Hearing of the House Committee on Armed Services - Mark-up of FY11 NDAA (H.R. 5136)

Interview

"Good Morning and thank you, Chairman Skelton. For our portion of the legislation, the Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, focused on several of the Defense Department's most important challenges:

* the fight to interrupt the flow of violent extremists and the ideological underpinnings of radicalization;

* the development and deployment of innovative and critical technologies;

* defending our homeland from attacks and managing the consequences of catastrophic incidents including natural disasters;

* enhancing strategies and capabilities to counter irregular warfare challenges; and enhancing force protection policies governing Department of Defense personnel.

"The subcommittee recognizes the critical role that our Special Operations Forces play --in fighting the wars of today, and preventing the wars of tomorrow -- by, with and through our host nation partners. The subcommittee fully funds U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) with more than $9.8 billion dollars to improve the readiness and capabilities of our Special Operations Forces.

"The subcommittee also provides an additional $301.5 million to support unfunded requirements articulated by U.S. Special Operations Command, bringing the total authorized amount for SOCOM to more than $10 billion dollars.

"Support for our Special Operations Forces demonstrates the subcommittee's commitment to SOCOM's critical mission areas, including counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, unconventional warfare and counter-proliferation activities across the world.

"Our subcommittee mark also includes provisions that will require the Secretary of Defense to develop new strategies to counter irregular warfare challenges.
"It is important that we keep in mind the fact that we cannot kill our way out of this struggle against violent extremists.

"Therefore, the subcommittee provides language and funding to improve the Department's use of science and technology, and support emerging areas of research that enhance our ability to deal with challenges from radicalization and irregular warfare.

"The subcommittee mark also funds initiatives designed to strengthen our cybersecurity activities, and other efforts that will help us better understand how to better counter adversarial and extremists' use of the internet.

"The TUTC mark also includes guidance to enhance the research capabilities of defense laboratories, as well as additional funding for science, technology, engineering and mathematics workforce initiatives that will ensure the DOD has a competent and diverse pipeline of skilled scientists and engineers.

"Finally, as with the previous fiscal year, the committee fully funds the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Chemical Biological Defense and Chemical Demilitarization programs.

"These important provisions ensure our military remains up-to-date and ready to prevent and respond to major attacks.

"As you can see, this subcommittee's mark looks outside the normal realm of our traditional threats and force protection. I believe this subcommittee's mark is not just authorizing programs, but more importantly, encouraging innovation within the Department of Defense.

"I want to thank Members for their expertise and input. And I would also like to thank the TUTC Committee Staff, Tim McClees, Alex Kugajevksy, Eryn Robinson, Kevin Gates, Peter Villano, and Andrew Tabler.

"As before, the TUTC subcommittee worked in a bipartisan way to craft authorizing language covering each of these critical areas for the Department of Defense. I would especially like to thank Ranking Member Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) for his contribution.

"And I would also like to thank Chairman Ortiz and the Readiness subcommittee for their help in ensuring that we are able to include valuable personnel and laboratory authorities that will make certain that the Department of Defense is able to recruit and retain the highest caliber scientists and engineers needed to ensure our technological superiority, now and in the future.

"This is a critical concern for our subcommittee, and we continue to pay special attention to these and other technology issues.

Thank you Mr. Chairman."

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