Ike Skelton, Chairman
March 17, 2010
Opening Statement of Chairman Ike Skelton
Hearing on the FY 2011 Budget Requests from the U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, and U.S. Transportation Command
Washington, D.C. – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) delivered the following opening statement during today’s hearing on the Fiscal Year 2011 budget requests from the U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, and U.S. Transportation Command:
“The House Armed Services Committee meets today to receive testimony from the commanders of United States Central Command, United States Special Operations Command, and United States Transportation Command on the posture of their respective commands. Our witnesses are: General David Petraeus, commander, U.S. Central Command; Admiral Eric Olson, commander, U.S. Special Operations Command; and General Duncan McNabb, commander, U.S. Transportation Command. Welcome, all of you.
“Your three commands face a series of inter-related and serious challenges in the immediate future. In Iraq, the United States is set to redeploy almost 50,000 troops and their equipment by the end of August. Originally, we expected this reduction to take place after the formation of a new Iraqi government to allow us to help ensure stability. The Iraqi elections, however, were delayed by months, so now our reduction in force levels will take place while the new government is being formed, a period that could see outbreaks of violence.
“This will stress all three commands. General Petraeus, you and General Odierno will have to deal with the potential instability caused by the formation of the new government and the reduction in U.S. force levels. Admiral Olson, your forces in country will be faced with a reduction in support from the general purpose forces. And General McNabb, TRANSCOM, with CENTCOM, will be carrying out one of the largest moves of military personnel and equipment in decades.
“To complicate matters further, this reduction in forces in Iraq, which is stressful enough on its own, is coming at the same time we are increasing our force levels in Afghanistan. I have long supported increasing our commitment in our war in Afghanistan. But as you, General McNabb, know better than anyone, shipping thirty thousand troops and their equipment into that country while supporting the 68,000 troops already there, is extremely challenging.
“And, the task faced by those troops, which includes a substantial number of Special Operations Forces, is itself daunting. As we discovered in the initial invasion of Afghanistan after September 11, 2001, pushing the Taliban and their al Qa’ida allies out was the easy part. Building security forces and governments that can keep them out is much harder. I supported then and continue to support a fully-resourced counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan because I believe it’s the only option likely to be successful. But, we should not kid ourselves that it will be easy or inexpensive. And, it will require the three of your commands to continue to cooperate closely.
“Looking back, I believe that we made our job in Afghanistan harder because we got involved in Iraq. So the question for the future, General Petraeus, is whether we have learned to do more than one thing at a time. We have a long list of tasks ahead. We need to keep our eye on Afghanistan without losing visibility of the future relationship we would like to build with Iraq. We also need to help Yemen and other countries deal with their al Qa’ida problems, and we must counter Iranian influence and attempts to develop the capability to build nuclear weaponry. Can we succeed in all of this while still keeping our eye on Afghanistan?
“Admiral Olson, you also have challenging tasks in the near term. How do you plan to deal with your incredibly high optempo? My understanding is that 86 percent of your deployed force is deployed to the CENTCOM area of operations. While CENTCOM is certainly the current focus of ongoing operations and the fight against al Qa’ida and its allies, we have to ask if this is making us vulnerable in other ways or in other places. Are we missing out on opportunities for our Special Operations Forces to partner with, train and mentor other important countries across the globe because of these high demands within U.S. Central Command?
“General McNabb, your largest challenges seem to lie in the immediate future. I hope you can identify those for us today, including what tradeoffs may be required. Will meeting the demands in CENTCOM lessen support for other combatant commands or our ability to respond to other emergencies? I also hope that you will discuss with us the results of the recently completed Mobility Capability Requirements Study and how we will meet the challenges identified in that study. We must be able to sustain the wars of today while still making sure that we are prepared for the threats of tomorrow—whatever they may be.
“Thank you all. I now turn to my good friend, the Ranking Member, Buck McKeon, for any comments he might care to make. General Petraeus? Lead us off.”
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