'This Is A National Security Emergency': Mike Rogers Warns That U.S. Can't Make Weapons Fast Enough

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During a House Armed Services Committee hearing before the Congressional recess, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) spoke about the defense acquisition capabilities of the U.S. to counter China.

Transcript

00:00The committee will come to order. The United States faces the most dangerous

00:05security environment since World War II. China is rapidly expanding its military

00:10power. It can field advanced systems in a matter of months. By contrast, in the

00:16United States, it takes more than a decade to deliver needed new capability

00:19to our warfighters. By that time, the threat has changed, the costs have

00:23ballooned, and the solution is outdated. The reality is that our defense

00:27acquisition system is failing the American warfighter. That's not just my

00:32view. Nearly every combatant commander who's testified before this committee

00:36this year said the same. Moreover, defense companies of all sizes tell us they face

00:42a maze of red tape, bureaucratic delays, and a risk-averse culture at the department

00:48that deters innovation. This helps explain why the number of prime contractors in

00:54our country has dropped from 51 to now six. Meanwhile, excessive regulations and

01:02fears of losing privately funded IP are driving away commercial firms and

01:06startups and making VCs think twice about investing in defense tech. For those

01:12that do press ahead, too often the game-changing technologies languish in the

01:18notorious valley of death, never reaching full-scale production. The cumulative

01:24effect is a hollowed-out, uncompetitive defense industrial base. This is a national

01:30security emergency. If we're serious about achieving President Trump's peace

01:35through strength agenda, it's not enough to spend more. We have to make every dollar

01:39count. The reconciliation package President Trump recently passed in the law

01:43was a critical first step in restoring the level of investment that our defense

01:49industry needs. But even if we raise defense spending to 5% of GDP, as I've urged, it

01:57won't make a difference unless we fix this broken acquisition system. That's why, along

02:02with my good friend, the ranking member, introduced the bipartisan Speed Act, which

02:07is now the cornerstone of the FY26 NDA passed by this committee last week. The Speed Act will cut

02:13through layers of red tape and deliver for the warfighter at a speed and scale. It

02:20accelerates the requirements process from nearly three years to as few as 90 days.

02:24It empowers program executive officers and gives them greater budget

02:28flexibility. It prioritizes commercial solutions and fosters an environment where

02:34innovation can flourish by removing barriers to entry and bridging the valley of

02:39death. It modernizes outdated and overly burdensome regulations that slow delivery and

02:45inflate costs. It promotes a data as a service model that gives the department

02:50access to the technical data it needs to sustain its systems while preserving the

02:55intellectual capital of the American industry. It creates the Defense Industrial

02:59Resilience Consortium, bringing industry to the table to address challenges from supply

03:05chain fragility to restoring surge capacity. And most importantly, it drives much

03:11needed cultural change. No more rewarding paper pushers over problem solvers. The

03:19Speed Act fosters a culture of agility and responsible risk-taking where failing fast

03:26and learning quickly is seen as progress, not as a career killer. Let's be honest, past

03:32reforms have failed. However, I believe this time is different. The White House, the

03:38Pentagon, Congress, and industry are all demanding change. I commend President Trump

03:44for calling on the department to urgently modernize defense acquisition and

03:47streamline overly burdensome regulations. Mr. Duffy, we want to hear from you on how

03:53the department is acting on that directive to deliver to the warfighter. And I look

03:57forward to testing to discussing how we can align our efforts to fix the defense

04:01acquisition system and ensure the United States, the U.S. Armed Forces are the world's most

04:06lethal fighting force or remain that way.

04:10And with that, I

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