Don Bacon Asks Chairman Brown About Plans To Bolster Nuclear Command & Control Survivability

4 months ago

During a House Armed Services Committee hearing last week, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) questioned Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin & Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Charles Brown about sending weapons to Ukraine, nuclear threats and getting weapons to Taiwan.

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Transcript

00:00 - I recognize the gentleman from Nebraska, Mr. Bacon.

00:02 - Thank you, Chairman Rogers, and thank you

00:04 to all three of you for being here today.

00:06 I want to congratulate General Brown on becoming chairman.

00:08 We were colonels together, one stars,

00:10 and base commanders in Europe, so congratulations.

00:13 My first question is to Secretary Austin

00:15 concerning the Ukrainian aid.

00:17 Is it the administration's plan

00:19 to send long-range ATACMs to Ukraine?

00:22 I hope it's yes.

00:23 - We have already done that, sir.

00:28 - You've already done it, but the intention

00:30 is to keep sending more.

00:32 - We will provide as much capability as we can.

00:37 - I think that we want to ensure

00:38 that we're sending difference makers.

00:40 They are not feeding into the gridlock from my perspective.

00:44 General Brown, I want to talk about nuclear survivability.

00:47 For 29 years, we flew the looking glass 24 hours a day

00:51 with a general on board that could take over

00:53 our nuclear forces of the White House,

00:55 the Pentagon, or Stratcom, et cetera.

00:57 In 1990, we stopped flying that mission

00:59 and had it on ground alert primarily.

01:01 We think the threats are back to what they used to be

01:05 with the behavior of Russia and the behavior of China.

01:09 Now we have weapons that can strike us in 15 minutes,

01:12 so we think it's even more imperative

01:13 to have this capability.

01:14 What are the plans to bolster

01:17 our nuclear command and control survivability?

01:23 - This is a, Representative Fitz,

01:25 an ongoing conversation about how we advance

01:29 our nuclear command and control

01:30 and maintain that nuclear command and control

01:32 in the environment we're operating in today,

01:35 particularly against a threat.

01:36 I would also say as we advance the technology,

01:39 there's also opportunities to change that approach as well.

01:43 That's where our focus areas are.

01:45 As we look at combined joint command and control,

01:50 how that also feeds into our new command and control as well.

01:54 - I know there's alternative ways

01:56 to provide that same capability,

01:59 but my impression has been,

02:01 this has been under discussion for years now,

02:04 I think at some point we need to resolve it

02:05 and have a plan so that we can,

02:08 and it's not really for us,

02:09 it's for Russia and China to know

02:10 that no matter what they do,

02:12 they can't catch us asleep and can't decapitate us.

02:16 So it seems to me that we should have a plan soon,

02:19 because I just feel like this has been

02:21 an ongoing discussion of what we should be doing.

02:24 So I just want to submit that to you.

02:27 Back to you, Secretary Austin, on Taiwan.

02:30 Deterrence starts today,

02:32 and I'm under the impression we're being told

02:33 that there's a huge backlog of weapons that we owe Taiwan.

02:38 One report was 20 billion.

02:40 What are we doing to expedite

02:42 getting these weapons to Taiwan?

02:45 - Well, I stood up a Tiger team to address this issue

02:49 as soon as we came on board,

02:51 figure out what the nature of the backlogs was,

02:55 and then what are the things that we can do

02:57 to work through those backlogs

03:00 and get this capability to Taiwan and others,

03:04 quite frankly, as quickly as possible.

03:07 They came up with a number of insights.

03:10 That task force still exists, by the way,

03:12 and my challenge to them is to continue to work through

03:17 challenges and obstacles to make sure

03:20 that we're moving as rapidly as possible.

03:22 As you know, sir, there are a number of things

03:25 that go into this equation, you know,

03:27 industry, industrial issues and challenges,

03:30 you know, you name it.

03:34 But again, I think we have been able

03:36 to move some things forward a bit faster,

03:39 but this work needs to continue on.

03:42 We're gonna reduce the backlog.

03:44 I can't predict to you exactly when that's gonna be,

03:47 but I think, you know, it's a thing

03:50 that we'll stay focused on.

03:53 - Day one of the war is too late,

03:54 and we just know the best way to stop it is sea mines,

03:57 harpoon missiles, long-range air defense.

03:59 And so I think, you know, obviously it's imperative

04:02 that we expedite those deliveries.

04:05 My last thing I would like to point out

04:08 to Secretary Austin or at least discuss,

04:10 we put 31 recommendations together

04:12 to improve quality of life in the military.

04:15 One of them was a targeted pay raise for E1 through E4.

04:18 You know, some of the leaders in OSD,

04:20 I'm not saying yourself, pushed back on that,

04:22 saying the pay is adequate.

04:24 But yet we have good evidence that many of our junior lists

04:26 are on food stamps, relying on food banks,

04:29 and we just think we gotta do better.

04:31 And there was an article that came out today

04:33 or it was yesterday that fast food restaurants

04:37 are paying more than our E4s are getting

04:39 who are not married.

04:41 So we hope that we'll have your support

04:43 for a targeted pay raise for E1 through E4.

04:46 And with like 15 seconds left, would you care to comment?

04:49 - Well, I wanna thank you for the support

04:51 that you've given us to date.

04:53 You know, I asked you for a 4.6% pay raise

04:56 for the 4s in '23, you supported us.

05:00 In '24, the budget that was just appropriated,

05:03 we asked you for a 5.2% pay raise,

05:07 you supported us for that.

05:08 That's the-- - Finalist time's expired.

05:10 - You're not recognized as gentle lady from New.

Don Bacon Asks Chairman Brown About Plans To Bolster Nuclear Command & Control Survivability

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