Press Releases

Today, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following opening statement, as prepared for delivery, at the hearing entitled, "Assessing Progress and Identifying Future Opportunities in Defense Reform."

"This week the Committee will hold two hearings that focus on the two major pillars of our agenda. Tomorrow, we will hear from the Service Chiefs on repairing and rebuilding our military. Today, however, we concentrate on the other pillar, which is defense reform.

We have done a lot of reform over the past two years. That includes acquisition reform, a new military retirement system, major changes in military health care, commissary reform, a rewrite of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, as well as significant organizational reform.

While a lot has been done, a lot more needs to be done. The world around us is simply moving too fast for us to sit still and assume that the organizations and processes of the past will suffice for today and especially tomorrow.

Yes, we all have an obligation to see that taxpayer dollars are spent as efficiently and as effectively as possible, especially in fulfilling the first job of the federal government, which is to defend our country.

But we all know from the news and from our intelligence briefings that we face a wide, diverse array of threats. And those threats change day-by-day as adversaries develop systems designed to deny us any military advantage. We must be prepared for each of those threats.

We all also know that the pace of technological change is accelerating and that more and more innovation takes place in the private sector.

All of those trends stress our existing organizations and processes. We will not be able to defend the country with outdated technology or sluggish bureaucracy. Much of the responsibility for making needed reforms rests with Congress.

We cannot do everything in a single bill or even in three years. But we must be willing to move aggressively to make the reforms needed in this volatile, dangerous world.

There is no one who can provide wiser, more considered guidance than the three witnesses we have today, each of whom has held high office in the Department of Defense, has testified before us many times, and has devoted their careers to helping provide for the national security of the United States."