WASHINGTON –  U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today participated in a full committee hearing on the posture of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) as the combatant commands face increasing threats from China and other adversaries.

In his remarks, Wicker called once again for the Biden administration to provide a full, public timeline on their decision to allow a Chinese spy balloon to traverse the entirety of U.S. continental airspace uncontested.

“Unfortunately, Secretary of Defense Austin has declined to answer the simple questions Senator Rubio and I sent regarding the Department of Defense’s apparent inaction during the earliest days of the balloon’s excursion,” Wicker said. “In response to the letter that Senator Rubio and I sent with questions, we received a very dismissive response from Undersecretary Colin Kahl, which said that all of our questions had already been answered. In fact, they were not answered and have not been answered by the Secretary.”

Wicker also addressed the enormous threat to the integrity of our southwest border as cartels continue to exploit the Biden administration’s weak policies and undermine our national security.

“I am also concerned about the situation on both sides of our southwest border. President Biden’s lax border policies have created a major opportunity for the Mexican criminal cartels and an unprecedented humanitarian and security crisis. In 2022, more than 70,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses largely from Mexican-produced fentanyl,” Wicker said. “Since President Biden took office, more than 1.2 million illegal migrants have evaded law enforcement and entered our country. Most recently, the cartels murdered two American citizens. This simply cannot continue and does not have to continue.”

NORTHCOM commander General Glen D. VanHerck, U.S. Air Force, and SOUTHCOM commander General Laura J. Richardson, U.S. Army, provided testimony.

Wicker engaged in an extensive exchange with General VanHerck, in which VanHerck stated that he remains unaware of when President Biden was apprised of the Chinese spy balloon. VanHerck also stated he was not asked to present a full range of response options until five days following the first spotting of the balloon. VanHerck noted he does not have the full suite of missile defense and early-warning capabilities he needs to defend the homeland. See that exchange here.

Read Wicker’s opening statement as delivered below or watch here.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I also want to thank our witnesses for being here and for their gracious allocation with their time to visit with us before the hearing.

We rightly focus a lot of attention abroad, on Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the Chinese Communist Party’s constant march to dominance in the Pacific. But the dangers we face are not limited to areas like Ukraine and the Pacific. We also face dangers in our own neighborhood. 

General VanHerck has been a frequent visitor here recently, and I appreciate his candid briefings on the Chinese surveillance balloon that violated our sovereignty earlier this year. Unfortunately, Secretary of Defense Austin has declined to answer the simple questions Senator Rubio and I sent regarding the Department of Defense’s apparent inaction during the earliest days of the balloon’s excursion. In response to the letter that Senator Rubio and I sent with questions, we received a very dismissive response from Undersecretary Colin Kahl, which said that all of our questions had already been answered. In fact, they were not answered, and have not been answered by the Secretary. I expect General VanHerck to get some questions about this today, and I am grateful for his help in understanding what went wrong and how we can fix it. 

The Chinese surveillance balloon is the most public example of our homeland defense gaps, but it is not the only one. Keeping in mind Putin’s threats against our homeland during the Ukraine war and China’s threats of a military conflict with the United States over Taiwan, I hope General VanHerck will explain his requirements for keeping the American people safe. 

I am also concerned about the situation on both sides of our southwest border. President Biden’s lax border policies have created a major opportunity for the Mexican criminal cartels and an unprecedented humanitarian and security crisis. In 2022, more than 70,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses largely from Mexican-produced fentanyl. Since President Biden took office, more than 1.2 million illegal migrants have evaded law enforcement and entered our country. Most recently, the cartels murdered two American citizens. This simply cannot continue and does not have to continue.

Given the scale of the current crisis, I hope our witnesses could comment on ways in which the southwest border support mission could be made more effective. I would also like to know whether there is anything Congress can do to work more effectively with the Mexican government to counter the cartels. 

We also have challenges further south. In Central and South America, the implications of the growing Chinese threat continue to concern us. 

The Chinese Communist Party is following a well-known playbook in the Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). It is aggressively using predatory economic and diplomatic practices to bully countries, while it sets conditions to build up the PRC military presence, gather intelligence, and limit U.S. access and influence. As General Richardson has stated before: proximity matters. We should all be concerned by what China is doing in the southern hemisphere and what it means for the stability of our partners and our national security. 

Despite the significant and growing security threats in that region, I am troubled to see that SOUTHCOM consistently faces a mismatch between its requirements and its resources. I look forward to General Richardson’s candid assessment of SOUTHCOM’s most pressing resource and capability shortfalls. I hope to understand how these shortfalls impact our troops’ ability to accomplish the mission and defend our nation. I would also like to hear how the Office of Strategic Capital might be used to help achieve military objectives at a lower cost.  

With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back and I thank our witnesses.