McCaul Discusses Need to Revitalize DIB Amidst Global Threats
WASHINGTON – Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Emeritus Michael McCaul (R-Texas) discussed the importance of revitalizing our nation's defense industrial base at a committee hearing titled, "Reforming America's Defense Sales."
Full Exchange:
Rep. McCaul: Mr. Chairman, appreciate you having this important hearing. When I was chairman, signing off on weapon sales I thought was one of the most important duties and responsibilities of this committee. This is the committee of war and peace, and it could not be more relevant than it is today with the actions in Iran, which I fully support. Since 1979, a dark veil of terror has reigned over the Middle East, and thanks to President Trump, that shroud is being lifted. These weapons have never been more important than they are right now at this moment.
Mr. Secretary Duffey, I totally agree with you: America First doesn't mean America alone. We do have allies. We help them with NATO, but they need to help us as well. And the Strait of Hormuz is a good example of that. The president has called upon our allies to help open up the straits for the global supply of energy. Unfortunately, the news today is they have denied that assistance, and it's to their own detriment.
But when it comes to the sales, I set up the arms sales task force headed up by now-UN Ambassador Mike Waltz. That was a precursor to the chairman's TIGER Task Force. I want to congratulate you, sir, on the work of that task force, and Commander Zinke, for his great work on that. Because the way I look at the arms sales is, it's a great not only from a military defense tool, but also from a diplomacy standpoint. This can be used to gain allies, say in the Middle East, like Saudi, against our adversaries like China. Weapons were withheld in the prior administration to Israel, to my great consternation. I passed [AUKUS Pillar II] to get around some of these international restrictions.
So, there are a lot of problems that need to be fixed. One is the political bureaucracy of Congress that I think the chairman has tackled head-on. The other one is the needs that we have throughout the world. We have several conflict zones or hot zones, I call them. It started with the implosion of Afghanistan, the Russian invasion into Ukraine, Chairman Xi's unholy alliance with Putin, threatening Taiwan, and the Ayatollah raising his ugly head in the Middle East on October the 7th, which was supposed to be Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran, and troops in Syria together to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.
So my question is to Mr. Secretary Duffey: As we move the THAAD system, by the way, from South Korea to the Middle East, we are being stretched very thin. And given the myriad of threats that we have, and I know some of this gets outside of your domain, sir, but what do we need to do to backfill the stockpiles? But more importantly, as we look at Ukraine as a laboratory for modern warfare systems like the drones — and I applaud Ukraine for assisting the United States in the Iran conflict to counter these dangerous Shahed drones that were made by Iran and sold to Russia, used to kill Ukrainians, now to kill Americans — what can we do not only to backfill the stockpile, which we'll be passing a supplemental bill to pay for that, but how can we move towards modernization of weapon systems like what we're seeing in the theater of the Ukraine-Russian conflict?
Secretary Duffey: Congressman, thank you for your question, and thank you to you and the committee for your leadership on this issue. I think it's imperative for us to be able to make the change that we need, for us to have such universal commitment to the need for change. I'd like to talk about the fact that we have agreement for change on both sides of the aisle, both sides of the river, both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue, and that really creates the conditions for us to be able to make change.
I think the ability to reform the FMS process is inextricably linked with our need to reform the acquisition process, because as you look at what are the constraints in the FMS system, I do believe our industrial base capacity is a key constraint that really inhibits our ability to fulfill the pipeline of FMS orders that we have. And we've been working on that at least since I first arrived in the administration, and certainly following my confirmation last June. Secretary Hegseth rolled out the acquisition transformation strategy on August 7th, and I can get into that detail throughout the hearing today.
But I think most importantly, what's emerged from that reform effort are deals that precede these hostilities with some of our key industrial partners, Raytheon and Lockheed, to triple or quadruple the production capacity of key munitions like Patriots, THAAD interceptors, Tomahawks, Standard Missiles — the kinds of weapons that we rely on for the defense of our nation and our allies.
Rep. McCaul: With my time limited, if the chairman will allow me one quick question. So it's asymmetric warfare now in the Strait of Hormuz. We spend millions of dollars on interceptors to take down a drone that's worth maybe [$20,000]. That is what I'm talking about the modern warfare that is happening — and Ukraine is a laboratory. What are we doing to advance that cause? Because we're not going to win, certainly in terms of pricing as well, when we're paying millions of dollars to take down a [$20,000] drone.
Secretary Duffey: Yes, sir. So we do have a partnership with Ukraine and some of their counter-UAS capabilities that are effectively low-cost, that are effective in combating the Shahed drone. We also have developed with partners the FALCO system, APKWS, which is a low-cost rocket that has a high probability of kill for counter-UAS. So I do think we have emerging technologies, and then we're always working — I think we're not quite there yet, but we're putting a lot of effort into directed energy, which is a very low-cost option for counter-drone.
Rep. McCaul: Excellent. Thank you. I yield back.
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