John Hostettler: “Special Operations Forces have played an increasingly important role in our wars against nonstate actors. Therefore, I…”

“Special Operations Forces have played an increasingly important role in our wars against nonstate actors. Therefore, I believe we need to encourage our Nation's best and brightest military scholars to focus on the scholarly research needs of our special operators. Mr. Chairman, I believe this new fellowship program will nurture and cultivate the kind of academic scholarship that will help our special operators gain an even greater upper hand against our Nation's adversaries. We supply them with the best weapons in the world. We must, as well, see to it that they benefit from the research of some of our Nation's best scholars. If enacted into law, my amendment would authorize the Secretary of Defense to prescribe regulations under which the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict will award a fellowship to an eligible person, as described in the legislation, in a discipline determined by the Assistant Secretary. The authority to award any amount of funds to any person as a fellowship under this section is subject to the availability of funds for this purpose. Mr. Chairman, I believe it is important that we give our men and women in uniform all of the tools necessary to fight and win our Nation's wars overwhelmingly. And one way to do that is to give them access to the best scholarship available in their respective fields. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.”