Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
5/8/2015
WARRENSBURG, Mo.—Two senior nuclear triad leaders this week positively assessed their services’ communication records with Congress, days after the House Armed Services Committee approved legislation that would establish quarterly meetings between Pentagon brass and HASC after lawmakers raised concerns about the frequency of military-to-Capitol Hill briefings on nuclear forces. “What I can tell you is we try to be as open and as transparent as quickly as we possibly can on anything that involves our nuclear force,” Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, said here at the “Strategic Deterrence in the 21st Century” conference. “If you look at this last 18 months as an example, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the Secretary of the Air Force, and the whole leadership team of the Air Force were completely transparent and as forthcoming as possible. We’re not going to try and duck away from issues, and since we know them, we’re going to get engaged.” While Wilson said that there is room for improvement of communication with Congress, he added that if any issues arise, he calls the Air Force Chief of Staff, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command, and the head of A10. “We are certainly trying to be as open and transparent as possible,” Wilson said.
As reported out of committee, the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act would require the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to provide quarterly briefings to the committee, starting June 1, 2015, and continuing through Sept. 30, 2016, on matters including the readiness and disposition of assets and personnel in the nuclear triad, “as appropriate,” it states. “The committee notes that several significant issues that prompted the Department’s Nuclear Enterprise Review had not been disclosed to the committee and several specific problems in the Air Force component of the Department’s nuclear enterprise were only made known to the committee through press reporting,” the bill states.
Vice Adm. Michael Connor, commander of United States Submarine Forces, said his division has a “fairly mature” process that it doesn’t like to exercise “too often, but we do when we have to,” such as problems on ships or other facilities that warrant Congressional notification. Connor described the Congressional notification policy as “good” and “balanced,” and emphasized that force leaders take the time to verify the accuracy of the initial report instead of hastily reacting. “We get the information up the chain of command to our fleet leadership and our Chief of Naval Operations,” he said. “Parallel to that, our office of legislative affairs notifies … key members of Congress. It’s not going to be done through a public affairs forum, [but rather through] staff notification, and then we give them initial reports on what we know, when we knew it, and then we follow up as needed.” Connor added, “That doesn’t mean we throw ourselves out on Twitter every time someone stubs their toe.”
