10 U.S.C. § 125: Functions, powers, and duties: transfer, reassignment, consolidation, or abolition

Subject to section 2 of the National Security Act of 1947 ( 50 U.S.C. 3002 ), the Secretary of Defense shall take appropriate action (including the transfer, reassignment, consolidation, or abolition of any function, power, or duty) to provide more effective, efficient, and economical administration and operation, and to eliminate duplication, in the Department of Defense. However, except as provided by subsections (b) and (c), a function, power, or duty vested in the Department of Defense, or an officer, official, or agency thereof, by law may not be substantially transferred, reassigned, consolidated, or abolished. Notwithstanding subsection (a), if the President determines it to be necessary because of hostilities or an imminent threat of hostilities, any function, power, or duty vested by law in the Department of Defense, or an officer, official, or agency thereof, including one assigned to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Space Force by section 7062(b), 8062, 8063, 9062(c), or 9081 of this title, may be transferred, reassigned, or consolidated. The transfer, reassignment, or consolidation remains in effect until the President determines that hostilities have terminated or that there is no longer an imminent threat of hostilities, as the case may be. Notwithstanding subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense may assign or reassign the development and operational use of new weapons or weapons systems to one or more of the military departments or one or more of the armed forces. For the purposes of this section, any resolution reported to the Senate or the House of Representatives pursuant to the provisions of section 125 of title 10 , United States Code, shall be treated for the purpose of consideration by either House, in the same manner as a resolution with respect to a reorganization plan reported by a committee within the meaning of the Reorganization Act of 1949 as in effect on July 1, 1958 ( 5 U.S.C. 133z and the following) [ 63 Stat. 203 ; 71 Stat. 611 ], and shall be governed by the provisions applicable to the consideration of any such resolution by either House of the Congress as provided by sections 205 and 206 of that Act [ 63 Stat. 207 ]. as an exercise of the rule-making power of the Senate and the House of Representatives, respectively, and as such they shall be considered as part of the rules of each House, respectively, and supersede other rules only to the extent that they are inconsistent therewith; and with full recognition of the constitutional right of either House to change the rules (as far as relating to the procedure in that House) at any time, in the same manner and to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of that House.”