National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011

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Mr. TURNER. I want to thank Ranking Member McKeon and also our chair, Mr. Skelton, and the chair, Mr. Langevin, of our Subcommittee on Strategic Forces.

I support the committee-passed version of H.R. 5136, and particularly by the way that it strengthens our Nation's strategic forces. It endorses an increase in funding for the modernization of our Nation's nuclear deterrence capabilities, although this funding must be sustained in the outyears.

It includes a $362 million increase in funding for missile defense, which I strongly support, and holds the administration accountable for deploying missile defenses in Europe to protect the United States and our NATO allies. It establishes a sense of Congress that there would be no limitations on U.S. missile defenses in Europe in the new START treaty, despite Russian statements to the contrary.

There is an area, however, in which I am concerned in that the bill does not go far enough to provide a sufficient hedge to protect the United States from missile attack. The Phased Adaptive Approach for missile defense in Europe is not planned to cover the U.S. homeland until 2020, yet the ICBM threat from Iran to the U.S. could materialize as early as 2015, according to the latest intelligence assessments. Regrettably, an amendment I offered in full committee to address this gap was rejected.

Another area which I support, I want to thank our chairman, Mr. Skelton, for his support of the custody rights of our military parents. This bill includes protection for the fundamental custody rights of those military parents. Once again it highlights the need for a baseline of child custody protections for our men and women in uniform, and it also includes language that criticizes an unofficial DOD report as an incomplete product that does not ascertain the full scope of this problem.

Equally important in this bill is it strengthens the safety and family rights for military personnel. I want to thank Chairwoman DAVIS and Ranking Member WILSON for incorporating bipartisan language from the Tsongas-Turner Defense STRONG Act that seeks to enhance sexual assault protections as well as improving training requirements to protect our members.

I thank my colleagues in the Armed Services Committee for their work on the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act. It is certainly my hope that we can retain the language passed by the committee so the House can have a bipartisan report.

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