Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment offered by my colleague from Virginia. This amendment would give Congress time to conduct oversight over the decision to close Joint Forces Command pure and simple, and specifically it would allow us to determine how the closure could impact national security. In August, it was announced by the Pentagon that JFCOM would be disestablished, but there was no transparency in that decision. Congress was not informed, and Congress asked multiple times for the analysis that was done that led to the decision to close JFCOM without getting that information. This leads me to believe that a thorough and detailed analysis into the JFCOM decision was never conducted. It leads me also to believe that in 5 years the Pentagon will be asking Congress to set up a mechanism to ensure jointness among our services. Capabilities exist under JFCOM that are vital to our national security and paramount to our success in the current wars the military is fighting. Without that analysis, we cannot know whether we are casting away years of joint experience that will be crucial to the future defense of this Nation.”