Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Inhofe
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today delivered opening remarks at a hearing to consider the following nominations: Dr. David Honey, to be Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering; Brenda Fulton to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs; and Corey Hinderstein to be Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, National Nuclear Security Administration.
As Prepared for Delivery:
Thank you, Chairman Reed, and thanks to our witnesses for being with us and for their willingness to serve the nation.
The world is more dangerous and America is under greater threat than at any point in our lifetimes. The threats from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran have all worsened since 2018.
And as we learned over the last two weeks of hearings, threat of radical Islamic terrorism is growing now that Afghanistan is the safest place in the world for terrorist planners.
Now, while the world has focused on Afghanistan, we saw concerning developments in other places, too.
The last two months of revelations about new Chinese nuclear siloes has completely changed the nuclear environment.
Russia continues to test non-strategic nuclear weapons, and its recent exercise was the largest in four decades.
Iran’s stockpile of fissile material continues to expand, and the North Koreans continue to make surprising technological leaps.
It’s more important than ever that we complete our nuclear modernization on time and continue to encourage innovation at the Department of Defense. It’s clear to me the old ways of doing business just won’t work.
Our government requires strong civilian leadership—leaders of competence and character—if we hope to preserve and defend our way of life from those who would do us harm.
That’s why these hearings are so important—because they help us understand our potential leaders and the values they would bring to the job.
We look forward to hearing your views on these and other important issues.