More: Members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee received a memo Tuesday saying that the department is eliminating the membership of all advisory committees as part of a "commitment to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security."

The aviation security committee, which was mandated by Congress after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, will technically continue to exist but it won't have any members to carry out the work of examining safety issues at airlines and airports. Before Tuesday, the group included representatives of all the key groups in the industry " including the airlines and major unions " as well as members of a group associated with the victims of the PanAm 103 bombing. The vast majority of the group's recommendations were adopted over the years.

It wasn't immediately clear how many other committees were effectively eliminated Tuesday or whether other departments will take similar actions.