There will be some churn in the 118th Congress among staff on the House Armed Services Committee, which sets policy and spending limits for Department of Energy nuclear-weapons programs, according to documents the committee published Wednesday.
Christopher Vieson will be the top committee hand at Armed Services for the new Republican majority, according to a list of new and returning staffers posted online ahead of the committee’s committee’s organizational meeting, scheduled for Thursday. He was the Republican staff director in the 117th Congress.
Meanwhile, Brain Garrett, a committee-staff rank-and-filer last session, will become the lead minority staffer on Armed Services, replacing Paul Arcangeli as staff director for the Democrats, according to the list.
At the subcommittee level, Ryan Tully will remain the lead Republican staffer on the Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee while Maria Vastola will become the panel’s lead Democratic staffer.
The strategic forces subcommittee is nominally in charge of the portions of the annual National Defense Authorization Act that affect the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), but in practice, the chair of the full committee — Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) this session — often decides the course of the NNSA’s annual authorization.
The strategic forces subcommittee will have all new leadership this session. Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) will chair the subcommittee, replacing Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio). Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a Harvard-educated, retired Marine who did multiple tours of duty in Iraq starting with 2003 U.S. invasion, will replace Jim Cooper of Tennessee as the ranking member. Cooper left Congress this year after deciding not to run for reelection following redistricting.
