On the recordMay 20, 2014
I thank the gentleman from Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise to oppose the amendment. While I appreciate the good intention of the gentleman from California, I believe we have immense security challenges in Africa and limited defense resources. Defense has been cut over $1 trillion in recent years, the military is facing shortfalls in readiness, and terrorism threats across Africa are evolving and expanding. Given that the military cannot meet our current requirements in Africa, I don't think it is wise to add new requirements at this time. Military commanders in Africa have testified about shortfalls in intelligence, crisis response forces, and enablers to meet the ``new normal'' security requirements in Africa. No military commander has highlighted wildlife trafficking as a key issue in their area of responsibility, nor have they recommended it be prioritized before this committee. Combating wildlife trafficking should not be a core DOD mission. DOD and the administration recognize that combating wildlife trafficking is not a core DOD function, and thus the national strategy for combating wildlife trafficking does not set forth any DOD requirements. In an era of declining budgets, the DOD should not be duplicating efforts that are already occurring within the interagency, including the intelligence community, the law enforcement community, and the State Department, all of which are already working on and collecting information on this issue.
