S. HRG. 104-297 \tf CONDITION OF THE ARMED FORCES AND FUTURE TRENDS tl, 104-297 Y4.AR 5/3: S. HRG. Condition of the ftrned Forces >»« F... BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JANUARY 19, 1995 Printed for the use of the Committee on Armed Services U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 92-230CC WASHINGTON : 1996 ^ C\\ l S. HKG. 104-297 CONDITION OF THE ARMED FORCES AND FUTURE &lu TRENDS Y 4.AR 5/3: S.HRG. 104-297 Condition of the ftrned Forces and F... nx^ARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JANUARY 19, 1995 Printed for the use of the Committee on Armed Services J U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1996 COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES STROM THURMOND, South Carolina, Chairman JOHN W. WARNER, Virginia SAM NUNN, Georgia WILLIAM S. COHEN, Maine J. JAMES EXON, Nebraska JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona CARL LEVIN, Michigan TRENT LOTT, Mississippi EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts DAN COATS, Indiana JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico BOB SMITH, New Hampshire JOHN GLENN, Ohio DIRK KEMPTHORNE, Idaho ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas CHARLES S. ROBB, Virginia JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut RICK SANTORUM, Pennsylvania RICHARD H. BRYAN, Nevada Richard L. Reynard, StaffDirector ARNOLD L. PUNARO, StaffDirectorfor the Minority (II) CONTENTS CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES January 19, 1995 Page Buchholz, Maj. Gen. Douglas D., USA, Commanding General, U.S. Army Signal Center and Fort Gordon 13 Stavridis, Comdr. James G., USN, Commanding Officer, U.S.S. John Barry (DDG52) 16 Beavers, Col. Jennings B., II, USMC, Commanding Officer, 8th Marine Infan- tryRegiment, 2nd Marine Division 18 Beesley, Lt. Col. Mark G., USAF, Commanding Officer, 494th Fighter Squad- ron, U.S. AirForce Europe 19 Dorn, Hon. Edwin, UnderSecretary ofDefense (Personnel andReadiness) 42 Owens, Adm. William A., Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs ofStaff 47 Hamre, Dr. John, Comptroller, DepartmentofDefense 51 (III) CONDITION OF THE ARMED FORCES AND FUTURE TRENDS THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1995 U.S. Senate, Committee on Armed Services, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:35 a.m., in room SR- 222, Russell Senate Office Building, Senator Strom Thurmond (chairman) presiding. Committee members present: Senators Thurmond, Warner, Cohen, McCain, Coats, Smith, Santorum, Nunn, Exon, Bingaman, Robb, Lieberman, and Bryan. Committee staff members present: Richard L. Reynard, staff di- rector; George W. Lauffer, deputy staff director; Donald A. Deline, general counsel; and Christine K. Cimko, press secretary. Professional staff members present: Charles S. Abell, Romie L. Brownlee, Jonathan L. Etherton, Stephen L. Madey, Jr., Joseph G. Pallone, Steven C. Saulnier, and Eric H. Thoemmes. Minority staff members present: Arnold L. Punaro, minority staff director; Andrew S. Effron, minority counsel; Richard D. DeBobes, counsel; Christine E. Cowart, special assistant; Richard D. Finn, Jr., Patrick T. Henry, T. Kirk McConnell, Michael J. McCord, and Julie K. Rief, professional staffmembers. Staff assistants present: Pamela L. Farrell, Shelley G. Lauffer, and Kathleen M. Paralusz, Committee members' assistants present: Robert J. "Duke" Short, assistant to Senator Thurmond; Grayson F. Winterling and Judith A. Ansley, assistants to Senator Warner; Dale F. Gerry, assistant to Senator Cohen; Anthony H. Cordesman, Ann E. Sauer, and Christopher J. Paul, assistants to Senator McCain; Samuel D. Adcock, assistant to Senator Lott; Richard F. Schwab and David J. Gribbin, assistants to Senator Coats; Thomas L. Lankford, assist- ant to Senator Smith; Glen E. Tait, assistant to Senator Kempthorne; Matthew Hay, assistant to Senator Inhofe; Patty Stolnacker, assistant to Senator Santorum; Andrew W. Johnson, assistant to Senator Exon; Richard W. Fieldhouse and David A. Lewis, assistants to Senator Levin; Steven A. Wolfe, assistant to Senator Kennedy; Suzanne M. McKenna and John P. Stevens, as- sistant to Senator Glenn; Lisa W. Tuite, assistant to Senator Byrd; Suzanne Dabkowski, assistant to Senator Robb; John F. Lilley, as- sistant to Senator Lieberman; and Randall A. Schieber, assistant to Senator Bryan. (1) OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR STROM THURMOND, CHAIRMAN Chairman THURMOND. The committee will come to order. I do not usually have a long opening statement, but this morning's will be a little longer than usual because of the nature, and I think it is necessary. The Committee on Armed Services meets today to receive testi- mony on the Condition of the Armed Forces and Future Trends. It is unusual for the full committee to conduct such a hearing, par- ticularly as its first hearing of the year. Normally, the committee waits until the President's budget is sent to Congress, and then it invites the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to present an overview of the budget. Subsequent hearings, both at the full and subcommittee levels, are then con- vened to examine the budget and its various details. However, numerous indications have surfaced recently which suggest the armed services have been dangerously overextended and underfunded. I believe the situation has now reached the point where Congress should step in and fulfill its constitutional obliga- tion to ensure the forces are supported and maintained. Before I proceed to a discussion ofthese indications, I must pref- ace my remarks by stating unequivocally that the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force are the best in the world. There is no doubt that they can provide the means today for America to prevail in any armed conflict. Some may not understand why we should be concerned about the condition of the forces, if this is the case. I would explain it by saying that my concern for the present is not that the Armed Forces will fail, but that they will pay too high a price in terms oflives and injuries to succeed. It is an indis- putable fact that the best way to minimize accidents, injuries, and casualties is to maintain a high level oftraining and readiness. At this very moment, American military people are operating around the world. Six thousand soldiers are in Haiti, where one soldier was killed last week. Next month, four ships carrying 2,600 marines, plus escort vessels, will go to Somalia. Twenty-five thou- sand may be committed to Bosnia. An officer recently lost his life in Korea, when his helicopter was shot down. We conti—nue to send our military to—perform so-called "peace" operations I repeat, peace operations where they must wear helmets and body armor and carry loaded weapons. Our military witnesses today can speak first-hand about the dangers they faced in the Persian Gulf war, Somalia, Haiti, Cuba, Bosnia, and Northern Iraq. Others may not understand why it is essential for the condition ofmilitary units to remain sound. I make no apology for my strong concern tnat young men and women in uniform are perhaps being exposed to unnecessary risk. This risk is the cumulative result of high demands which have been placed upon our military with a low level ofresources. This high level of risk is the result of a lack of depth which has built up over the past 2 years in areas such as training, maintenance of equipment, modernization, and logistical support. The pace at which all the services are now operating ex- ceeds the pace ofoperations at the height of the Cold War, yet they are being funded at lower levels. The services are not receiving the funds they need to perform their missions, maintain appropriate quality oflife for their people, and they cannot fund modernization which is critical to future success. Most estimates of this underfunding range between $50 billion and $150 billion over 5 years. Much attention has recently been focused on the decline in cur- rent readiness, and for good reason. The Department ofDefense re- cently admitted that three Army divisions dropped to readiness level C-3 in September due to a lack of training. That is the next to lowest readiness rating, and the Army has not had three divi- sions at this level for training at the same time since the hollow force years. Some of us on this committee and others in the Con- gress have warned for the past 2 years that such a decline was cer- tain to occur. Four months have elapsed. Those divisions are still C-3. It is relatively easy to conclude there is a serious readiness prob- lem which stems from insufficient funds. In point of fact, there is a serious readiness problem, and it does stem in part from insuffi- cient funds. However, more careful analysis shows that inadequate budgets are only part of the problem. The root causes are complex and far-reaching. The decline in current readiness is the cumu- lative result of numerous budgeting, funding, and policy decisions, virtually all of which are attributed to the civilian leadership, not the services. Although current readiness must be fixed, it is only one dimen- sion of the problem. There is a larger problem with the trends which shape future readiness, and it, too, must be corrected. If we do not correct this problem now, we will pay a very high price later in terms oflives, dollars, and the loss of national prestige. My con- cern for the future is that the Armed Forces will not have the mod- ern equipment and depth of expertise to prevail in future actions and to deter potential aggressors. We should remember that our military had available an array of capable, sophisticated systems when the crisis began in the Persian Gulf, not because it had been preparing for years to fight a war there in 1990, but because it had built a modern, ready force. We do not know what challenges will present themselves in the future; however, we can be sure they will appear. The purpose of this hearing is to hear from some of the people who operate the forces, the people who actually do the work and accomplish real missions, in order to understand better the condi- tion ofthe Armed Forces. The committee has heard often from sen- ior officials of the Department of Defense, but I believe a different perspective has value at this point in time. The committee has called as witnesses four officers, one from each service, whose re- sponsibilities and duties are broadly dissimilar. We have also called the senior civilian official of the Department of Defense, whose po- sition and title should qualify him to testify most knowledgeably on this subject. I want it noted for the record that the committee could have called individuals from each ofthe services whose units are now ex- periencing much more severe readiness problems than the wit- nesses' organizations. I decided not to do that, for three reasons. First, there is abundant evidence already that the services are experiencing serious current readiness problems, and I do not see the need to add to that body ofinformation. I stated my conclusions about current readiness in a letter I wrote to the Secretary of De- fense last September 30. I will say more about that letter in the second panel. Second, it seems to me that it is important to gauge the depth and breadth of the current readiness situation. That is why the hearing is on the condition of the Armed Forces, and not, per se, a readiness hearing. Third, I believe it is important to gain some insight into where this is all headed, so I would ask our witnesses to make some per- sonal judgments about the trends which may be developing in the areas ofreadiness, capability, and risk. I will now ask Senator Nunn for any comments he would choose to make. I do not believe the Senator is here. I understand he will not be able to make it. Is there someone on their side who would like to make some comments? Senator Lieberman. Mr. Chairman, I thank you. I cannot speak for Senator Nunn, although I have had conversations with him on this general subject and I appreciate very much your opportunity to say a few words. We join in these inquiries into the state of readiness ofour armed services in a spirit of nonpartisanship. This is a matter that should be of concern to all of us. And I would stress what the Chairman said at the outset and I paraphrase what you said, Mr. Chairman, we have the strongest, best military in the world, and we are capable of meeting and beating any chal- lenge or any opponent in the world. And that is the core. That is the bottom line. But we are concerned, in a time of changing security challenges and increasingly limited resources, about the state ofreadiness. So I would say that we do not want to overreact to these indications, but we do not want to ignore them either. We want to pursue di- rectly and raise questions about readiness. What I am saying is that accepting the Chairman's position that we have the strongest, best military in the world and that we can meet and beat any foe in the world, we have to be able to put these questions ofreadiness in context, which is that they are more at the margins than at the center of our security structure, but important nonetheless to ask. And second, I would say, and I believe I again pick up on some- thing the Chairman has just said, that we have to continually ask ourselves, "Readiness for what?" In other words, what are the threats that we are facing around the world, and how, as the Chairman has suggested, do we balance, in a time of limited re- sources, our investments in current readiness and force structure, with, or against in some cases, our investments in modernization? We want to be ready to face the challenges that we meet in the near term, but part of our success in the Gulf war clearly was that 10 or 15 years before that war people in the Pentagon, on both the civilian and military side, saw ahead and invested in research and development and in technology that led to the production of the weapons that our fine military personnel used to win the Gulf war so overwhelmingly. So this is a constant balance we have to work out as we pursue these questions. Readiness is critical, but clearly we also have to