U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) questioned President Trump’s nominees for key defense positions during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. The nominees under consideration were Marc J. Berkowitz for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, Joseph S. Jewell for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology, James R. Caggy for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Mission Capabilities, and Brendan P. Rogers for Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment.
Tuberville raised concerns about delays and cost overruns in military construction projects, particularly in Alabama. He addressed Mr. Rogers regarding inefficiencies in the military construction process: “Good morning, gentlemen. Thanks for your service. Mr. Rogers—our military construction process is a disaster. It’s plagued by poor initial planning cost overruns, delays that do nothing but cost taxpayers money and readiness for our troops. I’ve seen it big time in my state of Alabama. You know, a quarter of the 598 MILCON projects underway in 2023 were delayed for a year or more. Something is clearly broken. If confirmed, as regards to the Navy, do you have any answers to this disaster?”
Rogers responded by emphasizing the importance of fiscal responsibility and collaboration with Congress: “Senator Tuberville, MILCON’s obviously a critical program. We’re spending billions of dollars to support the infrastructure and as we’ve talked about, the installations are the area in which we power project and so getting that right is important. I mentioned in my opening statement the concept of fiduciary responsibility. I think that applies here for the dollars that are spent. There’s a collective interest in getting the most out of those dollars…If confirmed, certainly we’ll be looking into this…I’d like to understand [cost drivers] more and also welcome Congress’ help in potentially changing some of the elements of the Unified Facilities Criteria to maybe lower that cost…If confirmed, I look forward to spending more time with NAVFAC and CNIC on these issues.”
Tuberville noted that privatization had improved speed and costs compared to traditional military construction projects in Alabama.
The senator also questioned Mr. Berkowitz about whether national space strategy should be updated since its last department-wide review was released five years ago: “Mr. Berkowitz, in 2020, the department released the defense space strategy…Are you aware of the strategy released in 2020 and do you believe the strategy should be updated?”
Berkowitz replied: “Thank you for raising this topic, Senator…Given the time that’s passed, I think it is entirely appropriate to review and update the department’s commercial strategy…if confirmed, I would want to review them and ensure that they are appropriate to today’s security environment.”
Tuberville turned his attention to technology innovation with Mr. Jewell: “Huntsville, Alabama’s major hub for innovations…we’re already years behind our adversaries in a lot of these critical technologies…What will you do to accelerate testing and evaluation of critical technologies especially if threats from adversaries like China continue to mature?”
Jewell said: “Senator, that’s absolutely correct that our peer and near peer adversaries have invested heavily in this kind of technology…We have a number of programs in the United States such as MACH-TB, which seek to increase the pace of flight test opportunities to close that gap…if confirmed, I will seek to ensure that those investments continue to be made.”
Finally, Tuberville asked Mr. Caggy about incorporating feedback from junior enlisted service members into defense capabilities development: “The most important part of national defense is the warfighter…What emphasis will you put on feedback from these young warfighters?”
Caggy answered: “Senator, I completely agree with you…if confirmed, I’m fully committed to ensuring that all service members are represented in how we gain feedback on prototypes and experiments…”
Senator Tuberville serves on several committees including Armed Services.
