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, "Military Assessment of the Security Challenges in the Indo-Asia-Pacific Region."

"No one needs reminding of the escalating tensions in the Asia-Pacific region. Recent weeks have witnessed intentionally provocative words and actions from the North Korean regime. We are all concerned that the decades of self-imposed isolation of North Korean leaders and especially the cruel, erratic behavior of its current leader make confrontation more likely.

In my view, we must work even more closely with our key allies, Japan and the Republic of Korea. We must continue to encourage China to help put North Korea on a different path. And we must increase our military presence and capability in the region. Enhanced missile defense is especially important.

Of course, none of us wants another military conflict with North Korea. But we must also remember the lessons of the past. As T.R. Fehrenbach wrote on the first page of his classic history on the Korean War, This Kind of War, 'Storm signals had been flying for more than four years. . . . But the West did not prepare for trouble. It did not make ready, because its peoples, in their heart of hearts, did not want to be prepared.' (p. 3). Whether we want it or not, we have to be prepared.

Of course, North Korea is not the only concern in the PACOM area.

China continues to build islands in the South China Sea and to militarize them. The future direction of the Philippines is unclear. And we are moving toward closer a relationship with developing allies like Vietnam.

All of this and more are on the plate of our PACOM Commander, Admiral Harry Harris, whom we are pleased to welcome today."