Hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee - Mark Up of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016

Hearing

I would first like to thank Senator Nelson for his contributions as ranking member. It has been a pleasure
working with you. I would also like to thank my colleagues for their attendance and their interest this year. We have had a number of productive hearings on emerging threats and capabilities, and the hard work of many senators has produced the bipartisan mark we have before us today. As always, the staff of each member and the subcommittee staff deserves acknowledgment and thanks for the effort that they put forth.

Before turning to Senator Nelson for his opening comments, I would like to briefly discuss some of this mark's key features. First, this mark supports the need of our warfighters. It authorizes $8.1 billion for U.S. Special Operations Command and identifies significant savings which are used to meet unfunded requirements of both U.S. Southern Command and Special Operations Command.

For example, the mark increases funding by $15 million to help address technology gaps that have been identified by Special Operations Command in its unmanned vehicle fleet. It also authorizes an increase of $30 million to support Southern Command's monitoring and interdiction operations in Central America. In the area of cybersecurity, which is a new addition to this subcommittee's jurisdiction, the mark would codify the Department of Defense's role in defending the Nation in cyberspace, and provides additional funding for some of U.S. Cyber Command's highest priorities.

The mark also includes an addition of $200 billion for the services to assess the cyber vulnerabilities of their new and legacy weapon systems. The subcommittee examined this particular issue during its hearing on cybersecurity earlier this year, and will continue to follow it with great interest.

The mark also reauthorizes key assistance and training programs at the Department of Defense to help build partner capacity and provides new authority to conduct similar efforts to build partners' intelligence capabilities. It also creates new cooperative initiatives in the South China Sea and the Middle East to support U.S. interests in these key regions. In the science and technology portion of the mark, the committee has identified over $100 million in savings by eliminating inefficiencies, reducing redundancies, and terminating outdated efforts. These cuts are reinvested in higher priority areas, including the war fighter requirements that I just mentioned.

The mark also creates a $400 million technology offset initiative. The subcommittee's concern about threats to our military's technological superiority goes back to the last Congress, and it continues to grow. Assistant Secretary Kendall has been absolutely clear: our technological edge over potential adversaries is eroding. In November of last year, the Department announced an offset initiative designed to address precisely this problem and promote the next generation of technology that will ensure our military's continued advantage. I am proud that our committee has taken the important step of putting real investment behind the Department's effort. After all, maintaining our technological superiority can deter potential aggressors, and should we have to fight, it increases the changes of victory on the battlefield and the likelihood that our soldiers will return home safely.

With that, I turn to my colleague, Senator Nelson, for any opening remarks that he would like to make.

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