Hearing Focus: Readiness Shortfalls

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Last week I co-chaired a joint Readiness and Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee hearing on the underlying problems associated with the collisions of the USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain. The hearing allowed Congress and the American people to hear directly from Navy leadership regarding the tragic events. Both Congress and the Navy acknowledged shortcomings and reaffirmed their commitment to improve readiness deficiencies in many areas, specifically training for our sailors and maintenance for our ships. Below are excerpts from some of the stories about what we uncovered in the hearing-specifically critical readiness shortfalls:

New York Times:
Navy Ships Kept at Sea Despite Training and Maintenance Needs: "Overall, the negative trend lines associated with the operational readiness of our forward deployed ships are deeply troubling," said Representative Rob Wittman, Republican of Virginia, who heads the House Armed Services Committee's Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee. "These negative training trends clearly contributed to the lack of seamanship evident onboard the U.S.S. John McCain and the U.S.S. Fitzgerald."

CNN:
Congress grills Navy on ship collisions: "The material condition and the operational readiness of the ships are significantly degraded and not acceptable," said Rep. Rob Wittman of Virginia, chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower subcommittee. "Of our large surface combatants, the majority of the forward-deployed ships are not properly ready to perform their primary warfare areas."

Defense News:
Fixing a Navy in crisis: A conversation with House Seapower Chairman Rep. Rob Wittman: "There is a limit as to what we can ask sailors to do, and to perform the role at the highest levels that we ask them to perform it in. And that's not a fault of their own. That's just the limitation of what we can do as human beings in operating at that high level. It is my purpose and objective to make sure that that doesn't get forgotten in all this, because you're right. We can talk about systems, numbers of ships, all those things, but we forget that those pieces of steel and those systems out there are only as capable as the abilities of our sailors and the opportunities we give for them to be successful there."

Washington Free Beacon:
House Seapower Chairman Demands Navy Adjust Deployments After Fatal Collisions: Wittman said in addition to providing the funding required to expand the Navy's fleet size, Congress must ensure the service has the resources needed to bring its vessels back to the United States every seven to ten years as required to break the cycle of maintenance backlogs.

WJLA:
Watchdog group raises safety concerns after series of Navy mishaps: "Why are we allowing these things to happen? We are asking so much of our sailors, we are pushing them on these long deployments, as operational tempos go up training isn't where it needs to be, and ship maintenance isn't where it needs to be," said Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA), chairman of the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces.

The Hill:
Navy official: Budget, readiness issues led to ship collisions: Admiral Moran testified: "That [sequestration] along with nine consecutive continuing resolutions, and we're about to get another one. Those budget uncertainties drive uncertainty in the schedules. The most useful thing we could have out of Congress right now in terms of addressing a lot of our readiness concerns is stability."

Stars and Stripes:
Congressional members look for answers to Navy crashes: Pendleton said the Navy has been woefully behind on addressing a long list of outstanding and urgent readiness issues. The agency highlighted among its largest concerns an increase in the number of ships based overseas, crew-size reductions that have contributed to overworked sailors and a possible increase in safety risks as well as an inability to complete maintenance on time.

Moving forward, the Navy's internal investigation, along with its independent review, will shed light on both collisions and give further guidance for actionable steps to improve the safety and operational effectiveness of our ships and sailors at sea. During this hearing, I listened to our military leaders tell us how continuing resolutions are consistently causing uncertainty for our armed forces. Our military is unable to properly budget, leading to insufficient training, unmaintained equipment, and decreased readiness as we saw on both of these ships. We continue to ask more and more of our men and women in uniform, and we in Congress must do our part to ensure they have the tools they need to be successful. I remain committed to providing a path of fiscal certainty for our armed services. It is our duty.

Please do not hesitate to contact me anytime an issue that concerns you comes before the House, especially if it concerns defense and national security.

It's an honor to serve you and Virginia's First District in the People's House.

Sincerely,
Rob

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