Hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee - Pending Nominations
Statement
Hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee - Pending Nominations
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SEN. JIM WEBB (D-VA): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's always interesting to follow my senior senator and my senior colleague from Virginia, because we've had so many similar experiences, both in the military and in the Pentagon, that I find that some of the questions I was going to ask have just been asked. I think that's very healthy in terms of looking at where the focus is from this committee.
I first of all would like to say, Mr. Chairman, that I've been able to meet personally and at length with all of the nominees. I'm very impressed with the quality and with the matching of talent to the jobs, and I intend to support strongly everyone here. And I've had the opportunity to ask a number of questions, as I said.
I would say to the Chilton family, having grown up in the Air Force, I spent my last three years in high school in Omaha, and I played a lot of baseball right across from the house where you're going to live. I never quite made it into the big house, but it's a wonderful place to live. I think I have great confidence you're going to really enjoy it there.
I would ask -- first of all, I also would like to say I've had the pleasure of knowing for some time General Mattis, and also Admiral Roughead, and they're both just absolutely superb officers. And General Mattis, I think it deserves to be pointed out, has commanded at every level in the Marine Corps, starting at a rifle platoon. And when Marines look at Marines, that's the first thing you look at in terms of respect. And I am very confident that you're going to get your hands on the issue that Senator Warner mentioned. It's a really serious issue in terms of what we are trying to do on both ends of this difficult problem: matching our people to the mission, at the same time not -- in some cases not defining the mission properly when it comes to taking care of our people. So we need the kind of integrity that you're going to bring here, the kind of eyes you're going to put on this problem in order to get some balance.
I would ask -- I have a couple of questions for Admiral Roughead, because of the nature of the job you're going to be doing, that I'm concerned about getting on the record. One is: What would you say -- we know we've got a 313 floor for the Navy, and we also know that in this type of environment which cyclically occurs, when we get involved in these extensive ground operations where we have to sustain ground forces and we're burning up gear and all the rest of that, sometimes we tend to forget the strategic issues that face us. That's something that General Chilton will face at one level, but it's definitely something that affects the Navy, because if we start drawing down force structure and it takes so long to gear it back up again.
What would you say would be an optimal build right now -- not off the charts, but an optimal build for the United States Navy to meet its strategic requirements around the world?
ADM. ROUGHEAD: Senator, I believe that the shipbuilding plan that we have in place right now is giving us the balanced fleet that we need. We are introducing some new classes of ships that are challenging us in the shipbuilding account. But that balanced fleet will give us the capability we need from the high end to the more nontraditional missions that we're going to face.
So, as we have looked at our maritime strategy, I believe the build plan that we are on will give us what we need --
SEN. WEBB: But you mentioned 313 as a floor.
ADM. ROUGHEAD: Yes, sir.
SEN. WEBB: What would be an optimal build?
ADM. ROUGHEAD: I would say that as we look to the future, the need to increase our ability to operate more in the green water, closer to shore, is an area that we must look. And I intend, if confirmed, to pursue that and explore any growth in that area.
SEN. WEBB: So you're not going to put a number on it?
ADM. ROUGHEAD: No, sir.
SEN. WEBB: Okay.
ADM. ROUGHEAD: It's very worthy of deeper consideration.
SEN. WEBB: I have two questions that I would like to get written responses to. I don't want to take the time of the committee on them and they're rather detailed. One of them relates to the facilities at Norfolk Naval Shipyard that I think we need to be paying some attention to. And the other relates to issues of home porting -- carrier home porting and your views on strategic dispersal in a modern era where we're facing a different kind of -- in my view a different kind of threat: the terrorism threat as opposed to the traditional, conventional threat that people like to use. And I want to get those to you and I would appreciate pretty quick turnaround on them if you could do it.
ADM. ROUGHEAD: Yes, sir. I will.
SEN. WEBB: Thank you.
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