During a House Armed Services Committee hearing held before the congressional recess, Rep. John McGuire (R-VA) questioned Military officials about Russian defense infrastructure.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Our chair now recognizes the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. McGuire.
00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:05I'd like to start by also offering my condolences and prayers to the four soldiers lost in Lithuania.
00:10That would be Staff Sergeant Dunez, Staff Sergeant Franco, PFC Tatano, and Sergeant Knudsen.
00:22And I'd also like to say thank you to our witnesses for being here today.
00:25We really appreciate it.
00:26You know, I very much want to thank and appreciate the Trump administration, President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, and Ms. Thompson.
00:35You're doing a wonderful job today.
00:37You know, your efforts to keep our American people safe at home and abroad, we very much appreciate what you're doing.
00:43And everyone knows we wouldn't have a country without our military.
00:48So, General Cavallo, I couldn't say it better than my Navy brother, Luttrell, as we really appreciate your service.
00:54But your efforts, Ms. Thompson, are working.
00:57Morale is up.
00:58I've been to the southern border.
01:00I've visited military bases.
01:01Recruitment is up.
01:03We are getting these divisive ideologies.
01:06You know, in the military and as a veteran, if somebody saved your life on the battlefield, you wouldn't care if they were pink or blue, male or female, Democrat, Republican, independent.
01:15We're all on the same team.
01:16And for Special Operations Forces, we're always behind enemy lines, we're always outnumbered, and we always win.
01:23Because if we don't win, we don't come home.
01:25And so these divisive ideologies that have plagued our military, I am so glad that we're focusing more on the job.
01:34And that is making our military lethal again.
01:36I very much agree with President Trump and the chairman, and that it is time to end hostilities in Europe with Ukraine and Russia.
01:46I very much agree with the chairman as well.
01:48I'd like to see all members of NATO do 5 percent.
01:51I know that's a big ask, but, you know, we have to have peace through strength.
01:57And I'm going to start with Ms. Thompson and General Cavalli.
02:01I have a few questions.
02:02I'd like to get your yes or no response.
02:04Since President Trump assumed office in January of this year, have our European allies and partners increased their defense spending or shown actual plans to do so?
02:15Yes.
02:16Yes.
02:18General Cavalli, can you please provide some examples of how they've done that?
02:24Spain today announced that they're going up to 2.3 percent of GDP.
02:29That's a big lift in Spain where defense spending was not very favored for a long time and where there was, for a very long time, a very weak coalition government.
02:39That's just today's example, Congressman.
02:42We could go on and on.
02:45Denmark has recently announced plans to go to 3.2 percent of GDP and to spend two additional billion euros on Arctic security.
02:57Those are just two examples in the past couple of days, weeks.
03:01Would the strides these allies are making be sufficient enough to meet the implementation requirements of their regional plans under NATO?
03:09Not yet.
03:10They will be.
03:11So there's a long process called the NATO defense planning process, Congressman.
03:17That's where we take the force structure requirement of the plans and assign it out to nations to build for.
03:26That's been concluded.
03:28All nations have accepted all their capabilities targets.
03:32Now it's time to build.
03:33And this is where we come to the question of industrial capacity.
03:35Certainly.
03:35And I remember you guys mentioned that capacity, we've got to have something to buy.
03:39And that's something that this committee and our chairman fully supports.
03:42And we've had many discussions on that.
03:45Let's see.
03:46General Cavoli, we've already touched on this, but if you could clarify.
03:50Some of our allies on NATO's eastern flank have demonstrated their commitment to President Trump's call to increase their GDP spending on defense
03:56and improve capabilities, including Poland and the Baltic states.
04:00Poland itself has increased its interest in American defense products.
04:04Do you believe the current FMS system in the Pentagon operates efficiently enough to ensure that U.S. defense equipment reaches foreign buyers on time?
04:13No, sir.
04:14We have a lot of work to do in that regard.
04:17Thanks.
04:18General Cavoli, one last thing.
04:19Last week, Defense News published an article highlighting President Putin's announcement of the new Perm nuclear submarine of the Yasin M-class.
04:28The article also highlighted some of the issues being faced by the Russian industrial base, not unlike our own.
04:35Joe Cavoli, can you provide a brief overview of the current state of the Russian undersea capability in your area of responsibility?
04:41Could I do that in closed session, please?
04:43Sure.
04:43Thanks.
04:44And then, if you could, it's maybe closed session as well, but how does the United States compare to Russia in terms of its undersea capabilities?
04:52I am very confident in the United States Navy, sir, but we can go into details in closed session.
04:57I appreciate your testimony today, and I yield back.