At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) questioned nominees about the issues of recruiting and retaining pilots.
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00:00Mr. Overbaugh, I see the intelligence and security shop in the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy,
00:09not just through my work on this committee, but my work as chairman of the Intelligence Committee as well.
00:15INS should be the central advocate for the DOD's intelligence priorities and the central orchestrator
00:20to ensure that all defense intelligence agencies are meeting DOD needs.
00:24Yet it has often seemed to me that all the agencies under the INS umbrella appear to largely act on their own accord.
00:32Oftentimes it seems with little direct oversight.
00:34Can you commit to working with me on this committee and on the Intelligence Committee
00:38to ensure that we improve INS's enterprise governance to meet,
00:44to make sure that the defense intelligence agencies are providing the intelligence that all of our warfighters need?
00:50Yes, Senator, I absolutely can.
00:52Do you share that assessment, that it seems like oftentimes they're kind of all going off in their own direction?
00:58Senator, I share your concerns in that regard, and what I can commit to you is if confirmed for this position,
01:03I would place an emphasis on ensuring that the entire defense and intelligence and security enterprise
01:08remains responsive, particularly to combatant commanders and the warfighters,
01:13to ensure that they're well positioned to deal with global threats.
01:17I believe that part of the issue here is that INS is not optimally organized to meet that role of guiding the defense intelligence enterprise
01:25and advocating for defense intelligence priorities.
01:27I put report language in last year's NDAA that mandated a GAO review of the authorities, the roles, and the responsibility of INS.
01:35Can you commit to using the findings of that review to inform any potential organizational changes that might be made in INS?
01:44Yes, Senator, and as I mentioned in my open statement, I'm particularly concerned about bureaucratic intransigence.
01:50And so analyzing the structure and process within the organization would be a key focus if I'm confirmed.
02:00As is often the case, while boxes and lines on a chart are important, they're not the only thing to consider.
02:08Sometimes it's not the most important thing that needs change.
02:10Sometimes it is leadership and culture.
02:13INS was dual-hatted as the director of defense intelligence and the principal advisor to the director of national intelligence
02:20because Congress recognized the urgent need for a single proponent to ensure the broader national intelligence community meets defense requirements.
02:29Yet, I don't think there's any documented processes or procedures for ensuring that collaboration between INS and the ODNI.
02:36And I think the past interactions between ODNI and INS have not been adequate.
02:42Can you commit to working with Mr. Hansel to make sure INS is collaborating closely and productively and constructively with the ODNI?
02:54I absolutely can, Senator.
02:56And this is something that Mr. Hansel and I have already had an opportunity to talk about.
03:00I share his passion.
03:01And I know that if we're confirmed, we look very much forward to working with ODNI Gabbard and the rest of her team to ensure that that lash-up takes place.
03:11And to be clear, the work that the defense intelligence agencies produce, I think, is stellar and top-notch.
03:19It's often some of the best intelligence reporting I see on this committee and especially on the Intelligence Committee.
03:24We want to make sure that we're providing proper guidance for all those agencies underneath your orbit
03:30and also that they're having their proper influence within the broader intelligence community, especially claims on resources.
03:37Mr. Lohmeyer, the Air Force has been underfunded for a long time.
03:40Especially in the last two Democratic administrations.
03:43That's led to a dramatically smaller fighter force than we've had at any time since World War II.
03:47Yet we need air superiority given the broad range of threats we face.
03:51Do you commit to working with the administration and with Congress to be ensured that we increase resources going forward for the Air Force and Space Force?
03:59Yes, Senator.
03:59I commit to that.
04:00And you agree that we need those additional resources?
04:02I do agree.
04:04Part of the problem we've had, too, is a shortage of pilots, 1,800 pilot shortage across the total force as of fiscal year 24.
04:11Retention is only averaging about 40 to 50 percent.
04:15Do you agree that we need to focus very intently on both recruiting and retaining pilots?
04:21Yes, Senator.
04:22And this is a problem we've had for many years.
04:24It transcends administrations.
04:26And I know that Air Force leaders and administrations have tried to fix this problem.
04:29We try and throw money at the problem sometimes.
04:31And I think that that tends, frankly, to keep in those who are already probably on the fence and want to stay in anyway.
04:40But I talk to many pilots.
04:41They're interested in fixing their quality of life and quality of service concerns as well.
04:46And you have my commitment to try and solve these problems.
04:48The work I've done on this committee with Senator King suggests the same.
04:50They're always welcome the money, but they don't join the Air Force, the Space Force, for, you know, a couple thousand dollars more a month.
04:57They join it because they want to fly high-performance aircraft in defense of our nation.
05:00One final question.
05:01The Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Arkansas is home to a growing international fighter training mission.
05:06We have 48 F-35 scheduled to be located at Ebbing over the next three years.
05:11The Air Force has worked with Senator Bozeman and Congressman Womack and I very well over the years to get this critical mission bedded down.
05:18I assume you agree that foreign military sales training remains a vital Air Force mission?
05:23I do, Senator.
05:25And if confirmed, we can count on you to continue to ensure the Air Force supports the mission and Ebbing and has the resources necessary to train our allies.
05:33Yes, Senator.
05:33Senator, you have my commitment that I'll work very closely with Dr. Mink if he's confirmed and also be very transparent in my comms with you about the situation in your state.