Press Releases

Today, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Chairwoman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, on the hearing titled "Three Decades Later: A Review and Assessment of Our Special Operations Forces 30-Years After the Creation of U.S. Special Operations Command."

"I am pleased to welcome everyone this morning to a very important hearing entitled, 'Three Decades Later: A Review and Assessment of U.S. Special Operations Forces 30-Years After the Creation of U.S. Special Operations Command.'

This year marks a 30-year historical point for our Special Operations Forces, when Congress added an amendment to the Goldwater-Nichols reform legislation that created the United States Special Operations Command. Since that time, this force has been preserving strategic options for our Nation, and their track record is second to none.

During my time in Congress, and as Chair of this subcommittee, I have travelled to many war-zones and embassies, and seen this force in action. I can say from first hand-experience that I am continually impressed and humbled by the men and women conducting these important missions, and our Nation can truly be proud of their accomplishments.

And although this hearing offers an opportunity for reflection, in some ways the threats that Special Operations Forces respond to are as timeless as warfare itself, and have existed in the form of irregular and asymmetric challenges, from state and non-state actors alike.

These challenges – and indeed those of the past 16 years since 9/11 – have demanded a heavy focus on counterterrorism and direct action skills for this Force. But how much that experience will shape our thinking about future conflicts remains to be seen.

And despite this constant theme, the world at large continues to change, and we must not let today's war overshadow the need to prepare for the wars of tomorrow.

While the global CT fight continues, adversarial advances in synthetic biology, quantum computing, information warfare, and indeed the proliferation of more than 10 trillion sensors and devices connected to the Internet – present risks for tomorrow. However, if managed right, these risks become great opportunities for this highly capable force.

In thinking about the years ahead, we must ask hard questions after nearly 16 years of constant war, including: what parts of this force are broken, and what needs to be repaired quickly; what adversarial nation-states are advancing faster, and achieving a qualitative edge over our Forces; and what must we do to ensure that our Special Operations Forces are postured for the next 30-years to mitigate our most pressing national security concerns, and to continue to preserve strategic options for our Nation?

As in the past, Congress will play a major role, by aligning resources and policy to keep Special Operations effective, silent, globally postured, and when necessary, absolutely lethal. To do that, we will need the help of our witnesses before us this morning:

● Ms. Theresa Whelan, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict; and,

● General Raymond 'Tony' Thomas, Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command

It is worth noting that Ms. Whelan – although also performing the duties of Under Secretary of Defense for Policy – is appearing today before the committee in her capacity as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense."