US and South Korean troops start drills amid North Korea standoff
U.S. and South Korean troops kicked off their annual drills Monday that come after President Donald Trump and North Korea exchanged warlike rhetoric in the wake of the North’s two intercontinental ballistic missile tests last month. The Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills are largely computer-simulated war games held every summer and have drawn furious responses from North Korea, which views them as an invasion rehearsal. Pyongyang’s state media on Sunday called this year’s drills a “reckless” move that could trigger the “uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war.” Despite the threat, U.S. and South Korean militaries launched this year’s 11-day training on Monday morning as scheduled. The exercise involves 17,500 American troops and 50,000 South Korean soldiers, according to the U.S. military command in South Korea and Seoul’s Defense Ministry. No field training like live-fire exercises or tank maneuvering is involved in the Ulchi drills, in which alliance officers sit at computers to practice how they engage in battles and hone their decision-making capabilities. The allies have said the drills are defensive in nature. South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said Monday that North Korea must not use the drills as a pretext to launch fresh provocation, saying the training is held regularly because of repeated provocations by North Korea. North Korea typically responds to South Korea-U.S. military exercises with weapons tests and a string of belligerent rhetoric. During last year’s Ulchi drills, North Korea test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile that flew about 500 kilometers (310 miles) in the longest flight by that type of weapon. Days after the drills, the North carried out its fifth and biggest nuclear test to date. Last month North Korea test-launched two ICBMs at highly lofted angles, and outside experts say those missiles can reach some U.S. parts like Alaska, Los Angeles or Chicago if fired at normal, flattened trajectories. Analysts say it would be only a matter of time for the North to achieve its long-stated goal of acquiring a nuclear missile that can strike anywhere in the United States. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump pledged to answer North Korean aggression with “fire and fury.” North Korea, for its part, threatened to launch missiles toward the American territory of Guam before its leader Kim Jong Un backed off saying he would first watch how Washington acts before going ahead with the missile launch plans. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Bradley Byrne: Improvements for Alabama’s veterans
In my office, there is no greater priority than ensuring veterans are appropriately taken care. These men and women sacrificed so much for our country, and it is imperative they receive the attention, help, and care they deserve and were promised. Recently, we had a number of important breakthroughs for veterans in Southwest Alabama. From legislative victories in Washington to progress right here on the Gulf Coast, I want to briefly update you on some of the recent improvements for Alabama’s veterans. Most notably, last week we broke ground on the new VA outpatient clinic in Mobile. Building a new clinic has long been at the top of my priority list since being elected to Congress. I have held multiple meetings with VA officials, sent letters to VA leadership, and demanded progress. As those shovels hit dirt last week, it was a major accomplishment. The clinic will replace the current outdated and small clinic on Springhill Avenue. That building was never intended to serve as a VA clinic, and it lacked many of the basic infrastructure needs for a clinic serving around 11,000 veterans a year. The new, 65,000 square feet clinic will be conveniently located right off I-10 in Tillman’s Corner. This location should be easy for local veterans to access, and the clinic will have adequate public parking. The new clinic will provide space for primary care, audiology and speech pathology, education, eye clinics, mental health, patient advocacy, radiology, Veterans’ Service Organizations, and women’s health. The clinic should be up and running by the end of 2018 or early 2019, depending on construction conditions. Rest assured, I will continue to provide diligent oversight throughout the construction process to ensure things move forward. Other positive developments for our veterans came in the form of new, bipartisan legislation passed in Congress. Despite the reporting by the national news media, Congress has actually come together in a bipartisan way on multiple occasions this year to pass bills important to veterans. For example, we passed the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act. This bill makes it easier to remove or demote VA employees who simply are not getting the job done. The bill also increases protections for whistleblowers who speak out about problems at the VA. VA employees should work in a culture of accountability and openness instead of a culture of complacency and deceit. Also this year, President Donald Trump signed the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017 into law. This landmark legislation removes time restrictions relating to the use of benefits under the GI Bill. Instead of the current 15 year timeline, the bill clarifies that veterans may use their GI Bill education benefits for the duration of their life. Just as important, the bill helps cut down on bureaucratic costs and confusion by consolidating the programs into just a single program relating to the GI Bill. The federal government, VA included, could always use more simplicity and less bureaucratic mess. Finally, Congress recently passed legislation to ensure funding for the VA Choice Card program does not expire. This program is important because it increases veteran access to private medical care outside of the VA system. I am committed to making even more reforms to the program to ensure every veteran has the option of seeking care from doctors and hospitals in their local community. As you can see, taking care of our veterans has been a top priority, but also a bipartisan issue that brings Republicans and Democrats together. We must continue working to reform the VA and take care of those who have given so much to our country. • • • Bradley Byrne is a member of U.S. Congress representing Alabama’s 1st Congressional District.
Donald Trump to visit Marine base in Yuma before Phoenix rally
The White House says President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit a Marine Corps base in Arizona along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump is set to visit Marine Air Station Yuma on Tuesday afternoon before he travels to Phoenix to hold a rally. Yuma’s location along the U.S.-Mexico border touches on one of Trump’s signature issues: his call for putting up a border wall to stem illegal immigration from Mexico. The rally in Phoenix will take place at the city’s convention center. Trump tweeted about the event last week with a link for ticket availability. The president has been holding campaign-style events in Trump-friendly areas since he took office. The rally will be his first in the West. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Estimates of North Korea’s nuclear weapons hard to nail down
The U.S. intelligence agencies’ assessments of the size of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal have a wide gap between high and low estimates. Size matters and not knowing makes it harder for the United States to develop a policy for deterrence and defend itself and allies in the region. The secrecy of North Korea’s nuclear program, the underground nature of its test explosions and the location of its uranium-enrichment activity has made it historically difficult to assess its capabilities. Some U.S. assessments conclude North Korea has produced or can make around 30 to 60 nuclear weapons, said two U.S. officials who weren’t authorized to discuss sensitive intelligence matters and demanded anonymity. Such a wide range affects how the U.S. considers addressing the threat. More North Korean bombs could indicate second-strike capacity and then there are questions about how much nuclear firepower the country could mobilize on a moment’s notice. Estimates by civilian experts cloud the picture even further. Most put the arsenal anywhere from a dozen to about 30 weapons. “The bottom line is that we really don’t know how many nuclear weapons they have,” said Bruce Bennett, a senior international and defense researcher at RAND specializing in northeast Asian military issues. “Does it make a difference? Absolutely.” “If North Korea only has a small number – one or two or three – they will not brandish them early in a conflict. If they have 30-plus, they are almost certainly going to consider early use of nuclear weapons in a conflict.” Although remote, the danger of a U.S.-North Korean nuclear confrontation has escalated in recent weeks after Pyongyang’s first successful tests last month of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States. President Donald Trump has traded bombastic threats with the isolated, communist government. Last week, Trump pledged to answer North Korean aggression with “fire and fury.” He later tweeted that a military solution was “locked and loaded” after leader Kim Jong Un was said to be considering a provocative launch of missiles into waters near the U.S. Pacific island of Guam. If a war were to break out now, North Korea could very well be destroyed. But if North Korea succeeds in building nuclear missiles that can reach the continental U.S., the equation changes. And having more than a few reliable missiles – long-range ones, plus short-range ones that could, for instance, hit South Korea where 28,000 U.S. troops are deployed – enhance North Korea’s leverage. The risk of mass casualties makes any pre-emptive U.S. strikes problematic, as Trump’s own chief strategist recognized in an interview this week. “There’s no military solution, forget it,” Steve Bannon says. “Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here. They got us.” Seoul is South Korea’s capital. Olli Heinonen, a former deputy director-general at the U.N. nuclear agency, said an arsenal of dozens of weapons might suggest North Korea seeks the capacity to retaliate in a nuclear war. A half-dozen weapons would suggest pure deterrence, said Heinonen, who estimates that North Korea now has enough fissile material for up to 40 weapons – about 10 using plutonium and 30 using uranium. “When you increase the number, it means normally you’re going a little bit more offensive, you plan to have a second-strike capability,” Heinonen said. “Very often it’s from submarines and we see North Korea also working with those.” While size is important, Kelsey Davenport at the Arms Control Association thinks the more pressing problem is stopping Pyongyang from further advancing its nuclear program. “North Korea wants to threaten the United States with a nuclear strike, not actually conduct one, so determining the exact size of North Korea’s stockpile of nuclear warheads is far less urgent than de-escalating tensions,” she said. Sen. Deb Fischer, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s panel on strategic forces, said not knowing the size of North Korea’s nuclear program can complicate planning and limit options available to the president. But general principles of deterrence can still be applied, she said. “Kim Jong Un is probably less likely to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile armed with a nuclear weapon at the United States, and suffer our overwhelming retaliation, if he knows our missile defense will prevent his attack from succeeding,” said Fischer, who has called for more funding for homeland missile defense. A 2015 study by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies said North Korea could have up to 100 weapons by the end of the decade. That is, if it had 9,000 centrifuges in operation for uranium enrichment and if a light-water reactor, long under construction, finally came online. Under that projection, North Korea would have 58 weapons by 2017, which is comparable to the high end of the intelligence estimates. Still, most experts think the number is far less. “It’s possible that they have discovered an additional uranium enrichment facility that we haven’t known about,” said John Schilling, a consultant with the 38 North website on North Korea at Johns Hopkins. If 60 is the high end, he said, then there “has to be an additional uranium enrichment facility to have produced that level.” Assuming the existence of one or more covert centrifuge facilities, North Korea’s inventory of plutonium and highly enriched uranium might have provided enough fuel for 20 to 25 nuclear devices by the end of last year, according to Siegfried Hecker, a nuclear scientist and former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory who visited North Korea’s declared centrifuge facility at Nyongbyon in 2010. “Almost all in government believe there are two centrifuge plants,” added David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security, who views an arsenal of 60 as “unlikely.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Donald Trump warns North Korea: U.S. military ‘locked and loaded’
President Donald Trump is warning of military action, saying the U.S. is “locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely.” Trump tweeted: “Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. “ North Korea has announced a detailed plan to launch a salvo of ballistic missiles toward the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, a major military hub and home to U.S. bombers. If carried out, it would be its most provocative missile launch to date. Trump said this week the U.S. would unleash “fire and fury” on North Korea if it continued to threaten the U.S. The tweet was one of several Trump sent Friday. He also retweeted links to Fox News stories on Trump’s frustration with Senate Republicans and drone strikes in Somalia. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Martha Roby: Deterrence, diplomacy, and discipline
North Korea has been causing problems for the United States and the world for decades, but their belligerence has recently reached a new level. North Korea’s successful test launch of an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) is a clear sign of escalated hostilities and confirmation that this nation and its dictator pose a direct threat to the United States. Secretary of Defense James Mattis has called North Korea “the most urgent threat to security and peace,” and that was prior to the regime’s most recent missile test. Secretary Mattis testified before our Defense Appropriations Subcommittee recently and described how horrible a conflict with North Korea would be, especially for neighboring countries like South Korea and Japan. “It would be a war that fundamentally we don’t want,” he said. “Our allies and us would win at great cost.” I concur with the Secretary’s assessment that an armed conflict with North Korea should be avoided, and that’s why I believe the United States is at a turning point in terms of dealing with this rogue nation. Former President Barack Obama’s policy toward North Korea was called “strategic patience,” which amounted to ignoring many of North Korea’s antics with the hopes that isolation from the world community would prompt the regime to reconsider its aggression and pursue a more peaceful course. The problem with that policy is that it depends upon a somewhat rational leader who is looking out for the well-being of his people. Unfortunately, Kim Jong Un is the opposite, which is why many of my colleagues and I warned that this policy was naïve and would only embolden the regime. That ultimately turned out to be correct, and now Kim Jong Un is testing his boundaries to see how the United States is going to respond under the Trump Administration. Dealing with North Korea is not a simple issue, but it is clear that “strategic patience” did not work. Moving forward the United States must take a more direct approach to make it clear that North Korea’s continued aggression will result in crippling consequences. I believe addressing the regime comes down to three components: deterrence, diplomacy, and discipline. First, we need military assets in place in the Pacific to deter and ultimately stop an attack should one happen. That’s the purpose of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD). THAAD is a missile system that can be deployed to intercept and stop ballistic missiles from hostile countries. THAAD is now strategically located in both Guam and South Korea. These are the primary ways we could stop a missile attack from North Korea. If THAAD sounds familiar, that’s probably because these missiles are manufactured at Lockheed Martin’s Pike County Operations Center near Troy. These missiles are a critical component in our efforts to counter North Korea’s aggression, which is why I made missile programs a funding priority in the Fiscal Year 2018 Defense Appropriations bill. Second, our country needs skilled international diplomacy now more than ever. We need to build an international coalition to send a message to North Korea that the world’s patience has run out and that their aggression will no longer be tolerated. I have been pleased with the Trump Administration’s response to the North Korea situation. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley have been pitch perfect in their messages internationally, but the real challenges lie ahead. Third, we must use more than just our military to combat North Korea’s aggression. We need to use every available tool to discipline Kim Jong Un where it really counts: his bank account. Congress recently voted to increase economic sanctions against the regime, and that’s a good start. I’d like to see the Trump Administration use our considerable American influence to ensure that nations like China, Russia, and others do not enable North Korea by doing business with the regime. Just like with Iran, we have to make it clear that trade and cooperation with any nation that threatens the United States and our allies is unacceptable. ••• Martha Roby represents Alabama’s Second Congressional District. She lives in Montgomery, Alabama with her husband Riley and their two children.
House budget blueprint boosts military, cuts food stamps
House Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a budget that makes deep cuts in food stamps and other social safety net programs while boosting military spending by billions, a blueprint that pleases neither conservatives nor moderates. The GOP plan, authored by Budget Chairman Diane Black, R-Tenn., is critical to GOP hopes to deliver on one of President Donald Trump‘s top priorities – a Republican-only effort to overhaul the tax code. Unclear, however, is whether GOP leaders can get the measure through the House. Conservatives want deeper spending cuts while moderates are concerned the reductions go too far. Black announced a committee vote for Wednesday, but action by the entire House could be delayed by the ongoing quarrel between the GOP’s factions. Medicare is the second largest mandatory program after Social Security, and the House GOP plan again proposes to turn Medicare into a voucher-like program in which future retirees would receive a fixed benefit to purchase health insurance on the open market. Republicans have proposed the idea each year since taking back the House in 2011, but they’ve never tried to implement it – and that’s not going to change now, even with a Republican as president. The plan, in theory at least, promises to balance the budget through unprecedented and unworkable cuts across the budget. It calls for turning this year’s projected $700 billion or so deficit into a tiny $9 billion surplus by 2027. It would do so by slashing $5.4 trillion over the coming decade, including almost $500 billion from Medicare, $1.5 trillion from Medicaid and the Obama health law, along with enormous cuts to benefits such as federal employee pensions, food stamps, and tax credits for the working poor. “The status quo is unsustainable. A mounting national debt and lackluster economic growth will limit opportunity for people all across the country,” Black said in a statement. “But we don’t have to accept this reality. We can move forward with an optimistic vision for the future and this budget is the first step in that process. This is the moment to get real results for the American people. The time for talking is over, now is the time for action.” But in the immediate future the GOP measure is a budget buster. It would add almost $30 billion to Trump’s $668 billion request for national defense, which already exceeds an existing “cap” on spending by $54 billion. But while Trump proposed taking that $54 billion from domestic agencies and foreign aid, the GOP budget plan would restore most of the cuts, trimming non-defense agencies by just $5 billion. All told, the GOP plan would spend about $67 billion more in the upcoming annual appropriations bills than would be allowed under harsh spending limits set by a failed 2011 budget and debt agreement and pads war accounts by $10 billion. And, like Trump’s budget, the House GOP plan assumes rosy economic projections that would erase another $1.5 trillion from the deficit over 10 years. The measure, called a budget resolution, is nonbinding. It would allow Republicans controlling Congress to pass follow-up legislation through the Senate without the threat of a filibuster by Democrats. GOP leaders and the White House plan to use that measure to rewrite the tax code. As proposed by House leaders, tax reform would essentially be deficit neutral, which means cuts to tax rates would be mostly “paid for” by closing various tax breaks such as the deduction for state and local taxes. However, the GOP plan would devote $300 billion claimed from economic growth to the tax reform effort. But conservatives are insisting on adding cuts to so-called mandatory programs, which make up more than two-thirds of the federal budget and basically run on autopilot. After extended negotiations, Black would instruct 11 House panels to draw up $203 billion worth of mandatory cuts. But neither tea party lawmakers nor moderates are pleased with the idea. Conservatives want larger cuts, while moderates are blanching at voting to cut popular programs such as food stamps. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Bradley Byrne: Rebuilding, reforming, and repairing our military
There is no greater responsibility of the federal government than to provide for the safety and security of the American people. I have found myself making this point over and over again throughout my short time in Congress. With the wide range of issues under debate here in Washington, some of my colleagues seem to forget that our most basic responsibility as outlined in the Constitution is to “provide for the common defense” of the American people. That is exactly what we did last week when the House passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by a strong bipartisan vote of 344 to 81. As you may remember, this is the bill that authorizes funding and sets policy for the entire United States military. Needless to say, it is a critically important piece of legislation that Congress must pass each year. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee and Vice Chairman of the Seapower Subcommittee, I was able to play a key role in the bill as it moved through our Committee and then to the House floor for a vote. The bill is especially important this year given President Donald Trump’s pledge to grow our military. Our bill increases total military spending by 10% over last year’s levels, which will help reverse the severe readiness crisis that has been plaguing the military. Consider these numbers: thirty years ago, the Fiscal Year 1988 NDAA represented 27.3% of total federal outlays and 5.2% of projected GDP. This year’s bill authorizes funding for the military at $688.3 billion, which is 16.8% of total federal outlays and 3.4% of projected GDP. We are spending less proportionally today on our military despite the fact that we face a wider range of threats across the globe. That should be troubling to every American. Thirty years ago our nation’s military faced only one serious threat: the Soviet Union. There was no ISIS or al Qaeda or other radical Islamic terrorist organization threatening the United States. Iran was not an existential threat to the American people. North Korea wasn’t developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. China was not on the radar as it relates to military power. We weren’t worried about cyberattacks or cyber espionage. The threat environment today is incredibly complex, and we must ensure that our military funding is in line with the realities of the threats we face. This year’s NDAA is a big step in that direction. The bill increases the size of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Army Guard and Reserve, Naval and Air Reserve, and Air Guard. It also provides for the procurement of critical military aircraft, ships, and equipment while also setting money aside for maintenance and repairs to current military resources. Important to our area, the bill authorizes the construction of three more Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), which are built in part by Austal USA in Mobile. It is critical that the bill support three ships because that is the number necessary to keep the shipyard operating at full speed and keep the cost of the ships down. Given the nuclear and ballistic missile threat posed by North Korea, the bill boosts our nation’s missile defense programs. A number of important cyber security provisions and reforms related to the space domain are also included in the bill. In an effort to support our service members and their families, the bill authorizes a 2.4% pay raise for our troops. It also includes significant provisions related to military health care, housing, and benefit programs. All told, this bill will help ensure the safety and security of the American people through rebuilding, repairing, and reforming our nation’s military. • • • Bradley Byrne is a member of U.S. Congress representing Alabama’s 1st Congressional District.
North Korean missile advances put new stress on U.S. defenses
North Korea’s newly demonstrated missile muscle puts Alaska within range of potential attack and stresses the Pentagon’s missile defenses like never before. Even more worrisome, it may be only a matter of time before North Korea mates an even longer-range ICBM with a nuclear warhead, putting all of the United States at risk. The Pentagon has spent tens of billions to develop what it calls a limited defense against missiles capable of reaching U.S. soil. The system has never faced combat or been fully tested. The system succeeded May 30 in its first attempted intercept of a mock ICBM, but it hasn’t faced more realistic conditions. Although Russia and China have long been capable of targeting the U.S. with a nuclear weapon, North Korea is seen as the bigger, more troubling threat. Its opaque, unpredictable government often confounds U.S. intelligence assessments. And North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has openly threatened to strike the U.S., while showing no interest in nuclear or missile negotiations. “We should be worried,” said Philip E. Coyle III, a former head of the Pentagon’s test and evaluation office. North Korea’s latest success, he said, “shows that time is not on our side.” U.S. officials believe North Korea is still short of being able to miniaturize a nuclear warhead to fit atop an intercontinental missile. And it’s unclear whether it has developed the technology and expertise to sufficiently shield such a warhead from the extreme heat experienced when it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere en route to a target. A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, said Wednesday: “We’ve still not seen a number of things that would indicate a full-up threat,” including a demonstrated ability to mate a nuclear warhead to an ICBM. “But clearly they are working on it. Clearly they seek to do it. This is an aggressive research and development program on their part.” Davis said the U.S. defensive system is limited but effective. “We do have confidence in it,” he said. “That’s why we’ve developed it.” The Trump administration, like its recent predecessors, has put its money on finding a diplomatic path to halting and reversing North Korea’s nuclear program. While the Pentagon has highly developed plans if military force is ordered, the approach is seen as untenable because it would put millions of South Korean civilians at risk. But diplomacy has failed so far. That’s why U.S. missile defenses may soon come into play. The Pentagon has a total of 36 missile interceptors in underground silos on military bases in Alaska and California, due to increase to 44 by year’s end. These interceptors can be launched upon notice of a missile headed toward the United States. An interceptor soars toward its target based on tracking data from radars and other electronic sensors, and is supposed to destroy the target by sheer force of impact outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Sometimes likened to hitting a bullet with a bullet, the collision is meant to incinerate the targeted warhead, neutralizing its nuclear explosive power. This so-called hit-to-kill technology has been in development for decades. For all its advances, the Pentagon is not satisfied that the current defensive system is adequate for North Korea’s accelerating missile advances. “The pace of the threat is advancing faster than I think was considered when we did the first ballistic missile defense review back in 2010,” Rob Soofer, who is helping review missile defenses, told a Senate Armed Service subcommittee last month. Beyond what U.S. officials have said publicly about the North Korean nuclear threat, he said the classified picture “is even more dire.” Soofer didn’t provide details. The escalating danger has led the administration to consider alternative concepts for missile defense, including what is known as “boost phase” defense. This approach involves destroying a hostile missile shortly after its launch, before the warhead separates from the missile body and decoys can be deployed. One proposed tactic would be to develop a drone capable of long-endurance flight and armed with a solid-state laser to destroy or disable a missile in flight. These and other possible new approaches would add to budget strains already felt in the missile defense program. President Donald Trump‘s proposed 2018 budget would cut $340 million from missile defense programs intended to deter a potential strike by North Korea, Iran or other countries. The Republican-led Congress has taken the first steps in rejecting the reduction. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the House Armed Services Committee chairman, declared last month that he was “astonished” Trump would propose trimming missile defense. Thornberry’s committee voted last week to provide about $12.5 billion for missile defense in the 2018 fiscal year that begins in October, nearly $2.5 billion more than Trump’s request. The Senate Armed Services Committee also called for millions more than Trump requested. The full House and Senate are expected to consider the committees’ legislation, and the boost in missile defense money, later this month. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Defense bill passes committee with support of 3 Ala. members, boosts military, supports shipbuilding
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) voted 60-1 to authorize $696.5 billion in defense spending for 2018 Wednesday night with the support of three Members of the Alabama delegation that sit on the committee. Reps. Bradley Byrne (AL-01), Mike Rogers (AL-03) and Mo Brooks (AL-05) all voted in favor of the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which authorizes funding and sets policy for the entire U.S. military. Many reforms were included in this year’s NDAA, including: Increases total military spending by 10% to rebuild from our current readiness crisis; Funds a 2.4% pay raise for our troops; Reforms the military’s acquisition process to make it more efficient; Improves oversight of cyber operations; Creates a new U.S. Space Corps to oversee the evolving space domain; Increases the size of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Army Guard and Reserve, Naval and Air Reserve, and Air Guard; Supports improvements to military facilities with a focus on restoration and modernization; and Authorizes construction of 13 new Navy ships to grow toward a 355 ship fleet. “This year’s National Defense Authorization Act helps rebuild our nation’s military, boosts shipbuilding in an effort to grow our fleet, and ensures our military men and women have the resources necessary to defend our country,” said Byrne of the NDAA. “Once again, we were able to secure authorization for the construction of three more Littoral Combat Ships, which are built right here in Southwest Alabama. These ships continue to excel in the fleet, and that is a testament to the over 4,000 men and women who work at the Mobile shipyard. The legislation included language important for Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District that affects the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) and the Anniston Army Depot (ANAD). Language was also included to study some of the funding mechanisms of the depot in hopes of using the information to make workload planning more dependable and consistent. “The men and women and the Anniston Army Depot work very hard to support our nation’s warfighter and I want to ensure we are doing everything we can in Congress to support them,” said Rogers. “This is the first step in providing our nation’s military personnel with the resources needed to protect America,” remarked Brooks. “The FY18 NDAA authorizes a very substantial $62 billion increase over FY 2017 funding, thereby taking significant steps to reverse military declines and addressing America’s military readiness crisis by increasing the size of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Army Guard and Reserve, Naval and Air Reserve, and Air Guard.” The bill is expected to be considered by the full House in July.
Martha Roby: New law, policy change are good news for veterans
I was honored to be on hand at the White House as President Donald Trump signed the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act into law. It was one of two recent developments that will bring significant improvements to veterans’ services in this country. For the last several months, Congress has been working to build upon the VA reforms we passed in the wake of the 2014 veteran wait list scandal. That law took an important step to increase accountability by making it easier to remove high ranking VA officials. However, our efforts to extend that flexibility to fire problem employees down the chain of command to rank-and-file workers were unsuccessful due to objections from the Obama Administration and the then-Democratic Majority Senate. I’ve always maintained that senior managers aren’t the only ones responsible for misconduct at the VA. Everyone entrusted with the care of veterans should be accountable for a high standard of service and integrity. Another improvement we’ve needed is protection for whistleblowers who come forward to expose wrongdoing. The brave whistleblowers who told me the truth about the misconduct and abuse at the Central Alabama VA faced serious retaliation for their efforts, and many others around the country have reported similar treatment. The new law grants Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. David Shulkin increased flexibility to fire, suspend, or demote any VA employee for poor performance or misconduct. It increases protections for whistleblowers and establishes a new independent office within the VA specifically to look out for those who bring misconduct to light. Another important provision of the new law streamlines the hiring process for VA medical center directors. I personally advocated for this new authority after bureaucratic problems delayed the hiring of a new director for the Central Alabama VA for more than two years. To be clear, most VA employees care deeply for veterans and work hard to offer the best care and service, but for too long a culture of complacency has allowed some to get away with poor performance, negligence, or misconduct. Our veterans deserve the very best care we can give them, and I believe those who depend on the VA will be better served as a result of these reforms. Earlier this month, Secretary Shulkin announced the VA is finally modernizing its patient health record system and bringing it in line with the platform used by the Department of Defense. This is long overdue. It has never made sense to me that the VA would use a different health record system than the military. Think about a veteran who has recently returned from a deployment who has symptoms of PTSD or another battlefield injury. They need access to care right away, but too often they have trouble because the systems don’t communicate properly. We hear from veterans every day who face these gaps in health care, and it is past time the problem was fixed. Congress has prioritized funding for modernizing the health record system, and I am very pleased Secretary Shulkin is using his authority to make this change. Our new reform law and this important policy change within the Department of Veterans Affairs show that Congress and the Trump Administration are working together to turn around the VA and improve services for veterans. I appreciate President Trump and Secretary Shulkin for their commitment to working with lawmakers to put these important changes in place. Three years after the waitlist scandal erupted in our own backyard, I remain directly engaged in pushing for improvements at the VA facilities Alabama veterans count on. Last week I met with VA Inspector General Michael Missal and his staff in my office for an update on their efforts to perform facility inspections and investigate allegations of wrongdoing. I also held my regular call with Central Alabama VA Director Dr. Linda Boyle and her team to go over various issues facing the system. On both a national and local level, the endless saga at the VA has demonstrated the importance of strong, consistent oversight. As your Representative in Congress, I intend to keep applying that oversight and I will continue to keep you updated on our progress. ••• Martha Roby represents Alabama’s Second Congressional District. She lives in Montgomery, Alabama with her husband Riley and their two children.
Martha Roby: Renewed focus on pilot training good for Fort Rucker
The Defense Appropriations Subcommittee held a budget hearing Thursday where I discussed issues impacting Alabama’s 2nd District with our nation’s top two military officials. Secretary of Defense James Mattis and General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified about the President’s budget proposal and answered questions from the Subcommittee about military funding and global strategy. Representing a district that is home to the Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, I took the opportunity to ask about the future of Army Aviation as well as the military’s ability to respond to multiple global threats simultaneously. As I told Secretary Mattis, there aren’t many places the military goes without Army aviators. However, I’m increasingly concerned that our assets and resources are being stretched too thin. Specifically, there is a significant shortage of Apache helicopters, programs like the Light Utility Helicopter look to be underfunded, and we aren’t training enough pilots. Secretary Mattis agreed there is a serious pilot shortage and called it a “national-level problem” that needs to be addressed. “Since near the end of World War II, we have dominated the skies overhead, almost to the point that we could start taking it for granted, which would be a disaster if we did that. It takes a lot of commitment and sacrifice over many years,” Secretary Mattis said. “…we are not creating enough pilots in this environment right now to serve the commercial or service interests. We are going to have to deal with this as a national level problem, and we’ve responded to this sort of thing in the past. We’ve had to dust off a lot of the old thinking and find some new ideas in there. But we are working it right now. We just had the meeting with industry here last month with General Goldfein, our Chief of Staff of the Air Force leading it, but all the Chiefs of Services are engaged.” This is good news for Fort Rucker, the Wiregrass, and the State of Alabama. Because all Army and Air Force rotary wing aviators are trained at Fort Rucker, a renewed focus from the Pentagon on developing more helicopter pilots would potentially benefit the post’s mission. Secretary Mattis also assured me that the new military budget allocates over more than $3 billion for Army Aviation, including the Blackhawks, Apaches, Chinooks, and Lakotas that are part of the training apparatus at Fort Rucker. I appreciate Secretary Mattis’ thoughtful response, and I’m grateful for our nation’s top military official’s commitment to preserving the United States’ air superiority. As the budget process moves forward I am eager to ensure national priorities like Army Aviation are properly funded. I’m honored to serve on Defense Appropriations because it allows me to have a seat at the table for budget and policy discussions like this that will impact the future of the military, including installations in Alabama. I look forward to following up with Secretary Mattis and other military officials about the critical role Fort Rucker plays in our national defense. ••• Martha Roby represents Alabama’s Second Congressional District. She lives in Montgomery, Alabama with her husband Riley and their two children.
