Hearing of the Senate Armed Forces Committee - Nominations of General Martin Dempsey and Admiral James Winnefeld

Hearing

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As I mentioned to you, we have another hearing simultaneously with this two floors up, so I will be going back and forth.

Over the last 4 years, our military has suffered a steep and damaging drop in capabilities and readiness. This administration has cut nearly $600 billion already from the defense budget, reduced end strength by more than 100,000 personnel, reduced the size of the naval fleet, and cut hundreds of Air Force combat aircraft. Training and reset accounts have been gutted and modernization programs are being starved of resources. On the horizon is the addition of $500 billion in cuts if we are unable to find a solution for the sequestration, which you know, is kind of ridiculous. When you
tell normal people that we have 18 percent of our budget is the military budget, and yet we are taking 50 percent of the cuts, it is totally unreasonable. It lets you know the priorities of this administration.

The longer we allow our force to deteriorate, the harder and more expensive it will be to repair and rebuild.

Earlier this year, Chairman Levin and I sent a letter to Secretary Hagel requesting a detailed plan on how the Department would allocate the additional $52 billion in sequester cuts slated for fiscal year 2014. The response we received was woefully light on details but made clear that further cuts in fiscal year 2014 will significantly amplify the pain our military is already enduring.

Admiral Winnefeld, you were asked earlier this year about the impact of the budget cuts on the military, and you responded. And I have to say it was a very courageous response. And I am quoting
now. ""There could be for the first time in my career instances where we may be asked to respond to a crisis and we will have to say that we cannot.'' Admiral, I feel that we are well on our way to this unthinkable reality.

Recently the Department has undertaken actions internally to address some critical readiness issues, including the resumption of flight operations for the Air Force after many squadrons--I believe 16--had been grounded for over 3 months. And while this development is welcome news, I remain concerned over the vital training and maintenance activities the services that remain curtailed and
nearly 700,000 DOD civilians are still being furloughed. What I find most concerning, however, is that much of this pain has been unnecessary and could have been avoided all along.

Earlier this year, I introduced a bill that would have provided for the Department with flexibility to allocate the sequester cuts in a way that minimizes risk. I think at that time, all the chiefs agreed
that would be a better--it would be still devastating but not as devastating. And when we come back and put our squadrons in flying status--again, I am going to conduct my own test on this--and
we have already looked into it--on how much more it costs now to retrain, get people back up in proficiency than it would have had if we had just stayed with it.

Our actions at home do not occur in a vacuum. Around the world, we are seeing the effects of declining military capability and the absence of American leadership. From the Middle East to the Asia-Pacific, our adversaries are emboldened and there are growing doubts about the United States among our allies.

I raise these issues today because I am deeply concerned by the current state of our military. As our military is experiencing an unprecedented deterioration of readiness and capabilities, I ask our
witnesses what advice they are giving the President on these matters.

General Dempsey, at what point will you advise the President that the defense cuts will result in the dire scenario you laid out before our committee in February? And I would quote. You said, ""if ever the force is so degraded and so unready, and then we're asked to use it, it would be immoral.''

General Dempsey, you also warned in testimony to this committee that further defense cuts will, ""severely limit our ability to implement our defense strategy. It will put the Nation at greater risk of coercion, and it will break faith with the men and women in uniform.'' The Service Chiefs are already talking about combat forces and capabilities that are starting to hollow out. We had a discussion about this. You know, are we hollowing out, or are we already a hollow force?

I am afraid to remind you of the comments from the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, who stated earlier this year, ""In almost 50 years in intelligence, I don't remember that we've had a more diverse array of threats and crisis situations around
the world to deal with'' than we have today.

So that is our problem, Mr. Chairman, and that is why we are
having this hearing today.

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