Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered the following opening remarks at a hearing on protecting American interests in a convergent global threat environment. 
 
Chairman Rogers’ remarks as prepared for delivery: 
 
In our first hearing of the 119^th Congress, we will examine a hard truth: 
 
The United States faces the most challenging threat environment since World War II.  
 
China is investing heavily in its military and threatening to outpace the United States.  
 
Russia’s military, despite suffering massive casualties in Ukraine, is rapidly reconstituting.
 
In fact, the Russian Army is larger today than it was before the invasion.
 
North Korea has doubled down on expanding its nuclear capabilities.
 
And while Israel has dealt a blow to Iran, the Ayatollah continues to harbor nuclear ambitions. 
 
And with the help of his terrorist proxies, he’s attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea and American troops across the Middle East. 
 
Alone, each of these adversaries poses a significant threat to the United States. 
 
But they’re no longer acting alone.
 
They’re building an alliance dedicated to countering American interests.
 
China, Iran and North Korea are actively supporting Putin’s war machine.
 
Iran is providing Russia with thousands of drones.
 
North Korea is supplying thousands of artillery shells, ballistic missiles, and soldiers. 
 
However, it’s China that’s become Russia’s most important lifeline. 
 
In accordance with their “no limits” partnership, Xi is keeping Putin’s economy afloat by buying Russian oil and gas. 
 
And without Chinese semiconductors and dual-use components, Russia’s defense industrial base would have already come to a screeching halt.
 
This growing cooperation extends well beyond the war in Ukraine.
 
Putin has expressed public support for Xi’s ambitions to reunify Taiwan.
 
Meanwhile, Russia has helped China expand its nuclear arsenal, as well as enhance its air defense, antiship, and submarine capabilities.
 
In defiance of Western sanctions, Russia and China have funded the Ayatollah’s malign agenda by purchasing large amounts of Iranian oil. 
 
As for North Korea, Russia reportedly intends to share advanced space and satellite technology to aid Kim’s development of ICBMs. 
 
This deepening alignment creates the risk that conflict anywhere could quickly become a multi-front war.
 
We must take this threat seriously.
 
We must make the investments necessary to deter, and if necessary, defeat this new axis of aggressors. 
 
Yet today, U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP is at its lowest level since before World War II.
 
This is not enough to deter our enemies.
 
Just look at the consequences of underfunded and uncredible American deterrence over the past four years.
 
The Taliban retook Afghanistan.
 
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor. 
 
Iran and its proxies perpetrated the worst attack on Israel since the Holocaust. 
 
Kim abandoned the pursuit of peaceful reunification and instead put his country on a war footing. 
 
And China has become increasingly aggressive, escalating against Taiwan and the Philippines.
 
Given these threats, it will take significant investments to restore peace through strength.
 
We must get back above 4 percent of GDP.
 
That starts with a reconciliation process that includes robust defense funding. 
 
Our allies and partners must follow suit and spend more on their own defense too. 
 
The United States cannot and should not face this convergence of threats alone. 
 
But just spending more is not the answer.  
 
The weapons we are buying cost too much and take too long to get to the warfighter. 
 
Every dollar has to be spent smarter.
 
As such, additional investments must come hand in hand with reforms to field innovation faster and improve efficiency across the DoD.  
 
I truly believe we are living through a watershed moment. 
 
The decisions we make in the months ahead could be the difference between war and peace. 
 
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses on their assessment of these threats and what advice they have for this committee on how to deter them.