Summary

• Legislative oversight of the security sector is crucial to ensure that security policies and expenditures are undertaken with full transparency, accountability and concern for other national priorities and popular attitudes. This is important in conflict states, particularly during peace or stability operations.
• Establishing legislative oversight is difficult in conflict countries because of the absence of historical tradition, the complexity of security agencies, the technical nature of the issues, secrecy laws and the lack of expertise among parliamentarians and their staffs.
• The U.S. Congress provides a model for effective legislative oversight of the security sector for other countries to emulate. Congress has developed the legal authorities and the traditions required to form an effective partnership with the Defense and Justice departments, the U.S. military forces and civilian security services.
• Due to the importance of legislative oversight of the security sector to the democratic process, the U.S. Congress provides advice and training to foreign parliaments and parliamentarians in security sector reform. Congress has important partnership arrangements with parliaments in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Georgia, Kosovo and other conflict countries.

About This Brief

This report is based on an October 29, 2009 meeting of the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Security Sector Reform Working Group on "The Congressional Role in Military and Police Reform." The meeting featured presentations by a panel of distinguished experts including: Hans Born, director of the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of the Armed Forces’ Working Group on Parliamentary Accountability of the Security Sector; Patrick Garvey, staff member on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; William Monahan, counsel on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee; John Lis, staff director of the U.S. House of Representatives Democracy Partnership Committee on Foreign Affairs; and Pat Towel, specialist in national defense at Congressional Research Service. Robert Perito, director of USIP’s Security Sector Governance Initiative, served as moderator.