ICYMI: Stefanik Questions Commander of NORTHCOM on the Need for a Third Homeland Missile Defense Site at Fort Drum

Hearing

“General Guillot, as ballistic missile threats from North Korea and Iran continue to advance, do you believe that it would be strategically worthwhile to construct a third homeland missile defense site at the DoD and Congress’s chosen East Coast location at Fort Drum, New York?

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General, in my office when you were kind enough to visit, you said it would be strategically worthwhile and you supported the construction. I understand the assessment process, but as you and I spoke in my office you said that this would be strategically worthwhile particularly as we’re considering threats not just of today but of the future as well.

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What would an operational requirement for a third homeland missile defense site look like?

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And Fort Drum meets those requirements… That’s the DoD’s position, that's Congress’s position that Fort Drum is in fact the location of a potential East Coast missile defense site. You are aware of that.

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And it meets those requirements.

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Great. And you understand if and when Congress establishes a requirement for a third homeland missile defense site on the East Coast, you understand that it’s the DoD’s responsibility to execute that requirement?

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And then shifting gears here, Upstate New York, in addition to being home to Fort Drum in my district, we also are home to another key Arctic unit: the New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing. The 109th Airlift Wing operates the LC-130Hs or known as the ‘Ski Birds.’ These planes, as you know, are the only platform in the world that can provide critical logistical support in and around the Arctic, yet they are at the very end of their operational capability. Do you believe that the LC-130s have enabled the U.S. to maintain a strategic presence and lead in the Arctic?

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We believe, and this is a bipartisan issue for members of the New York delegation, I just authored a letter with my colleague Paul Tonko, so bipartisan support, about the urgent need for their recapitalization, so I would refer you to that, we’ll make sure your office has a copy of that, but that’s very important to maintain our leadership, strategically, in the Arctic region.”

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