'We Have A System Here That's Absolutely Broken!': Bill Hagerty Blasts Foreign Weapons Sales Process

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in July, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) spoke about the processes by which the United States sells weapons to other countries.

Transcript

00:00Thank you very much, Senator Scott.

00:02Senator Hagerty, I'm going to recognize you,

00:06and I'm going to have to run off and vote.

00:07They're threatening me if I don't get down there to vote.

00:10I'll be happy to take the gavel and close us out.

00:12Yeah, if you would.

00:14Let me give you this.

00:15Thank you all for being here.

00:19We'll look forward to voting on you in the not-too-distant future.

00:23Thank you so much.

00:24Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:27Mr. Rose, I'd like to start with you, if I might.

00:30I'd like to talk about something of great interest to me and a great example,

00:32and that is the ability to forge trilateral relationships with the U.S. and allies.

00:38I had the opportunity to work with you during the first Trump administration.

00:41I got to see you in action, and I still have great admiration for your skills.

00:45And one of the things I thought was quite unique

00:47was your ability to forge relations between Poland and our ally Israel.

00:53I'd like for you to talk with us about how that unique experience

00:58might have informed your skills to become ambassador

01:00and, frankly, how that serves United States' interests.

01:04Well, thank you very much, Senator, and again,

01:06thank you for your remarkable leadership.

01:08Your tenure as our ambassador to Japan

01:11and now your service to the people of Tennessee

01:14and this United States Senate.

01:19Poland and Israel have, to say the least,

01:24a complicated relationship tempered by a shared history

01:29of horrendous suffering more recently,

01:32and yet 600 years of effective cooperation.

01:37One of the issues that seems to predominate American interest in Poland

01:43is the question of so-called Holocaust restitution,

01:48the matter that refers to properties from Holocaust victims

01:52that have been expropriated or either completely disappeared.

02:00And it's an important issue.

02:01I understand that.

02:02But I think it's very, very important for all of us to remember

02:06just who the victim is.

02:10Poland was not a perpetrator of the Holocaust.

02:13Poland was a victim of the Holocaust.

02:16The Polish people, the Polish army, the Polish state,

02:19the 22 countries that Nazi Germany either occupied

02:23or co-opted through puppet regimes,

02:26the only one that was conquered and never surrendered was Poland.

02:31The Polish government removed itself to London,

02:37where it served in exile,

02:40commanded over 100,000 Polish troops during the war,

02:43long after the occupation and collapse of Poland.

02:47They fought heroically in Italy.

02:49Major General Hugh Dowding, head of the RAF,

02:52said that if it wasn't for Polish pilots in their squadrons,

02:57Britain would have lost the Battle of Britain.

02:59Poland was the only combatant in all the world

03:03that fought in the Second World War

03:05from day one to the very final day.

03:10And Polish-Israeli relations are of critical interest to me.

03:16I believe that I can help begin a process of reconciliation.

03:20Both peoples are extremely sensitive.

03:22The Poles, if I can put it none too politely,

03:26have been given a terribly bum rap by social history

03:31and accepted norms,

03:34that somehow because 3 million Jews were murdered in Poland,

03:38that it was somehow Poland's responsibility.

03:41It was the Nazis.

03:42It was the Germans.

03:43It was their auxiliaries.

03:44Israelis need to better understand that.

03:47Poles, I think, need to better understand Israeli sensitivities.

03:50These are two hugely important allies of the United States.

03:54They're both literally on the front lines.

03:58Israel currently facing a seven-front war.

04:01Poland, our guardian of the Eastern Shield.

04:05For our two most active, most capable of self-defense allies,

04:11not to be on the same page, not to be more closely allied, hurts us.

04:17It hurts the United States.

04:19I look forward to your efforts in that regard

04:20because I think you can add tremendous value.

04:23You touched on it here, and also, Mr. White,

04:27you touched on it in your opening remarks.

04:29Something that's also a great concern of mine

04:31is foreign military sales.

04:33In Poland, we have a $20 billion backlog right now.

04:36Frankly, Poland has stepped up

04:37and been one of our greatest allies.

04:38They share a border with Russia.

04:40We have every interest in making certain

04:42that foreign military sales move as expeditiously as possible.

04:45Yet we have a system here that is absolutely broken.

04:48It's inefficient.

04:49You talked, Mr. White, about a billion-dollar commitment

04:51that the Belgians are making to, again, more foreign military sales.

04:56This advances our interoperability,

04:58advances our national security interest.

05:00And I would just like to encourage all of you,

05:02to the extent that you have an opportunity to touch on this,

05:04to work with me, to work with our team,

05:06and work with the State Department

05:07to try to reform this broken system.

05:09Senator, if I may, thank you very much for that point.

05:13And I do look forward to working with you, if confirmed.

05:15And I have to say this,

05:16otherwise I'm going to get in trouble

05:18because you're from the great state of Tennessee.

05:19My brother-in-law is sitting behind me,

05:21and he and his mother, Bob and Lynn Henningsen,

05:23and his brother, Christian, proud Tennesseans.

05:26And I have a great feeling for you, sir.

05:28Thank you. Thank you very much.

05:29And Mr. Evans, I look forward to working with you.

05:33I chair the subcommittee on State Department Management.

05:35The chair mentioned earlier the situation

05:38with the evaluation system,

05:40the personnel system at the State Department.

05:42I can tell you from firsthand experience,

05:44it needs a serious overhaul.

05:46And I look forward, I appreciate your remarks,

05:48and I look forward to working with you in your new role,

05:50and I hope that you'll make an appointment

05:51to come by and see me soon if you're confirmed.

05:54Thank you, Senator. I will do that.

05:55With that, I'll recognize the senator from Texas.

05:59Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

06:00Welcome to each of you.

06:01Congratulations on your...

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