Opening Statement (As Prepared)

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Thank you, Chairman DesJarlais, and welcome to our panel of witnesses. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new witnesses to today’s hearing, as this is their first appearance in front of the subcommittee. Mr. Ainsworth, Mr. Adkins, Mr. Markham and Lieutenant General Schiess, we look forward to working with you this year as operations in the domain continue to become more congested and contested and as we build this year’s National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027.

Our National Security Space architecture is continuing a significant transformation, and it must transform, because life as we know it relies on space. While most American’s still do not realize the reliance we have on satellites that orbit above us, the reality is that nearly everything we do here on earth relies on a capability we get from space — from the GPS app that likely got many of you to this hearing room today, to commercial satellite communications that are bringing internet to the most rural parts of our country, we have been embarking on a revitalization of space over the last decade that our country began in the 1960s. 

As our military has become critically reliant on space capabilities over the past 40 years, our adversaries have been watching and developing capabilities to counter our systems. The People’s Republic of China has over 1,300 satellites on orbit, over 70% of those in the last five years, and they include systems that could be used as weapons in space. And as we all now know, Russia is developing a space-based nuclear weapon. If launched, it would be in direct violation of the Outer Space Treaty and, if detonated, it would degrade or destroy nearly every satellite in its path. As I’ve noted before, that includes any space-based interceptor constellation that might be part of the President’s Golden Dome “vision.” One push of a button could destroy trillions of dollars of investment and make low earth orbit unusable for years. Obviously, any nation willing to launch a massive nuclear attack on us would not hesitate to quickly take out our defenses.

The innovation of our private sector is why the United States has been able to maintain space superiority for the past 40 years. As this committee has urged, and with the significant acquisition reform that has been legislated on over the past several years, the Department is attempting to more rapidly adopt commercial technology for our warfighters, but there is more work to be done. And as we look to the future, we would be wise to take lessons learned from other domains to ensure we are creating a competitive environment that maintains a healthy industrial base and does not lock us into one company for decades to come like we have done on countless other platforms, like the F-35. 

It is no secret that almost every weapon system in our inventory depends on space, whether for communications, navigation, or intelligence. The Secretary of Defense has stood on a briefing stage at least once a month this year and said space was crucial to yet another unauthorized conflict. What apparently is a secret, though, is this Department’s strategy when it comes to space. Mr. Berkowitz, you challenged me last week saying that the classified NDS is where the space strategy was addressed, in doing so you highlighted an issue this committee has had for years – space is overly classified. I went back and re-read the document, and ironically the only mentions of space were unclassified – however, they did not appear in the public document. If rumors are true and we are going to see a substantial increase in funding to the Space Force in the FY27 budget request, we need to start talking about what we are doing.

The American public has the right to know where we are investing billions of dollars; and the world should have some accounting of our capabilities as deterrence is only effective if your adversaries know what you can do to them.

Space is a fascinating and infinite domain. Until recently, we only really experienced it through the lens of science fiction. But in reality, space has been a part of our daily lives as Americans since the dawn of the space race, and our adversaries are keenly aware of that. Our warfighters everywhere, on the ground, at sea, and in the air, depend on space.  I look forward to today’s discussion with our witnesses on how best to maintain U.S. superiority in space, and how we can address the many concerns that challenge it.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.