Press Releases

Today, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, on the Subcommittee's hearing titled "Fiscal Year 2018 National Security Space Activities."

"Good morning, and welcome to the Strategic Forces Subcommittee's hearing on the Fiscal Year 2018 Priorities and Posture of the National Security Space Enterprise. We are honored to have a panel of expert witnesses who are leaders of our national security space program. The witnesses are:

General John 'Jay' Raymond
Commander, Air Force Space Command

Lieutenant General David Buck
Commander, Joint Functional Component Command for Space

Mr. Robert Cardillo
Director, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Ms. Betty Sapp
Director, National Reconnaissance Office, and

Mr. John Hill
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy

In Secretary Mattis' confirmation hearing in front of the Senate earlier this year, his official testimony stated that 'While our military maintains capable land, air, and sea forces, the cyber and space domains now demand an increasing share of our attention and investment.' I fully agree with the Secretary's statement.

Our military and intelligence leaders have been clear in t

"Good morning, and welcome to the Strategic Forces Subcommittee's hearing on the Fiscal Year 2018 Priorities and Posture of the National Security Space Enterprise. We are honored to have a panel of expert witnesses who are leaders of our national security space program. The witnesses are:

General John 'Jay' Raymond
Commander, Air Force Space Command

Lieutenant General David Buck
Commander, Joint Functional Component Command for Space

Mr. Robert Cardillo
Director, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Ms. Betty Sapp
Director, National Reconnaissance Office, and

Mr. John Hill
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy

In Secretary Mattis' confirmation hearing in front of the Senate earlier this year, his official testimony stated that 'While our military maintains capable land, air, and sea forces, the cyber and space domains now demand an increasing share of our attention and investment.' I fully agree with the Secretary's statement.

Our military and intelligence leaders have been clear in their warnings, some going back many years, that our use of space could be taken away from us in the next military conflict.

However we have not moved with conviction and urgency to respond to these warnings, and this has left us with a growing crisis to confront in outer space.

While I have the full faith and confidence in each of our expert witnesses here today, I do not have faith in the tangled bureaucratic structure they must work in.

Meanwhile, China for example, is advancing rapidly in space and counterspace, and has even established a new military organization to focus its space, cyber, and electronic warfare capabilities.

As Dr. John Hamre, former Deputy Secretary of Defense eloquently stated in an earlier hearing to this committee, 'We are not well organized to deal with the new challenges we face in space. The old structure may have been sufficient when space was an uncontested area of operations. That time has passed.'

Ladies and gentlemen, now is the least capable our adversaries will be in space, and now is the time for reform even if it is disruptive today.

With that, I look forward to hearing all your perspectives on our space priorities and posture, and thank you all for being with us regarding this important topic."

heir warnings, some going back many years, that our use of space could be taken away from us in the next military conflict.

However we have not moved with conviction and urgency to respond to these warnings, and this has left us with a growing crisis to confront in outer space.

While I have the full faith and confidence in each of our expert witnesses here today, I do not have faith in the tangled bureaucratic structure they must work in.

Meanwhile, China for example, is advancing rapidly in space and counterspace, and has even established a new military organization to focus its space, cyber, and electronic warfare capabilities.

As Dr. John Hamre, former Deputy Secretary of Defense eloquently stated in an earlier hearing to this committee, 'We are not well organized to deal with the new challenges we face in space. The old structure may have been sufficient when space was an uncontested area of operations. That time has passed.'

Ladies and gentlemen, now is the least capable our adversaries will be in space, and now is the time for reform even if it is disruptive today.

With that, I look forward to hearing all your perspectives on our space priorities and posture, and thank you all for being with us regarding this important topic."