Washington, D.C. — Today, Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) led a bipartisan group of Senators to send a letter to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks demanding the release of a Congressionally-mandated strategy on the department’s operations in the information domain.
The letter was co-signed by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Joni Ernst (R-IA), the chair and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee.
The United States must leverage all instruments of national power to successfully compete with great powers and be prepared to fight and win America’s wars. While we continue to have the world’s strongest military and economy and robust diplomatic efforts, we are not competing effectively enough in the information space. China, Russia, and Iran have all significantly invested in and are operating daily in the information domain. We must do better.
In order to address these shortfalls, Congress required in Section 1631 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 that the Secretary of Defense develop or update a strategy and conduct a posture review on military operations in the information environment. Upon completion of the strategy and posture review, the Secretary is required to submit it to the Committees on Armed Services.
During a May 17, 2023 hearing, the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities heard testimony from Dr. Jonathan Schroden of the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) that CNA completed the review and submitted it to the Department. He further stated that he believes it is currently being reviewed by the Department’s senior officials, but is unaware of when it will be transmitted to the Committee.
As of the date of this letter, the Committee has yet to receive the strategy or posture review from the Department. We request that you release them to the Committee no later than July 31, 2023.
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