WASHINGTON – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) participated in a Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing to consider the nominations of Bradley D. Hansell to be Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security; Earl G. Matthews to be General Counsel of the Department of Defense; Dale R. Marks to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment; and Former U.S. Representative Brandon M. Williams to be Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security. During the hearing, Senator Tuberville spoke with the nominees about a variety of issues including military construction, military intelligence, and nuclear security.
Read Senator Tuberville’s remarks below or watch on YouTube or Rumble.
MILITARY CONSTRUCTION (MILCON):
TUBERVILLE: “Mr. Chairman. Thank you, gentlemen, for being here and your willingness to serve.
Mr. Marks, I want to talk a little bit about an issue that affects many of our installations across the country, including my home state, Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. The issue is military construction, better known as MILCON. We need to move fast, and traditional military construction processes are way, way too slow. Back at Redstone Arsenal, there are two warehouses as we speak that are going up. One, [U.S.] Military Corps of Engineers is building, and the other is by the FBI. These warehouses are roughly the same size, but the FBI facility has a lot more bells and whistles. Yet, the military warehouse is going to take double the amount of time to build and 150% over the cost of what it’s costing [to build] the FBI building.
How on earth does this make sense? It is a disaster, and I’m sure we’re having those problems across the country. Can I get your commitment to go and look at this situation? Lieutenant General Chris Mohan, the AMC Commander down there, is really looking into this, and I think he could help us with some of this in the future. We need to cut back on the time and the cost of a lot of these buildings, Mr. Marks.”
MARKS: “Senator, thank you for that question and I couldn’t agree more. We absolutely need to look at additional best practices on ways to speed up our MILCON to include how it aligns with our programs. And, so, if confirmed I absolutely would want to dig deeper with you on this to ensure that I see how we can potentially go faster.”
TUBERVILLE: “Thank you. And another quick question for you, Mr. Marks. You recently discussed drone incursions with my staff. Can you tell the committee about that conversation and your experience?”
MARKS: “Senator, thank you. What we have seen across the country and especially there at Eglin [Air Force Base] is an increase in drone activity and, in fact, activities surrounding our installations, whether that is foreign national turnarounds or other investments, things that we need to make. And so, Senator, in the local area at the installation I currently serve at, we’ve increased our investment to increase detection capability so that we can then use the authorities that we have been provided at the installation level to defend those installations. And Senator, if confirmed, I would want to see it expanded so that we can work with the combatant commanders to ensure we are defending our local installations here in the homeland.”
TUBERVILLE: “Thank you, very much needed.”
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE:
TUBERVILLE: “Mr. Hansell, as you know, one of the organizations you will oversee as OUSD(I&S). If you are confirmed, is the Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC), which is a component of DIA […] it’s located in Huntsville, Alabama. MSIC provides world class analysis and performance of foreign weapons systems. Mr. Hansell, can you talk a little bit about how important it is for our warfighters to assess the kind of foreign material data that the DIA and MSIC provide?”
HANSELL: “Yes, Senator. I’d first highlight the importance of MSIC relative to the growing importance of the space domain. It becomes ever more critical to our national security, as well as, I think, critical intel from MSIC should be used to inform the Golden Dome architecture design at every stage of the milestones.”
TUBERVILLE: “Thank you.”
NUCLEAR SECURITY:
TUBERVILLE: “Mr. Williams, [National Nuclear Security Administration]NNSA has been plagued by cost overrun, schedule delays, project cancellations related to construction of nuclear facilities, including uranium processing facility—The Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility—and others. If confirmed, what specific steps would you take to ensure that these project management failures are not repeated in the future?”
WILLIAMS: “Thank you, Senator. And that is right at the heart to the plutonium pit production that you mentioned in Savannah River as well in Los Alamos, you know, is the critical path to restoring our ability to make new nuclear weapons and to ensure the long-life extension of our existing stockpile. There’s a number of details, a number of classified details, that I’ve not been briefed on in that, but I commit to you, should I be confirmed, that it is absolutely a commitment to get that back and to deliver, you know, for the weapons programs.”
TUBERVILLE: “Thank you.”
JAG CORPS REFORM:
TUBERVILLE: “Mr. Matthews, if confirmed, what role would you have in advising the president and the secretary on reforming the JAG Corps?”
MATTHEWS: “Thank you, Senator, for the question. If confirmed, I would be a legal adviser to the Secretary of Defense and not to the President unless he asked me. But if the President were to ask me, I would consider the question he asked, and in light of the facts and information available to me, I would make a recommendation. The JAG Corps, the Army, the General Corps, the Joint Force JAGs, play an important role in ensuring the delivery of military justice, ensuring compliance with the law of armed conflict, a whole myriad of activities. And, so, it’s important that we get it right.”
TUBERVILLE: “Thank you.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.
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