Thornberry advances in House leadership

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) was nominated last week by Speaker-designate John Boehner to serve as the Vice Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in the 112th Congress. He will also serve as the Chairman of the Terrorism, Unconventional Threats, and Capabilities subcommittee.

The Speaker-designate also asked Thornberry to lead an initiative on cybersecurity, which will focus Congress’s efforts to combat the growing national security and economic threat. Cybersecurity is an issue of increasing importance in the wake of a number of high-profile breeches of both public and private cyber networks.

“I am honored to serve as Vice Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in the 112th Congress and to lead cybersecurity initiatives in the House,” said Thornberry.
Boehner praised the local congressman’s record.

“Mac Thornberry is a real leader in our Conference on national security,” Boehner said. “His record on both the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees has shown him to be both an innovator and strategic thinker. I am backing him to be the next Vice Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, a role that will provide Mac with new responsibilities and opportunities to advance the security of our nation.”

The Armed Services committee is responsible for general defense policy, ongoing military operations, the organization and reform of the Department of Defense and Department of Energy, counter-drug programs, acquisition and industrial base policy, technology transfer and export controls, joint interoperability, the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, Department of Energy nonproliferation programs, and detainee affairs and policy.