Trent Kelly: “Today I rise in strong support of the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. Our military is facing…”

“Today I rise in strong support of the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. Our military is facing unprecedented challenges in a volatile environment, and this body is charged with the duty of raising and supporting our military to ensure our safety both home and abroad. As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations, I am incredibly proud of the items in this bill that enable our intelligence and special operations communities to keep our adversaries at bay. I thank Chairman Gallego and my ISO colleagues for working in a bipartisan fashion to ensure ISO equities are represented throughout the NDAA process. In particular, the codification of the Special Operations Command's 1202 authority is significant. This authority authorizes SOCOM to conduct irregular warfare operations. The expansion of this authority is critical to our ability to compete and win in a great power competition environment. I remain concerned about our force posture and counterterrorism capabilities in Afghanistan resulting from last year's withdrawal. The administration has failed to provide the congressionally mandated report from Section 1069 of last year's NDAA. We continue to ask for greater detail on the so-called ``over the horizon'' capability the administration has touted. It remains clear this strategy was completely not thought out from the beginning. That said, I do want to mention a few noteworthy provisions in this bill.…”