Inhofe Underscores National Security Challenges at SASC Nomination Hearing

Hearing

Today, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, gave an opening statement at a committee hearing to consider the nominations for four key Department of Defense civilian positions.

Witnesses included: Milancy Harris, nominated to be Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security; Dr. Radha Plumb, nominated to be Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment; Brendan Owens, nominated to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations and Environment; and Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale, nominated to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy.

Inhofe: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks to our witnesses for being here and willing to serve the nation.

As I've said many times, this is the most dangerous world that we've seen in my lifetime, and my lifetime is longer than anyone else in here. So, we've had quite a few challenges facing us in your areas of responsibility.

The NDS [National Defense Strategy] maintains that China is our pacing threat. The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] is making historic investments to modernize its military, and we are falling behind because we haven't been resourcing our strategy adequately, and that was before we had record-high inflation. We are also moving too slowly and providing too few munitions to our Ukrainian partners. We need a sense of urgency to make bold, smart decisions at the Pentagon and that actually starts with senior civilian leadership.

Doctors Plumb and Taylor-Kale, you have been nominated for the number-two acquisition position and the top industrial base policy position in the department respectively. Congress and Pentagon worked together and have made good strides in acquisition reform. But the Chinese are still moving faster than us. Earlier this month, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition said that the PLA [People's Liberation Army] is getting new equipment "five to six times faster" than we are. And we all understand this is a problem that we have and will continue to have and just that we understand their form of government. They can do some things faster than we can do them.

Mr. Owens, you are nominated to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installation and Environment. I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the current status of the military housing privatization initiative. We spent a lot of time on this in the last few years.

Ms. Harris, you are nominated to serve as the number-two intelligence officer in the Department of Defense. We must do a better job understanding our adversaries and articulating the threats they pose to the American public. We still don't have a hand on how to best prevent the Chinese from stealing our technology for military and commercial purposes.

We will be a key responsibility for yours for when you are confirmed. The department requires strong civilian leadership. We look forward to hearing each of your views in these areas. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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