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House Armed Services Committe
Subcommittee Chairman Smith's Opening Statement --May 03, 2007

"Good morning. Today the Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee will mark up our portion of the 2008 Defense Authorization bill.

"The United States is asking more of our special operations forces than ever before as we seek to halt the spread of al-Qaeda and its violent ideology. At the same time, we find ourselves in need of more advanced technology to support our national defense, particularly as it relates to the Armed Forces' energy supply. Our mark today reflects the hard work and contributions of almost every member of this subcommittee to those ends.

"Our markup fully funds the President's request for the Special Operations Command (SOCOM). In addition, we fund or partially fund an additional five SOCOM priorities left unfunded in the President's budget, including funds for advanced body armor and night vision equipment. We also were successful in our efforts to provide elsewhere in the larger bill $125 million in additional funds for mine-resistant ambush -protected vehicles, or MRAPs, specifically for SOCOM.

"We need a smarter strategy to halt the spread of al-Qaeda's violent ideology, and part of that strategy must include a better balance between the direct action and indirect action components of SOCOM's work. Al-Qaeda's recruiters target dispossessed and frustrated populations, often in the poorest, least stable regions of the world. To stop them, SOCOM works in more than a dozen countries to establish relationships, train foreign militaries, understand local cultures, and enable them to care for and protect themselves so that they do not feel the need to accept what al-Qaeda offers them. It is crucial that we give proper weight to this important indirect action work and balance our funding and policy priorities appropriately.

"To achieve this proper balance, our portion of the Defense Authorization requires SOCOM to present a plan and an annual report to Congress to meet their unconventional warfare requirements. Many members, me included, also plan to look for even more ways to achieve this balance in addition to these provisions, and I look forward to working with other members of this subcommittee to do so.

"In addition to prioritizing our indirect work to halt al-Qaeda's growth, our mark specifically authorizes additional funds for "irregular warfare support" research and development activities, with the aims of better understanding jihadi strategies, improving our understanding of various cultures where terrorists seek a foothold, and developing creative countermeasures to frustrate terrorist groups.

"Finally, our mark seeks to empower the Defense Department to find and leverage the most innovative technologies available in order to improve our military's capabilities. We establish a demonstration program to help the DoD more rapidly and aggressively seek out cutting edge commercial information technologies and put them to use for our military. We also provide funds for battery size and lifespan development to help better power our future military needs and help alleviate our military's overdependence on oil.

"I want to thank Mac Thornberry for his terrific contributions to this bill as ranking member of the terrorism subcommittee. I continue to appreciate the bipartisan tenor of the subcommittee's work as we seek to more effectively fight al-Qaeda and their allies around the world."