Thank you very much, and I want to thank all the witnesses today.

We are very conscious about the security of the ships and the assets.

I have serious concerns about the Navy's assessments and will continue working to ensure that our forward deployed assets have quality and secure maintenance that American workers and equipment provide without losing weeks of presence.

Budget constraints and continued funding unpredictability, resulting from years of sequestration and continuing resolutions [CRs], have hampered the ability of the services to man, train, and equip the forces they need to fill critical…

What risks to national security are accepted by having integral maintenance completed by foreign workers in overseas shipyards?

Since 2006, the Navy has nearly doubled the percentage of the fleet assigned to overseas home ports.

it seems that all I have heard for the last few weeks, months, is readiness, readiness.

one size does not fit all. It just depends on the circumstances.

Transportation Command as a functional combatant command plays an integral role in the central planning and the execution for the movement of our forces and their equipment.

I hope that you help us better understand how these fiscal conditions have affected readiness within TRANSCOM, and where our committee in Congress, as a whole, can stop the damage and begin to repair our force.

the delicate balance between readiness and modernization in today's atmosphere of fiscal constraint.