National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016
Floor Speech
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Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the National Defense Authorization Act and also to thank Chairman Mac Thornberry for his leadership and hard work to bring this important bill to the floor.
Committee support was bipartisan--60-2--and politics should not be raised to obstruct. I am honored to serve as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, which oversees some of the most forward-looking and critical aspects of the Department of Defense, including defense-wide science and technology efforts; Special Operations Forces; Cyber Command and the cyber forces of the Department of Defense; and many other programs and activities that deal with evolving and emerging threats, from weapons of mass destruction, to Putin's aggression against Ukraine, to the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL or Daesh. The Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee has been active in conducting oversight in all of these important areas.
It is also worth noting that much of the oversight conducted by the subcommittee is classified and takes place behind closed doors where we review and remain current on sensitive activities and programs involved in Department of Defense intelligence capabilities, Special Operations Forces, and cyber forces. The subcommittee takes this sensitive oversight role very seriously as we consider Department of Defense authorities and programs that enable these sensitive activities.
Overall, our portion of the bill provides for stronger cyber operations capabilities, safeguards our technological superiority, and enables our Special Operations Forces with the resources and authorities to counter terrorism, unconventional warfare threats, and to defeat weapons of mass destruction.
I thank Chairman Thornberry, and I would like to thank my friend and subcommittee ranking member, Mr. Jim Langevin of Rhode Island.
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