Thune: America Must Strengthen Its National Security Posture

Press Release

"Mr. President, Israel and the world are still reeling from the surprise attack by Hamas on October 7 that left somewhere around 1,400 Israelis -- and at least 31 Americans -- dead.

In scale and scope, the attack carried echoes of our own 9/11.

And, as on 9/11, life changed in an instant.

I came down to the floor yesterday to talk about these attacks and the United States' commitment to standing with the Israeli people against terrorism.

And today I'd like to talk about another important point these attacks raise -- the importance of our national defense and military readiness.

Mr. President, it has been said that "only the dead have seen the end of war.'

We live in a fallen world, and as long as we live in a fallen world, there will be evil men bent on aggression.

And if we wish to continue living in peace and freedom, we must be always ready to defend against such men.

Military preparedness is an essential and constant need.

There is never a time where we can guarantee our peace and safety, and so there is never a time when we can afford to be ill-prepared to defend our peace and safety.

As citizens of the United States -- an immense country with a reputation for military strength -- it can be easy to become complacent and assume that we will always be able to deter or defeat attacks.

But that is a dangerous assumption.

As strong as we are, we are not invulnerable, and we are not the only great power out there.

And if we don't make the necessary investments in our military to back up our reputation of strength, we may find our ability to deter hostile countries quickly waning.

And the fact of the matter is, Mr. President, our military preparedness is not where it should be.

Thanks to budgetary impasses and increased operational demands, by 2018 our readiness had eroded to the point that the bipartisan National Defense Strategy Commission released a report warning that we might struggle to win a war against a major power like Russia or China.

And while we have made progress since then, we are still a long way from where we need to be.

We have military services that are struggling to meet recruiting targets.

There's a persistent pilot shortage, and in a number of cases we have too few mission-capable aircraft.

And we are not doing an adequate job of maintaining the kind of supply we need of munitions.

That's not an acceptable situation for us to be in.

And it could have very serious consequences.

To give just one example, recent U.S. war games envisioning a U.S.-China conflict following an attack on Taiwan have had grim results, showing enormous military and economic costs on both sides.

One story on these war games noted, and I quote, 'And while the ultimate outcome in these exercises is not always clear -- the U.S. does better in some than others -- the cost is [clear]. In every exercise the U.S. uses up all its long-range air-to-surface missiles in a few days, with a substantial portion of its planes destroyed on the ground.'

Let me just repeat that last line.

'In every exercise the U.S. uses up all its long-range air-to-surface missiles in a few days, with a substantial portion of its planes destroyed on the ground.'

That's not a promising scenario, Mr. President.

And it highlights our serious readiness shortages -- shortages that other countries may not share.

China, which is investing heavily in its military, is outpacing our military in modern capabilities like hypersonic missiles, and has amassed a larger navy.

And while Russia is currently expending its military resources in its war of aggression against Ukraine, it too does not hesitate when it comes to military investment.

Mr. President, we have serious work to do on the readiness front.

As I said, we have made progress since 2018.

But we still have a long way to go to ensure that our military is fully prepared to meet and deter 21st century threats.

And this is a priority we need to address now.

Not when we're waking up one morning reeling from an attack on our country or Americans abroad.

But right now.

Investing in our military after we're threatened or attacked is too late, Mr. President.

We can't scale up defense capabilities in an instant or suddenly produce an adequate supply of munitions out of thin air.

We need to get -- and keep -- our military where it needs to be on the readiness front so that we can deter threats and meet them if needed with overwhelming force.

And boosting our strength is important for our friends and allies as well.

We can't and shouldn't send troops into every conflict, and we can't solve all the world's problems.

But sooner or later, world events do affect us.

And we can't retreat from the world stage and allow malign powers to fill the resulting vacuum.

Nor can we afford to concentrate on one threat or area of the world to the exclusion of others.

Putin's war in Ukraine and Hamas' attack on Israel should be ample reminders that threats can come from both great powers and non-state actors alike.

So, Mr. President, we need to get to work.

And that should start with passing a final version of this year's National Defense Authorization Act and making progress on our annual appropriations bills, including the defense appropriations bill.

And we should also take up a supplemental to provide the necessary support to our allies and ensure that we provide any additional funding needed for our own military.

October 7 was the latest reminder that we live in a fallen and dangerous world.

Let's ensure that we are always prepared to preserve the peace and defend our nation.

Mr. President, I yield the floor."

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