Tom Cotton Asks Pentagon Nominees About 'Fragility' Of Domestic Munitions Production

6 months ago

During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) spoke about the United States' domestic munitions industrial base.

Transcript

00:00Senator Cotton.

00:01Gentlemen, congratulations on your nominations.

00:03Thank you to your families for their sacrifices over the year.

00:06And most important, thank you to the men and women you represent in your organizations

00:09and will represent for their service as well.

00:11I want to commend you both and commend everyone who was involved in the exceptionally successful mission

00:18against Iran over the weekend.

00:20Admiral Cooper, I want to return to a brief point you made with Senator Wicker.

00:24Senator Wicker, although we have dealt a massive setback to Iran's nuclear threat,

00:32which is the worst kind of threat they could pose to us,

00:35Iran still poses a severe threat to our troops and to Americans around the world, right?

00:40They do.

00:40They possess considerable tactical capability, one element of which we saw yesterday,

00:47which we thwarted in Defense of Allied Edeed Air Base.

00:49And as the next commander of Central Command, one of your top priorities will be

00:57to continue the aggressive defensive posture and to continue the deterrence

01:03that's now been reestablished against Iran to defend our troops in the region

01:06as well as all of our friends in the region, Israel and the Arab nations.

01:10Absolutely, sir.

01:11It would be an important priority, deterring Iran in process.

01:14And I know that President Trump is mindful about this,

01:16that just because they had a very weak response yesterday,

01:18which they telegraphed in advance, doesn't mean that there might not be another response

01:23in a day or a week or a month or a year or three years.

01:26And it could be missiles or rockets against our troops,

01:28or it could be trying to blow up an embassy around the world

01:31or targeting American citizens for terrorist attacks,

01:34something that we have to be constantly on guard against

01:36because Iran has been terrorizing America in the civilized world for 46 years.

01:40Is that right?

01:42Completely agree, sir.

01:43We've got to be in a three-point stance, ready to go every single day.

01:46And at bottom, Iran didn't become a terrorist state

01:50because the United States bombed their nuclear bunkers.

01:54The United States bombed their nuclear bunkers because they're a terrorist state.

01:57Is that right?

01:58I would agree.

02:00The strikes over the weekend showed the importance

02:04of having the world's very best industrial base and best munitions.

02:08The first time those had been employed in combat operations.

02:12They were incredibly successful.

02:14But the wars, both in the Middle East since October 7th and in Ukraine,

02:19as I'll show, revealed the fragility of munitions production in this country

02:23and the defense industry.

02:26Would you agree that we need to do a lot more to increase capacity

02:29for our munitions industrial base?

02:32I would, sir.

02:33It's an area of significant concern.

02:34I know this area that senior DOD leadership is focused on right now.

02:39It's not a new issue.

02:40It's been around for some time.

02:42But clearly, it's one we need to focus on right now.

02:44And General Grinkowicz, I assume both in your current role in the joint staff

02:47and also your anticipated role in Europe, you would agree as well

02:51that we need to significantly expand munitions production in this country?

02:55Senator, I would.

02:56As the director for operations on the joint staff with the responsibility,

03:01along with my colleagues in logistics and sustainment,

03:03for managing those munitions and pushing them to the fight,

03:05I'm acutely aware of some of the limitations that we have.

03:08And if confirmed, I would continue to advocate for strong investment

03:11on both sides of the Atlantic and the industrial base.

03:14And our industrial base includes our defense contractors,

03:18companies that make this in the private sector,

03:20but it also includes our organic industrial base within the department.

03:25And given the track record over the last three years,

03:27would you agree that we really need an all-of-the-above strategy?

03:30We need to push both the private sector and lean on the assets we already have

03:34in the Department of Defense to produce the munitions our warfighters need?

03:38Senator, I would.

03:39The organic industrial base does need that investment and attention.

03:43And on the private sector side, I would say we need to focus

03:46not just on traditional prime contractors,

03:48but also expand the competitive space to new entrants

03:51to get as much production capacity as possible.

03:54Admiral Cooper, I think I saw you vigorously nodding your head in agreement.

03:57Would you like to state that for the record?

03:58Absolutely.

03:59I think the characterization of an all-of-the-above strategy

04:02is the appropriate characterization.

04:04Okay.

04:06The operation last weekend, I guess a couple Thursdays ago in Iran,

04:11with the use of drones launched from inside the country,

04:14as well as a few weeks ago by Ukraine inside Russia,

04:18has revealed once again the threat that drones can pose

04:21to our bases here in the United States.

04:24And I've worked with Senator Gillibrand and a lot of other senators

04:26to address that threat here in the U.S.,

04:28and we're going to try to pass legislation to expand the department's authorities on it.

04:32But, General Grinkowicz, it's also a real threat in Europe,

04:35the prospect of NATO or American positions being attacked by drones,

04:40as we saw in Iran or as we saw in Ukraine.

04:43How do you assess the drone threat right now in the European theater?

04:46Senator, I think it's an acute threat.

04:48It's a new technology, and our investment in both counter-U.S. capability

04:53and the ability to do the same sort of activities with our own drones

04:56needs vigorous attention.

04:59I agree it's an acute threat.

05:01If Israel can do it to Iran, if Ukraine can do it to Russia,

05:03we need to assume that the bad guys could do it to us and our troops and our bases as well,

05:08whether overseas or even here at home.

05:09And we need to counteract it rapidly.

Tom Cotton Asks Pentagon Nominees About 'Fragility' Of Domestic Munitions Production

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