Press Releases

Today, Rep. Mac Thornberry, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following opening statement, as prepared for delivery, at the hearing entitled "The State of the Military." For testimony and other information and to watch the hearing click here.

"Last week, the Committee held classified and unclassified sessions on the ‘State of the World,' or more accurately, the state of the world environment in which the American military must operate and U.S. national security must be protected. I was struck by the essential point General Petraeus made that we face many threats and can overcome any of them, except perhaps what we do to ourselves.

Today we turn to the ‘State of the U.S. Military.'

I continue to be concerned – and sometimes even disturbed – by evidence that is accumulating on the damage inflicted upon our military in recent years and the stresses on the Force. That damage comes from a variety of factors including budget cuts of over 20 percent, Continuing Resolutions, the failure to recognize – or at least admit – and then address mounting readiness problems, as well as shrinking the size of the force while keeping a high tempo of operations. There is plenty of blame to go around between both parties and both the Executive and Legislative branches for what has been done.

But now with a new Administration and a new Congress, we have the opportunity to begin the repairs. To do that, we need a clear understanding of the state of our military today and the immediate trends which challenge us.

For that we turn to Vice Chiefs of each of the Services, and we ask that each of you provide to this Committee your best professional military judgment in answering the questions we pose.

As was emphasized last week, the world situation is dangerous and complex. This is no time to exaggerate or underplay the challenges before us. Only by facing them squarely can we all meet the obligations we owe to the Constitution, to the men and women who serve, and to the American public."