Well, good morning, Senate Armed Services Committee Meets this morning and receives testimony on the department of defenses fiscal year 2008 budget request. We welcome you and thank you for your many years of distinguished service and leadership of our men and women in uniform. Before we begin we all want to acknowledge the service and sacrifice of Sergeant William beas, william balanced ridge. These three soldiers were killed this weekend in afghanistan. The thoughts and prayers of this committee are with their loved ones. The sacrifice of these showers a painful reminder that america is a country at war. We face a stalemate and need an increase in resources if we are to turn the situation around. We ought to defeat isis where u. S. Troops are helping to destroy isis and retain mosul and raqqah. North koreas closing in on the development of a Nuclear Capable Ballistic Missile that can target our homeland and iran continues to destabilize the middle east and seek to drive the United St
We remain in a campaign to defeat isis where u. S. Troops are helping to destroy isis and reclaim mosul and raqqah. Meanwhile threats around the world continue to grow more complex and severe. North korea is closing in on the development of a Nuclear Capable Intercontinental Ballistic Missile that can target our homeland and iran continues to destabilize the middle east and seek to drive the United States out of the region. At the same time, weave entered add new era of power competition. Russia and china, despite their many differences, are both modernizing their military it is, developing advanced capabilities to undermine our ability to project power globally. Russia continues to occupy crimea, destabilize ukraine, threaten our nato allies, falls to the murderous regime. And pursue a campaign of active measures to undermine the integrity of western democracies. Thousands of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines deployed in harms way around the globe, those of us charged with the
We remain in a campaign to defeat isis where u. S. Troops are helping to destroy isis and reclaim mosul and raqqah. Meanwhile threats around the world continue to grow more complex and severe. North korea is closing in on the development of a Nuclear Capable Intercontinental Ballistic Missile that can target our homeland and iran continues to destabilize the middle east and seek to drive the United States out of the region. At the same time, weave entered add new era of power competition. Russia and china, despite their many differences, are both modernizing their military it is, developing advanced capabilities to undermine our ability to project power globally. Russia continues to occupy crimea, destabilize ukraine, threaten our nato allies, falls to the murderous regime. And pursue a campaign of active measures to undermine the integrity of western democracies. Thousands of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines deployed in harms way around the globe, those of us charged with the
Committee meets to receive the testimony of the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chief of staffs on the administrations fiscal year 2018 budget request. We welcome secretary mattis for the first time before our committee and we welcome chairman dunford back. The question today, as it is each year for this hearing, is how well the administrations proposal meets the security needs of the nation. Factoring in both the external threats and the current state of our military. This committee has repeatedly heard testimony over the past two years that our country faces more serious complex security challenges now than we have faced before. The hearings and briefings we have held on the current state of our military have been disturbing. The administrations budget request of 603 billion for base requirements is 6 above the 17 enacted level and 3 above the last Obama Administration Budget Proposal. Its 37 billion below what this committee assessed last fall was needed and 58 bi
Testimony on the department of defenses fiscal year 2018 budget request. We welcome secretary mattis, chairman dunford, secretary norquist and thank you for your many years of distinguished service and your leadership of our men and women in uniform before we begin. We all want to acknowledge the service and sacrifice of Sergeant Eric houg, corporal dylan baldridge, these three soldiers from the armys 101st Airborne Division were killed this weekend in afghanistan. The thoughts and prayers of this committee are with their loved ones. The sacrifice of these heroes is a painful reminder that america is still a nation at war. That is true in afghanistan where after 15 years of war we face a stalemate and urgently need a change in strategy and an increase of resources if we are to turn the situation around. We also remain engaged in a Global Campaign to defeat isis and related terrorist groups from libya and yemen to iraq and syria where u. S. Troops are helping to destroy isis and reclaim