During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) questioned Assistant Secretary of Defense nominee Dale R. Marks about better preparing the U.S. military for combat.
00:00You've made a very frank and honest answer to that question, and I appreciate it.
00:07Thank you, Senator Gillibrand.
00:09Senator Scott.
00:10Sure.
00:10Thank you, Chairman.
00:12Well, first off, congratulations to each of you on your nominations.
00:15I know I think every one of you is going to do a great job.
00:18Let me start with Mr. Matthews.
00:21I've always had concerns about how much influence JAG officers have.
00:26It might be a little bit different than my colleague has just talked about.
00:29But in the combat, how, you know, so we have people that are responsible for our men and women in uniform to lead them in battle.
00:41How much influence does it have a JAG officer on their, I mean, I understand the JAG officers give them legal advice, but ultimately they're not the decision maker.
00:53And just keep hearing stories that the lawyers are making, are running every time that we have to go, we put men and women in harm's way.
01:02If we're going to put men and women in harm's way, I want somebody that's a warfighter rather than a JAG officer to be the one that's making the final decision.
01:10So how does it actually work?
01:12Thank you for the question, Senator.
01:12A couple of things.
01:13One, JAG officers are warfighters.
01:16We who wear the uniform, we're part of the joint force, we're soldiers, we want to destroy the enemy just like anybody else.
01:24But if the JAG officers are running the command, that's a command failure, in my opinion, because we're advisors.
01:30We only advise the commander, the policymaker, to be making decisions.
01:35That would be as if the counsel to the senator is telling the senator what to do.
01:40So that's not how it works.
01:42We can only advise.
01:46And so that's my response, Senator.
01:48So the tactical decisions are not made by JAG officers?
01:52They should not be.
01:53Now, I will say, Senator, in 20 years of counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations,
01:58we have exercised a great deal of restraint in conduct of combat operations and lethal activities.
02:08And so the law of war is quite permissive, but the ROA, which is a policy, not a legal requirement, has been quite restrictive,
02:18and that's impacted our ability to get after the enemy sometimes.
02:21We should always adhere to the law of war, of course, distinction and proportionality, military necessity, humanity.
02:26But I think we live in a risk-adverse culture, and commanders are always concerned about getting relieved,
02:34about getting a 15-6 investigation where they killed somebody in a CIVCAS incident,
02:38and that's going to impact their ability to be promoted.
02:41And so that's an issue that I think you properly identify, Senator.
02:46Mr. Hansel, in 2019, we experienced a tragic terrorist attack at the Pensacola Naval Air Station.
02:51After that tragic day, I fought hard as Florida senator to get legislation passed to ensure we properly vet every foreign national,
02:58regardless of the country of origin or any partnerships we have with these countries.
03:01I was glad that we were able to make this, get this, become law, but we have to remain vigilant.
03:07Can you discuss how we can continue to expand security on bases and protect the brave individuals of our military forces and their families?
03:15Absolutely, Senator.
03:16Being from the Panhandle, very aware of the incident in your fight for the legislation after it, if confirmed, as part of my show.
03:24Because you know what was happening, it was the military wasn't deciding who was allowed on our base.
03:28The State Department was making the decision about who was allowed on our base, not the Department of Defense, which made no sense at all.
03:35And as I testified before, and I assume I will more today, is it's these seams in government that we have to really be careful of.
03:44And I think after this legislation, though, it's very clear about the vetting requirements needed for military,
03:50for international military students, and I would say as disturbed as I am about the status of our vetting security clearance,
04:02vetting capabilities in the department right now, there can be no exception about the application of them in securing our personnel.
04:11And I would just say, in addition to, since that incident, there's been new threats arising,
04:19and one that is of a concern of mine is this threat of UAS on our installations,
04:25and would certainly work with my colleagues in policy and the counter-USX task force to best address that.
04:37Mr. Marks, you know, constantly we get reports that our military is not ready to go to battle today.
04:44If something happened today, they're not ready to go to battle.
04:47So what are the things that you can do to make sure that our men and women are prepared?
04:52Senator, I greatly appreciate that question.
04:54And one of the greatest ways that I believe that we can help our service members is to ensure that the places that they live and work
05:01are of a high enough standard and quality so that they're not distracted by the things that would take them from their mission preparedness
05:09to ensure that they're 100% ready to go do the work that they need to do.
