§ 181. Joint Requirements Oversight Council

§ 181. Joint Requirements Oversight Council

(a) In General.— There is a Joint Requirements Oversight Council in the Department of Defense.

(b) Mission.— In addition to other matters assigned to it by the President or Secretary of Defense, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council shall assist the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in—

(1) evaluating global trends, emerging threats, and adversary capabilities to inform understanding of joint operational problems and to shape joint force design;

(2) coordinating with commanders of combatant commands to compile, refine, and prioritize joint operational problems;

(3) continuously reviewing and assessing joint military capabilities of elements of the Department of Defense listed in section 111(b) of this title in a manner that meets applicable requirements in the national defense strategy under section 113(g) of this title;

(4) identifying and prioritizing gaps and opportunities in joint military capabilities, including making recommendations for changes to address such capability and capacity gaps;

(5) identifying advances in technology, innovative commercial solutions, and concepts of operation that could improve the military advantage of the joint force;

(6) recommending joint capability requirements that—

(A) describe the joint operational problem to provide necessary context for the joint capability requirement;

(B) proposes nonprescriptive solutions to joint operational problems; and

(C) ensures system interoperability, where appropriate, between and among joint military capabilities;

(7) designing the joint force in a manner that—

(A) addresses joint operational problems; and

(B) evaluates force design initiatives of the Armed Forces to recommend acceptance, mitigation, or alternative force designs for the joint force;

(8) maintaining a repository of joint operational problems and identification of capabilities to address those problems; and

(9) evaluating effect of joint military capability requirements for the purposes of section 4376(a) of this title.

(c) Composition.—

(1) In general.— The Joint Requirements Oversight Council is composed of the following:

(A) The Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is the Chair of the Council and is the principal adviser to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for making recommendations about joint military capabilities.

(B) An Army officer in the grade of general.

(C) A Navy officer in the grade of admiral.

(D) An Air Force officer in the grade of general.

(E) A Marine Corps officer in the grade of general.

(F) A Space Force officer in the grade of general.

(2) Selection of members.— Members of the Council under subparagraphs (B), (C), (D), and (E) of paragraph (1) shall be selected by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after consultation with the Secretary of Defense, from officers in the grade of general or admiral, as the case may be, who are recommended for selection by the Secretary of the military department concerned.

(3) Recommendations.— In making any recommendation to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as described in paragraph (1)(A), the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff shall provide the Chairman any dissenting view of members of the Council under paragraph (1) with respect to such recommendation.

(d) Advisors.—

(1) In general.— The following officials of the Department of Defense shall serve as advisors to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council on matters within their authority and expertise:

(A) The Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

(B) The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.

(C) The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.

(D) The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering who shall serve as the Chief Technical Advisor to the Council and—

(i) shall provide assistance in evaluating the technical feasibility of requirements under development; and

(ii) shall identify options for expanding or generating new requirements based on opportunities provided by new or emerging technologies.

(E) The Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller).

(F) The Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation.

(G) The Director of Operational Test and Evaluation.

(H) The commander of a combatant command when matters related to the area of responsibility or functions of that command are under consideration by the Council.

(2) Input from combatant commands.— The Council shall seek and strongly consider input from the commanders of the combatant commands in carrying out its mission under subsection (b).

(3) Input from service chiefs.— The Council shall seek and consider the views of the service chiefs in their roles as end users of capabilities delivered by the defense acquisition system on matters pertaining to a capability proposed by an armed force, Defense Agency, or other entity of the Department of Defense.

(4) Input from vice chief of the national guard bureau.— The Council shall seek and consider the views of the Vice Chief of the National Guard Bureau regarding non-Federalized National Guard capabilities in support of homeland defense and civil support missions.

(5) Input from industry.— The Council shall seek views from private entities on commercially available technology to address joint operational problems or gaps in joint military capabilities.

(e) Responsibility for Capability Requirements.— Each service chief is responsible for the capability requirements of the armed force of such service chief.

(f) Analytic and Engineering Support.— The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that analytical organizations within the Department of Defense, such as the Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation and mission engineering activities, provide resources and expertise to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council to assist the Council in performing the mission in subsection (b).

(g) Availability of Oversight Information to Congressional Defense Committees.— The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that, in the case of a recommendation by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Secretary that is approved by the Secretary, oversight information with respect to such recommendation that is produced as a result of the activities of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council is made available in a timely fashion to the congressional defense committees.

(h) Definitions.— In this section:

(1) The term “joint capability requirement” means a capability that is critical or essential to address a joint operational problem.

(2) The term “joint military capabilities” means the collective capabilities across the joint force, including both joint and force-specific capabilities, that are available to conduct military operations.

(3) The term “joint operational problem”—

(A) means a challenge across the joint force in achieving an assigned military objective based on current doctrine, emerging threats or future concepts; and

(B) may include limitations in capabilities, capacity, resources, or the ability to effectively and efficiently coordinate across the joint force, with another combatant command, or among joint military capabilities.

(4) The term “oversight information” means information and materials comprising analysis and justification that are prepared to support a recommendation that is made to, and approved by, the Secretary of Defense.

(5) The term “service chief” has the meaning given in section 3101 of this title.

(Added Pub. L. 104–106, div. A, title IX, § 905(a)(1), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 403; amended Pub. L. 104–201, div. A, title IX, § 908, Sept. 23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2621; Pub. L. 106–65, div. A, title X, § 1067(1), Oct. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 774; Pub. L. 108–136, div. A, title X, § 1043(b)(3), Nov. 24, 2003, 117 Stat. 1610; Pub. L. 110–181, div. A, title IX, § 942(a)–(d), Jan. 28, 2008, 122 Stat. 287, 288; Pub. L. 110–417, [div. A], title VIII, § 813(d)(1), Oct. 14, 2008, 122 Stat. 4527; Pub. L. 111–23, title I, §§ 101(d)(1), 105(a), title II, § 201(b), May 22, 2009, 123 Stat. 1709, 1717, 1719; Pub. L. 111–383, div. A, title VIII, § 841, title X, § 1075(b)(8), Jan. 7, 2011, 124 Stat. 4281, 4369; Pub. L. 112–239, div. A, title IX, § 951(b), Jan. 2, 2013, 126 Stat. 1891; Pub. L. 114–92, div. A, title VIII, § 802(d)(1), Nov. 25, 2015, 129 Stat. 879; Pub. L. 114–328, div. A, title IX, § 925(a), Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2359; Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title X, § 1081(a)(15), Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1595; Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VIII, § 831(b)(1), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1857; Pub. L. 116–92, div. A, title IX, § 902(7), title XVI, § 1621(e)(1)(A)(v), Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 1543, 1733; Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title IX, §§ 906, 924(b)(9), title XVIII, § 1850(m), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 3799, 3822, 4271; Pub. L. 117–81, div. A, title IX, § 903(a), title XVII, § 1702(a)(2), Dec. 27, 2021, 135 Stat. 1869, 2155; Pub. L. 118–159, div. A, title V, § 521(b), Dec. 23, 2024, 138 Stat. 1880; Pub. L. 119–60, div. A, title XVIII, § 1811(a)–(f), Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 1241–1243.)

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2025—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 119–60, § 1811(a), which directed amendment of subsec. (b) “by amending paragraphs (1) through (7)”, was executed by generally amending pars. (1) to (7) and adding pars. (8) and (9), to reflect the probable intent of Congress. Prior to amendment, pars. (1) to (7) listed tasks in which the Joint Requirements Oversight Council was to assist the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Subsec. (c)(1)(A). Pub. L. 119–60, § 1811(b), struck out “or joint performance requirements” before period at end.

Subsec. (d)(2). Pub. L. 119–60, § 1811(c)(1), inserted “strongly” before “consider” and struck out “paragraphs (1) and (2)” before “of subsection (b)”.

Subsec. (d)(3). Pub. L. 119–60, § 1811(c)(2), substituted “Input from service chiefs” for “Input from chiefs of staff” in heading and “and consider the views of the service chiefs in their roles as end users of capabilities delivered by the defense acquisition system” for “, and strongly consider, the views of the Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces, in their roles as customers of the acquisition system,” in text, and struck out “under subsection (b)(2) and joint performance requirements pursuant to subsection (b)(3)” before period at end.

Subsec. (d)(4). Pub. L. 119–60, § 1811(c)(3), substituted “and consider” for “, and strongly consider,”.

Subsec. (d)(5). Pub. L. 119–60, § 1811(c)(4), added par. (5).

Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 119–60, § 1811(d), amended subsec. (e) generally. Prior to amendment, text of subsec. (e) read as follows: “The Chief of Staff of an armed force is responsible for all performance requirements for that armed force and, except for performance requirements specified in subsections (b)(4) and (b)(5), such performance requirements do not need to be validated by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council.”

Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 119–60, § 1811(e), inserted “and Engineering” after “Analytic” in heading and “and mission engineering activities” after “Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation” in text, and struck out “in operations research, systems analysis, and cost estimation” after “resources and expertise”.

Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 119–60, § 1811(f), added par. (1), redesignated former par. (1) as (2), added pars. (1), (3), and (5), and struck out former pars. (2) and (3) which read as follows:

“(2) The term ‘performance requirement’ means a performance attribute of a particular system considered critical or essential to the development of an effective military capability.

“(3) The term ‘joint performance requirement’ means a performance requirement that is critical or essential to ensure interoperability or fulfill a capability gap of more than one armed force, Defense Agency, or other entity of the Department of Defense, or impacts the joint force in other ways such as logistics.”

2024—Subsec. (c)(1)(F). Pub. L. 118–159 substituted “in the grade of general” for “in the grade equivalent to the grade of general in the Army, Air Force, or Marine Corps, or admiral in the Navy”.

2021—Subsec. (b)(2) to (5). Pub. L. 117–81, § 903(a)(1), added par. (2) and redesignated former pars. (2) to (4) as (3) to (5), respectively. Former par. (5) redesignated (6).

Subsec. (b)(6). Pub. L. 117–81, § 903(a)(1)(A), redesignated par. (5) as (6). Former par. (6) redesignated (7).

Subsec. (b)(7). Pub. L. 117–81, § 1702(a)(2), which directed amendment of par. (6) by substituting “sections 4251(b), 4252(a)(4),” for “sections 2366a(b), 2366b(a)(4),”, was executed by making the substitution in par. (7) to reflect the probable intent of Congress and the redesignation of par. (6) as (7) by Pub. L. 117–81, § 903(a)(1)(A). See below.

Pub. L. 117–81, § 903(a)(1)(A), redesignated par. (6) as (7).

Pub. L. 116–283, § 1850(m), which directed amendment of par. (6) by substituting “4375(b)” for “2433(e)(2)” effective Jan. 1, 2022, was executed by making the substitution in par. (7) to reflect the probable intent of Congress and the redesignation of par. (6) as (7) by Pub. L. 117–81, § 903(a)(1)(A), effective Dec. 27, 2021. See above.

Subsec. (c)(1)(F). Pub. L. 116–283, § 924(b)(9), added subpar. (F).

Subsec. (d)(1)(D). Pub. L. 117–81, § 903(a)(2), substituted “Engineering who shall serve as the Chief Technical Advisor to the Council and—” and cls. (i) and (ii) for “Engineering.”

Pub. L. 116–283, § 906(b), substituted “The” for “the”.

Subsec. (d)(4). Pub. L. 116–283, § 906(a), added par. (4).

2019—Subsec. (d)(1)(B). Pub. L. 116–92, § 1621(e)(1)(A)(v), substituted “Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security” for “Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence”.

Subsec. (d)(1)(C). Pub. L. 116–92, § 902(7)(A), substituted “Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment” for “Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics”.

Subsec. (d)(1)(D) to (H). Pub. L. 116–92, § 902(7)(B), (C), added subpar. (D) and redesignated former subpars. (D) to (G) as (E) to (H), respectively.

2018—Subsec. (b)(3) to (7). Pub. L. 115–232 redesignated pars. (4) to (7) as (3) to (6), respectively, and struck out former par. (3) which related to development of recommendations for program cost and fielding targets pursuant to section 2448a of this title.

2017—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 115–91 substituted “section 113(g)” for “section 118”.

2016—Pub. L. 114–328 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section related to Joint Requirements Oversight Council and consisted of its establishment, mission, composition, advisors, organization, availability of oversight information to Congressional defense committees, and definitions.

2015—Subsec. (d)(3). Pub. L. 114–92 added par. (3).