Turner Opening Statement at Hearing on Fy22 National Security Space Programs

Washington, DC, May 24, 2021
U.S. Representative Mike Turner (R-OH), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, delivered the following opening remarks at a hearing on FY22 national security space programs.
Rep. Turner's remarks as prepared for delivery:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to our panel of witnesses.
Thank you all for your service to our nation and for being here today.
As a nation, we have made some transformational changes in recent years when it comes to how we organize and operate in space. This subcommittee has been the driver of many of these changes and as we continue to work through them, its important that we remember our goal is not only secure our access to space but to outpace the ever-increasing threats posed by Russia and China.
General Raymond has previously said that Russia and China are continuing their provocative activities on orbit. I hope to hear an update on these activities today. They remind us that we must position our forces and give them the resources to not only deny and deter in space, but win should it come to that.
So, what does that mean for this committee? It means continuing to push the Department in a direction that gets the acquisition system right. To do so, we need to hear from you and we look forward to receiving your report on this very topic soon. It also means working with the Department to find ways to talk openly about both the threats we face and the capabilities we have, so that more of the American public, our allies, and frankly, some members of this body can best understand these issues and the threat picture we are up against.
We have heard constantly about the necessity to disaggregate our space systems, move away from large satellites, and vary the orbits we operate in. I am interested to hear how you are addressing these ideas, because from my perspective it does not seem like much has changed. Just this past May, the Space and Missile Systems Center awarded a $4.9B contract for 3 satellites to be placed into GEO for the Next Generation OPIR mission.
I have the same question for the witnesses from the NRO and NGA. Are you prepared to alter the contemporary thinking on this issue and move towards a more resilient and distributed architecture? Because right now, nearly every scenario we have seen involves our adversaries attacking us in space, first. The best way to deter the next conflict is to better prepare for it and convince our enemies that they cannot prevail.
Along these same lines, I am interested in how your organizations are thinking about rapid reconstitution of our space assets? I'm interested in both the launch portion and the payload side. How are you defining "tactical" when it comes to reconstitution and what are the timelines you are thinking about? I would expect these timetables to be measured in days and weeks, not months and years.
Finally, I have to say I am disappointed that we find ourselves here in late May and President Biden still has not submitted a full budget to the Congress—I think my colleagues on both sides of the aisle would agree. This is not the way to give continuity of funding to our warfighters and only makes our jobs harder as we work together to write the NDAA. Given these delays, it is almost a certainty that we will begin the next fiscal year operating under a continuing resolution; yet, we regularly here from the Department how detrimental this is to our national security. I would like to hear from the witnesses today what the impact is of beginning the year under a CR and I look forward to getting the details of the President's Budget Request later this week.