WASHINGTON - Rep. Robert Wittman (R-VA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Readiness made the following opening statement for today's hearing entitled “The Department of Defense’s Readiness Posture”...
Chairman Wittman's Opening Statement Subcommittee on Readiness "The Department of Defense's Readiness Posture"
Rep. Robert Wittman (R-VA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Readiness made the following opening statement for today's hearing entitled "The Department of Defense's Readiness Posture".
"I want to welcome our members and witnesses to today's hearing on the 'The Department of Defense's Readiness Posture.' This morning we have with us:
• GEN Daniel Allyn, Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
• ADM Michelle Howard, Vice Chief of Naval Operations
• Gen Larry Spencer, Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force
• Gen John Paxton, Assistant Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps
Thank you all for being here with us this morning.
For the past three years, the Readiness subcommittee has held a number of briefings and hearings on the state of readiness of our Armed Forces.
Without exception, we have heard time and time again from our witnesses here with us this morning, the service chiefs, OSD, and the Joint Staff about how challenged we are in our ability to meet combatant commander demands and restore readiness. We have heard about how we have self-inflicted damage beyond any potential adversaries' capacity with sequestration.
Chairman Dempsey characterized our situation at our Armed Services Committee retreat as being 'on the ragged edge.'
We have been warned that we are moving toward a military that is challenged to execute the most basic strategic requirement of the U.S. military: defeating an enemy in a single major theater operation are startling.
I believe we are critically challenged in our ability to perform steady-state missions and simultaneously respond to an unforeseen contingency.
I also remain concerned that even at the President's budget levels of funding we accept too much risk. I believe there is a lack of understanding of what risk entails – being able to bring to bear too little, too late, and with increased casualties – and possibly even the inability to accomplish the mission.
I look forward to this morning's briefing and learning where we are today in terms of overall readiness, and I hope that our witnesses can touch on the risk inherent in the Fiscal Year 2016 budget and provide some specific examples of challenges in matching ready and available forces to what the Department referred to in budget materials as 'severe deployment demands.'"
