Opening Statement (As Prepare)
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I would like to welcome our witnesses for our hearing today, Mr. Rafael Leonardo, Performing the Duties of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs, Admiral Alvin Holsey, Commander, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), and General Gregory Guillot, Commander, U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
For SOUTHCOM, it is vitally important that we continue to engage with our partners in the region. The combatant command is actively working with our partners in the region on drug trafficking and migrant flows. Such activities can effectively build partner capacity while also deterring malign activity and aggression in the region. As we all know, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia are actively engaging in the hemisphere with our Latin American and Caribbean partners. At the same time, Admiral Holsey made clear in his statement that security cooperation and security assistance are his main levers in the region. I’m interested to hear more about what levels of engagement are required going forward and am particularly concerned about what reduced funding for the region might mean.
In this vein, I’m also interested in the impact of reporting and statements regarding the future of Greenland, military planning for the Panama Canal, and our cooperation with Canada in light of comments regarding annexation. We have shared security challenges with the countries and territories in our hemisphere that require close cooperation; none more stark than our shared work at NORAD with Canada in a bilateral strategy to increase domain awareness with investments being made by both countries. This has been a priority for the past several administrations – including President Trump’s first term. I’m deeply concerned about the impact of the current rhetoric on the willingness of our partners to continue to embrace engagement with the United States.
With regard to activities in North America, the defense of our homeland mission is unquestionably essential. The Trump Administration’s focus on the border merits significant oversight by this Committee due to the Department’s role in the process. Unfortunately, the first Trump term deployments to the border by Department personnel had negative effects on readiness. We also know that use of Department facilities, including Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, to house Department of Homeland Security detainees can divert resources from U.S. servicemember housing and impacts base operations. Further, treating people humanely is not only a legal and constitutional requirement, but in the best interests of the United States of America. The President’s policies fell short in that area in certain instances in his first term. In this context, I welcome testimony on how the Department will assist law enforcement in its border mission without negatively affecting readiness or other critical Department missions and while avoiding becoming the hammer for every nail.
NORTHCOM also includes two of our closest partners on trade, security, and almost every other issue – Canada and Mexico. Throughout the modern history of our countries, solutions to shared problems have always been best met with cooperation between those countries. It is in U.S. interests to have friendly neighbors, and I look forward to hearing from the witnesses today how they work with, and will continue to work with, Canada and Mexico to ensure the best interests of our peoples and a safe, peaceful, and prosperous North America.
Further, NORTHCOM has been the primary Combatant Command responsible for homeland missile defense – which up until this point has correctly been focused on defeating threats from rogue nations, such as North Korea and Iran. Our deterrence strategy regarding near-peer adversaries has been one that has avoided nuclear exchange for the past 60 years, and, as such, I am interested in better understanding from our witnesses today how “Golden Dome for America” will be achieved and what implications it will have on strategic stability.
The Department has many challenges we are following to ensure we have the right policies in place to protect the United States, maintain partnerships with the countries of the Western Hemisphere, and track efforts that may undermine U.S. interests.
I thank the witnesses for being here today and I look forward to hearing their testimony.
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