Washington D.C. – Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland (WA 10) questioned Admiral Samuel Paparo, General Xavier T. Brunson, and John Noh on military innovation and readiness in the Indo-Pacific.
Strickland’s remarks are transcribed below, and can be viewed here:
Chairman Mike Rogers: The gentleman’s time has expired. The Chair now recognizes Ms. Strickland.
Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland: Thank you, Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Smith. I have the honor of representing Joint Base Lewis-McChord, home to tens of thousands of active-duty servicemembers, including the first Multi-Domain Task Force and future elements of the Third MDTF, Fifth Security Force Assistance Brigade, First Special Forces Group, and America’s First Corps. And it’s great to see you, General Brunson – those stars look good on you.
All of these things are regionally aligned toward the Indo-Pacific theater, and JBLM plays a central role in the US’ ability to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific. I’m going to talk about two issues. I will start with climate change and then the alliances and partnerships of AUKUS.
Admiral Paparo, how are the US’ military operations and plans being affected by factors like rising sea level, extreme heat, and displacement in heavily populated coastal areas?
Admiral Samuel Paparo: Some of our efforts align our Pacific partnership and operations with the typhoon season within the Pacific so that we can be more ready to respond to humanitarian assistance, disaster relief. Similarly, many of our expeditionary engineering capabilities work on key critical infrastructure, particularly through the Pacific Island countries. And so that ability to respond is front of mind.
Strickland: Thank you. Mr. Noh, under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s leadership, DoD is now canceling programs that do a few things; extend range and on-station time, mitigate contested logistic challenges, and make our forces more easier to detect by lowering thermal signatures. All because these programs also happen to have a climate benefit.
In his approach Secretary Hegseth said, “We do not do climate change crap.” And this approach is actually curbing innovation and making us less ready. They don’t make us more lethal, they don’t protect our troops, and they don’t help us confront a peer competitor.
How can the Department prepare for the realities of a conflict in INDOPACOM – an environment of censorship where key decisions are being made because of a catchphrase instead of the actual benefits that protect our warfighters?
Noh: Congresswoman, the focus of the Department is and will remain on strengthening our posture and warfighting capabilities. And I believe the President’s budget, which will be released soon, will reflect both the priorities of the President and the Secretary’s priority of reestablishing deterrence in the Indo-Pacific.
Strickland: Okay, so the three things I mentioned specifically; extending range and station time, mitigating contested logistics, and making our forces harder to find by lowering thermal signatures. Are those things actually going to happen, even though the Secretary said that this was “climate change crap”?
Noh: Congresswoman, that’s an issue I’ll have to take back and follow up with you on.
Strickland: Okay, so you don’t know?
Noh: I’m not sure, no.
Strickland: Okay, thank you.
Now I want to switch over to AUKUS. And we know that this particular partnership is incredibly important. It prevents Chinese malign influence and actually reduce costs for the US.
So Admiral, can you talk about how this partnership has already benefited the US and what capabilities it’s delivering to our Australian allies?
Paparo: Congresswoman, first is that it’s benefited us in the contributions that Australia’s made to the defense industrial base. To the amount of three billion dollars in order to enhance the submarine industrial base’s capability to deliver on Pillar One.
Second, the working towards Submarine Rotational Force-Stirling would give the United States a Indian Ocean capability which is more responsive to the South China Sea and gives us the ability to operate with the submarines with impunity. Without having to go through straits in the Indian Ocean and its approaches through the critical straits of Malacca, of Lombok, and of Sunda among others.
And then on Pillar Two, Australia hits way, way above its weight from a cyber standpoint. It does some critical things that really complement what we do. So AUKUS is a winner in every way for Indo-Pacific Command.
Strickland: Thank you. And then, Mr. Noh, are there any obstacles that you think the US faces in fully implementing AUKUS, and specifically upholding our partnership, particularly in transferring three to five Virginia-class submarines?
Noh: Congresswoman, I think our industrial capacity remains a limiting factor. We’re able to produce 1.28 Virginia-class submarines a year. That number needs to be above two for us to both fulfill our own submarine requirements and to fulfill our obligations to Australia under Pillar One.
Strickland: Thank you. And you may want to tell your boss that some of the trade decisions that are –
Chairman Mike Rogers: The gentlelady’s time is expired.
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