WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger F. Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today led a committee hearing examining the recently released report from the Congressional Commission the Strategic Posture of the United States.

In his opening remarks, Wicker noted the expansion of Chinese military power and how it exposes a lack of American defense preparedness in response.

“We are not even close to where we need to be. Over the past two years, this committee has watched China’s military grow,” Wicker said. “Beijing has more than doubled the size of its nuclear arsenal. It has expanded its shipbuilding capacity so that the capacity to build ships is now more than 230 times that of the United States’ – 230 times. And it has increased its space-based military capabilities. All of this shifts the orbital balance of power."

Wicker also discussed the implications of the report for future congressional action, particularly in modernizing nuclear forces and domestic shipbuilding.

“We simply cannot accept complacency if we want to prevail in long-term competition with China and Russia. To prevent war and keep the peace, it is incumbent upon legislators to commit – today – to a program of sustained innovation and investment. This is the only way we can reclaim lost ground,” Wicker said. “Events even in the last week suggest that a national policy of “peace through strength” is still a blueprint for success. It is time to begin making the national defense investments required to deter the conflicts looming ahead.”

Read Senator Wicker’s full opening statement below or watch it here.

Thank you very much, Mr. Reed. And thanks very much to our witnesses today and for their longtime service. We owe you our deepest thanks for your lifetime commitment to America’s security.

This is as serious a topic as we will hear about this year. It has been nearly 15 years since the previous Strategic Posture Commission sat before this committee. They outlined their cautious, but hopeful, recommendations for how the United States should structure its national security policies. 

They shared an optimistic outlook for how U.S. policymakers could work with other nations to reduce global threats and work to rid the world of nuclear weapons. 

Today, we see that world events have unfolded much differently than envisioned 15 years ago. The threats we face today are far more complicated and dangerous than they foresaw. Indeed, senior flag and general officers continue to testify before this committee that we are entering the most dangerous national security moment since World War II.

Major conflicts have erupted in Europe and the Middle East. The U.S. economy is reeling with inflation and instability. We face the unprecedented prospect of two nuclear-armed peer adversaries in Russia and China.

This Strategic Posture Commission report offers a stark description of the dangers we face today and over the next ten years. It also lays bare just how much work we have to do before we can meet these threats. We are not even close to where we need to be.

Over the past two years, this committee has watched China’s military grow. Beijing has more than doubled the size of its nuclear arsenal. It has expanded its shipbuilding capacity so that the capacity to build ships is now more than 230 times that of the United States’ – 230 times. And it has increased its space-based military capabilities. All of this shifts the orbital balance of power. 

More than 600 days ago, Russia launched the first invasion of a European country since World War II. The Kremlin has tested a variety of new nuclear weapons capabilities and threatened to resume nuclear explosive testing. Meanwhile, it actively provides enriched uranium to China to support Beijing’s nuclear buildup.

The North Korean nuclear arsenal continues to advance virtually unchecked. It could soon be capable of overwhelming our ballistic missile defenses. Iran may now be as little as a matter of days away from possessing enough material for a nuclear weapon. At the same time, the regime supports Hamas terrorists in a brazen attack against our longtime friend, Israel.

Our government should be addressing these threats more urgently. We need fundamental reassessment of national security assumptions and strategies. From that, we would realign our national resources to meet these historic and troubling developments.

Instead, we see more of the same. We see complacency and an unwillingness to proactively confront the cold reality staring us in the face.

The Departments of Defense and Energy repeatedly delay the critical programs which would modernize our nuclear deterrent and restore the basic industrial capabilities needed to produce nuclear weapons.

The administration ignores persistent calls to adequately invest in domestic shipbuilding. They do this despite clear evidence that even the White House’s signature foreign policy initiative, the AUKUS agreement, may struggle to get off the ground without additional resources.

We simply cannot accept complacency if we want to prevail in long-term competition with China and Russia. To prevent war and keep the peace, it is incumbent upon legislators to commit – today – to a program of sustained innovation and investment. This is the only way we can reclaim lost ground. Events even in the last week suggest that a national policy of “peace through strength” is still a blueprint for success. It is time to begin making the national defense investments required to deter the conflicts looming ahead.

That is why the work of this commission is so timely. This report, first and foremost, is a bipartisan call to action. We very much appreciate that. It compels us to preserve the global order and the American way of life. It should be required reading for everyone working on national security issues. I wholeheartedly endorse the recommendations the commission makes within its pages.

So, we would like to hear from you, our witnesses, about how you can help create a sense of national urgency so we can restore America’s ability to compete and to rebuild the strategic forces our country needs to win in the coming decades.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.