Rob Wittman

The probability of Taiwan becoming a military flashpoint, I think, will increase.

The supplying of naval forces at sea is a challenge, and particularly, the ability for us to provide rapid sealift to support combat operations is woefully inadequate.

I continue to believe that our Nation rightfully relies on the silence of the sea to mask our strategic undersea strike capabilities.

I argue many of them belong in the Smithsonian, they still use steam plants.

How do we make sure we support operations in the long term?

I think in the future, there is going to be reluctance for this country to commit ground troops on foreign soil.

I want to thank Chairman Courtney for yielding, and I want to thank our witnesses for participating today.

It is time for us to emphasize the integration, the full integration of the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, and the Merchant Marine.

Naval shipbuilding is a long game.

Classification societies have developed cyber security protocols and notations for industry use that promote security and consequently ensure compliance with government contracting requirements.

It seems like the Navy is saying, you know what, doesn't make a big difference to us. We don't need ships to get to the fight.

I am not confident that we can afford ships at that price and build the fleet back at the pace that we need to build it back.

I believe it is time for the Army to pick up the budget responsibility for the surge sealift forces that uniquely support the Army's ability to go to war.

I think that this lack of vision is a relic to years of strategic hubris and complacency.

I especially want to thank Chairman Garamendi and Ranking Member Lamborn for this enduring interest in our Nation's logistics capabilities.

I am opposed with the administration's legislative proposal that would solely rely on procuring used foreign-built vessels to recapitalize our surge sealift.

However, it is essential that our subcommittees take aggressive action to staunch the bleeding occurring in our logistics forces today.

I think we need to now look at making the best move in a bad situation and one that is, sadly, of our own making.

I believe it is essential that we take aggressive steps in the National Defense Authorization Act to staunch the bleeding and address these substantial logistic issues.

I am concerned that we are not adequately resourced to really address this the way we need to.

In addition to that, we also see, I think, continued threats to our transoceanic cables.

General Goldfein, Secretary Barrett, General Raymond, thanks again for joining us. General Goldfein, thank you so much for your extraordinary leadership and service there with the Air Force.

Gentlemen, I am not a mathematician, but building 8, 6 of which are warships, retiring 11, doesn't get us to 355 by 2030, period.

I believe that this shipbuilding budget request is an attempt to begin to turn the faucet down.

We have to do better.