Thank you, Mr. Chairman.  I also want to welcome our witnesses, General Robinson and Admiral Tidd.  Thank you for your many years of service.  I also want to thank your families, and the many men and women who serve in your commands for their commitment to our nation.

General Robinson, your mission is to protect the homeland, to deter and defeat attacks on the United States, and to support civil authorities in mitigating the effects of potential attacks and natural disasters.  You are also dual-hatted as the Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which brings unique responsibilities and partnering opportunities with Canada to deter and defend against threats to our nations.  I look forward to hearing about your collaboration with Canada, especially as they prepare to unveil their defense review in the coming month.

You are also responsible for the operation of our homeland ballistic missile defense system.  We look forward to hearing about your priorities for further improvements to the ground-based missile defense system.  This is particularly important in light of North Korea’s missile launches, which are occurring with increased frequency.

Lastly, your relationship with the military leadership in Mexico, along with your collaboration with Admiral Tidd and other federal agencies, is critical to promoting security across our southern border.  A number of problems along that border originate in the SOUTHCOM AOR, and efforts to address those problems require a whole of government approach.

Admiral Tidd, I am quite concerned that the proposed cuts to the budget of non-defense agencies would be devastating to SOUTHCOM’s mission, which is primarily a counter-narcotics and threat networks mission.  While SOUTHCOM is focused on the supply of drugs, perhaps the larger problem is drug demand in this country.  In 2015, more than 52,000 Americans died from drug overdoses – more people than homicides and car crashes combined.  We have lost half a million people in the last 15 years to the opioid epidemic.  My state, Rhode Island, along with New Hampshire, West Virginia, and Ohio have been particularly hard hit by this epidemic. 

If we are serious about the drug epidemic in this country, we need to adequately fund not only fund our crucial military effort in SOUTHCOM, but also Health and Human Services, the FBI, the DEA, the Coast Guard, the FDA, and all the other agencies that are working to ensure the health and safety of the American public.  Admiral Tidd, I am interested in hearing about how you work with other government agencies in your AOR. 

Finally, Admiral Tidd, we are all observing the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and would like your perspective on how much longer the regime there can survive and how the crisis might spill over into neighboring countries.

Admiral Tidd, General Robinson, thank you again for your service and appearing here today.  I look forward to your testimony.