The Public Record
John McCain was a prominent American politician and military officer who served as a United States Senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. A member of the Republican Party, McCain was known for his bipartisan approach and commitment to national security. He was a veteran of the Vietnam War, where he was a prisoner of war for over five years, an experience that shaped his political career and views on military and foreign policy.
Secretary Panetta and General Dempsey, although DOD's new Defense Strategic Guidance emphasizes a rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region--predominantly a maritime theater--the administration's plan calls for the Navy to retire seven cruisers…
The strategy envisions more elements of the Joint Force postured forward in the Asia-Pacific region.
Secretary Panetta, exactly what conditions on the ground will be assessed to determine the pace of combat force reductions?
The administration's announcement to end combat operations in Afghanistan in 2013 sends exactly the wrong signal to our friends and enemies in this conflict.
Secretary Panetta, how well the JSF program does under its contract for the fourth block of low-rate initial production (LRIP-4) aircraft by the end of the year was supposed to indicate how much the program is on track.
Secretary Panetta, will DOD abide by the requirements in section 2207 of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2012?
Would it not make more sense to plan for a 10-year, conditions-based plan or one that adheres to the original plan to reduce end strength by 49,000 soldiers?
General Dempsey, how do you envision Army leaders will accomplish this without demoralizing the force and breaking faith with soldiers who have sacrificed greatly?
General Dempsey, how do you envision achieving these cuts using the manpower management tools available to shape the force with incentives and early retirements?
This budget requests a precipitous and dangerous drop in military end strength which I believe puts our Nation's security at risk.
Secretary Panetta, since the U.S. Government has signaled its intent to delink tangible progress on the construction of a replacement facility for Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Futenma on Okinawa from other actions to relocate marines…
Sequestration, however, would subject DOD to roughly another $500 billion in cuts across all accounts and would hollow out the force, driving unacceptable risk to national defense.
Secretary Panetta, aside from the issue of sequestration, do you anticipate that DOD will be asked by this administration to cut defense budgets even deeper than you have proposed?
Given the significant increase to the risk to our national security from the cuts to military personnel end strength and force structure, why do you believe a $487 billion reduction is acceptable to incur?
The across-the-board cuts called for by sequestration would pose unacceptable risk in the execution of operational plans.
Wouldn't quickly cutting U.S. troop levels below 68,000 make it harder to clear and hold insurgent havens?
Senator McCain in his opening comment cited that we were reducing 20 percent of the BCTs in the Army.
When the enemy thinks you're leaving, it's very unlikely in my study of history that they're ready to make an agreement
I hope in your meetings with the President that you will urge him to sit down with us and see if there are ways that we can avoid the effects of this.
What advice, what recommendation, do you have as to how the U.S. Government should be handling this very, very tough situation?
Now is the time to set politics aside for the sake of the one issue that we can all agree on is nonnegotiable to the future health and success of our Nation--our national defense.
Yet, here too, domestic politics are taking priority over national security, with the President saying he would veto an effort by Congress to eliminate sequestration that does not include raising taxes.
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