National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. ZINKE. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to support my colleague from Indiana's amendment.

The amendment is simply about restoring public accountability and transparency to the National Security Council.

As a former Deputy Commander of Special Operations in Iraq, I have personally seen what happens. Oftentimes, our rules of engagement that dictate how we fight are politicized and it diminishes our ability to fight. I have seen it. It is time to change.

If they move out of an advisory role to a role where they are commanding and interpreting commands, then we need FOIA. America deserves accountability. America deserves our ability to look at who is calling the shots and why.

This is not a hit on the administration. This is an American issue. When a role is advisory and comes from advisory to command, then that command needs to be held accountable. That is what we do.

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Mr. ZINKE. Mr. Chair, well, how soon we forget why they are there. How soon we forget.

Why are they there? Go to New York and look at the names engraved of the ladder men, the commercial pilots, the innocent.

I did a lot to put them there. I don't remember reading Miranda rights or warrants. Yet some people want to bring them back to the United States under U.S. law where rules of evidence and Miranda rights would apply. Yet that is ignored.

Now we are asking for tighter controls overseas because one-third go back to the battlefield. Is it a risk we should incur? The answer is no. Why? Because what is left is the bottom. These are the guys that are not hanging around evil. These are the guys that are evil. They are absolutely evil, and we have seen it.

So putting more controls, more restrictions to protect American lives is what we must do in Congress. This is not a Democratic or Republican issue. This is an American issue.
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Mr. ZINKE. 60 be modified by the form that I have placed at the desk.

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Mr. ZINKE. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer an amendment that will ensure that our servicemembers in the nuclear security forces have the ability to do their job.

Each and every day, these men and women are tasked with the protection of our nuclear weapons. This is not a mission that we can fail, and, thankfully, they have performed their mission successfully for over half a decade.

Unfortunately, despite the gravity and importance of this mission, these men and women must use Huey helicopters, UH-1s, that are in the Vietnam-era. They must be able to respond anywhere in a 32,000-square- mile area, larger than the State of Maine, while using these helicopters that are over 50 years old.

Air Force demonstrations performed at Minot Air Force Base have shown time and time again that critical security shortages exist using these Hueys, and they are problematic in mission success.

The Air Force and the Department of Defense have known this for over a decade but, unfortunately, have consistently kicked the can down the road.

My amendment ensures the replacement of the Huey aircraft is done now. The mission of protecting our forces is too important to delay yet again, and the Air Force and DOD, by their own tests, have proven its vulnerability.

This amendment ensures a full and open competition, but does not allow the Air Force to further delay replacement.

Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, although I am not opposed to it.

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Mr. ZINKE. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Schweikert).

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Mr. ZINKE. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Rogers).

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Mr. ZINKE. Mr. Chairman, I would like to say thank you to everyone for working on this bill and doing slight amendments to ensure that we have a fair and open competition but yet not delay the problem.

I think we can all understand that we need to replace the Hueys. The Hueys are inaccurate. They have been inaccurate for a long time. The acquisition process yet again, as we have identified, is broke.

So I thank my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to place this in importance. Our nuclear weapon and our arsenal needs to be protected. We face an asymmetrical enemy, and ensuring that they are safe at all times is part of what this Congress should be doing.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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