During a Senate Armed Committee hearing last week, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) questioned Michael P. Cadenazzi Jr., nominee to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, about the possible impact of President Trump’s tariff policy.
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00:00Madam Chairwoman, it may not be adequately staffed at the department, and that's something
00:06we'll want to talk about. The way I understood how to pronounce the witness's name was he
00:13said it rhymes with snazzy. Now recognize my distinguished ranking member, Mr. Reid,
00:22from Rhode Island. Well, thank you. I'm just amazed that you can't pronounce a simple name
00:27Catanazi and Papano. Hey, this is amazing. Okay. Mr. Catanazi. Catanazi. Okay. I have an Italian.
00:41I grew up in Cranston and Knightsville with all the Itri, Italians from Itri. The recent tariffs
00:48and update by the Trump administration will have a definite impact on the defense industrial base,
00:54and if they're matched by reciprocal tariffs, that will exacerbate the impact on the supply chain,
01:02the cost of material. So how will you assess the impacts of the tariffs on DOD and the defense
01:09industrial base, and how do you intend to work with the industrial base to deal with this issue?
01:16Senator, I appreciate the question and the significance of it. The tariffs are a complicated,
01:20non-linear set of decisions being made on a global scale, and I do think you're right that there are
01:27impacts to the industrial base. However, I am not currently aware of any particular analysis regarding
01:33the particular impacts on the aerospace and defense industrial base. I understand that the purpose
01:38of the tariffs for a whole-of-government approach to reshape certain elements of the economy,
01:43manufacturing, access to materials, some of which we agree are good. Increased domestic manufacturing,
01:50increased domestic production are good things. And where we can achieve those ends, we should be,
01:54you know, pleased to work on that subject. And if confirmed, I'm excited to work with the committee,
02:00with you, and with the industrial base to understand what the impacts on the industrial base will be,
02:04any negative impacts, and to prepare actions necessary to mitigate the effect of those negative impacts
02:10over time. Another aspect of this whole tariff
02:13situation is that part of, I think, the way to accelerate the growth of our industrial base is to
02:23partner closely with our allies. But we're involved with a heated discussion with Canada and other
02:30natural allies about tariffs, and I think that will inhibit our ability to cooperate and to integrate
02:37with them and to expand quickly our industrial base. What do you have on that? Senator, our allies
02:45and partners at the industrial base level are critical. There's an incredible, robust exchanges
02:51between companies and between countries that enable us to work and operate and actually enable
02:56substantial weapons sales overseas. Last year's 2024 total defense exports to over exceeded $300 billion.
03:03Those relationships remain strong. I'm convinced that there's still robust interest across companies to work
03:10with their partners wherever possible. And I see substantial opportunities for us to increase that
03:15collaboration, particularly in the sharing of the sale of parts, assemblies, subcomponents, those kind of things,
03:22where we can go ahead and close gaps and mitigate efforts that we issues that we have in the domestic U.S.
03:27defense industrial base by working more closely in a more targeted way with our allies and partners.
03:32So if confirmed, I'm excited to work on that. If you see a severe impact of tariffs on our production in the United States,
03:41our industrial base, will you let this committee know very rapidly? Senator, of course. Thank you.
03:48Admiral Papano, again, thank you for your extraordinary service in the submarines.
03:53They are our key tier in the deterrence and the nuclear triad. Thank you.
04:00You're going into NNSA right now, and you've got the highest demand since the 1980s in terms of nuclear weapons and nuclear systems.
04:11And at the same time, you're trying to rebuild an aged infrastructure. I'm being polite.
04:16But recent actions by Doge, in coming in and dismissing people, and then many times, five days later, hiring them back, which is even more disturbing,
04:28the 2,000 federal workforce that NNSA had is now down to about 1,650.
04:37And they're at perhaps a breaking point in terms of not only the demands on them to do the job, but also this sense of will I be going next week or will I still be here?
04:50How are you going to respond to this morale problem and this personnel problem?
04:55Thank you, Senator.
04:56I'm not fully apprised of all the hirings and firings or goings on personnel-wise inside NNSA right now, only what's available open source.
05:04However, if confirmed, that will be a top priority of mine, understanding what that workforce needs,
05:09making sure it is properly resourced in people and funding as required to accomplish this no-fail mission of recapitalizing our strategic nuclear infrastructure
05:19and, you know, getting back to weapons production.
05:21Thank you very much, sir, and again, thank you for your service, both of you.
05:25Thank you, Senator Reid.