Hearing of The Senate Armed Services Committee - Opening Statement of Sen. Jim Inhofe, Hearing on The Nomination Michael Mc Cord to Serve as Under Secretary of Defense (comptroller) and Ronald Moultrie to Serve as Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security

Hearing

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), lead Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), today delivered opening remarks at the nomination hearing of Michael McCord to serve as Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Ronald Moultrie to serve as Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.

As Prepared for Delivery:

Thank you, Chairman Reed, and thanks to our witnesses for being with us and for their willingness to serve the nation.

Our nation's top military and intelligence leaders have told this committee in recent months that the world is more dangerous and complex than at any point in our lifetimes. I agree with them.

The 2018 National Defense Strategy provides a roadmap to deal with these security challenges. That's why this Committee's top priority has been ensuring we effectively implement it.

We have quite a few challenges in the areas you would oversee, if confirmed.

Insufficient and uncertain funding has hamstrung our military for years. We must do a better job of resourcing the strategy, improve our ability to quickly make decisions, and invest in the right capabilities to keep up with China and Russia.

We must also continue momentum on the Pentagon's financial audit and improve the transparency of the budget to Congress and the American people.

In the area of intelligence, we are still losing the information war. Just recently, we heard about all the combatant commanders complaining that they can't get declassified intelligence to fight back against our adversaries' lies.

And just last week, I published an article about how much China and Russia truly spend on defense, which is much more than what many people have been led to believe.

We must do a better job understanding our adversaries and articulating the threats they pose to the American public.

We have no time to lose. Our military advantages are gone or eroding in key areas.

And we still don't have a handle on how to prevent the Chinese from stealing our technology for military and commercial purposes.

The nation and the Department of Defense must tackle these problems head on if we hope to preserve and defend our way of life from those who would do us harm.

If confirmed, you would have the honor of supporting a team of Americans who represent everything that is noble and best in our nation.

Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, space guardians, civil servants and our military families do everything we ask of them and more.

The Department requires strong civilian leadership that I hope you will provide, if confirmed.

We look forward to hearing each of your views on these and other important issues.

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