Cold War, congressional leaders have been
stuffing freshman onto those committees.

I think there is a great dissertation to be done on
successful congressional interventions in the Pentagon acquisition process.
Imposing the cruise missile on a reluctant air force is one such example.
Towell touches on this in an interesting passage about air mobility and
strategic lift, but I would bet there is much more to be said.