Hearing can be viewed on C-SPAN and SASC website

WASHINGTON, DC -- In an effort to examine pressing global security challenges, risks, and opportunities, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), convened a hearing today on Global Security Challenges and Strategy. 

From China’s growing influence to Russia’s reckless aggression, the United States faces a complex and dangerous security environment.  Ensuring America continues to prevail and prosper requires thoughtful strategies and wise use of America’s tools of statecraft. 

As SASC begins to prepare the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the Committee’s first hearing of the 118th Congress focused on how Congress can ensure the United States has the necessary strategy, tools, resources, and capabilities to effectively address complex and evolving national security issues.

The Committee heard from a panel of experts about the state of the global security environment, with a particular focus on China, the Indo-Pacific, and Russia and Ukraine.  The Senators and witnesses also discussed threats from Iran and North Korea, cross-border challenges like energy and supply chain security, as well as emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and hypersonic weapons.

The witnesses testifying before SASC today included:

  • Dr. Bonny Lin, Director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
  • Dr. Fiona Hill, Senior Fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution
  • Mr. Roger Zakheim, Director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute

During the hearing, the experts warned of potential challenges arising from deeper partnerships between authoritarian nations, including China and Russia.  As Dr. Fiona Hill testified: “It seems more and more likely that China and Russia will find their interests converging.  We might be actually dealing with problems on two fronts for some time to come.”

The panel also focused on the need to modernize the U.S. military while bolstering its conventional capabilities, strengthening supply chains, and boosting industrial base capabilities.

Chairman Reed noted that America’s future will be shaped by the qualities that have long defined it, including the strength of the U.S. economy and its vibrant democracy; the diversity, ingenuity, and innovation of the American people; the capabilities of its All-Volunteer Force; and the United States’ powerful global network of alliances and partnerships.   

Reed stated: “The Armed Services Committee’s mission is to help achieve a better future for all Americans by ensuring our nation is free, true to its democratic principles, and prosperous and secure.  Ultimately, our long-term strategic competition is not just a rivalry of military or economic power, but also a competition of ideas.  This requires us to develop a strategic understanding of our adversaries’ multifaceted strengths, weaknesses, philosophies, and objectives, as well as our own.  This is where the knowledge and insights gleaned from this hearing are so valuable.”