WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today led a hearing to consider the nominations of two senior military officers to lead U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM).

In his opening remarks, Chairman Wicker emphasized the importance of each combatant command in confronting the increasingly dangerous and complex national security environment and underscored the importance of ensuring both have sufficient funding and manpower to address growing threats.

Read Senator Wicker’s hearing opening statement as delivered.

Good morning.  The committee meets today to consider the nominations of Vice Admiral Mitch Bradley, to be Commander, United States Special Operations Command, and Lieutenant General Dagvin Anderson, to be Commander, United States Africa Command.

I welcome our witnesses and their families, and I thank them for their continued willingness to serve our nation.

If confirmed, Admiral Bradley will assume command at a time when Special Operations Command (SOCOM) faces a formidable challenge: SOCOM is being asked to build a force capable of combatting the advanced militaries of China and Russia while simultaneously remaining fully engaged in the fight against violent Islamic terrorism. At the same time, special operators must be ready to respond at a moment’s notice as our nation’s premier crisis response force.

It is clear to me that the role and importance of SOCOM is greater today than at any time since its establishment four decades ago.  However, SOCOM’s budget does not reflect this reality. Its budget has remained flat since 2019.  Adjusted for inflation, that amounts to roughly a 14 percent cut in purchasing power.  To amplify that point, SOCOM identified $757 million in unfunded requirements for Fiscal Year 2026.

We want to ensure that SOCOM is fully resourced to meet the demands placed on it.  Admiral Bradley should tell us how he plans to meet those demands and how we can help.

If confirmed, General Anderson will confront a growing array of threats on the African continent.  The Chinese Communist Party views Africa as a critical link in Xi Jinping’s unprecedented global military expansion and continues to pursue new bases for the People’s Liberation Army.  Vladimir Putin remains fully engaged in his destabilizing campaign to trade security assistance for access to Africa’s abundant natural resources.  This is one of Putin’s ways to fund his malign activities around the world.  All the while, Islamic violent extremist groups aligned with ISIS and al-Qaeda remain an enduring threat in Africa.

Despite the growing complexity and scale of threats on the continent, AFRICOM remains under-resourced in both manpower and in critical capabilities like intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

I look forward to General Anderson’s assessment of Africa’s importance to our national security, as well as his description of what AFRICOM’s strategy should be to counter the growing threat posed by China, Russia, and our other adversaries across the continent. I am particularly interested in how General Anderson plans to use America’s economic tools, including the Office of Strategic Capital, to combat Chinese influence.

If confirmed, our nominees will confront a global security environment that is defined by emboldened, aggressive dictators in Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, and Pyongyang.  They view this fight as a global fight, unconstrained by geographic boundaries and the traditional norms of warfare.  This axis of aggressors blends conventional military power with asymmetric tactics, including economic warfare, disinformation, and the use of proxy networks to undermine American security interests. The witnesses before us today will play a key role in the Department of Defense’s efforts to combat these challenges, and I look forward to hearing them address these and many other concerns during today’s hearing.