Senator Rounds Questions Nominee on Trump's China Deterrence Policy and Defense Priorities

Spectrum Defense and Warfighting Capabilities

• 💡 Spectrum defense is a critical issue, with 51 senior defense officials agreeing that forcing the department to share specific frequency bands would negatively impact warfighting capabilities, including homeland defense and force protection.
• ✅ The nominee, Alexander J. Velez-Green, affirmed this assessment and pledged to support efforts ensuring the department has necessary spectrum access if confirmed.

Prioritizing Asia vs. Other Theaters

• 🎯 A key concern raised is the nominee's past stance, from his time at Heritage, on prioritizing Asia over other theaters.
• ⚠️ It's questioned whether focusing defense resources on other regions like Europe has detracted from strengthening deterrence against China.

Defense Resource Allocation and China Deterrence

• ❓ Senator Rounds probed whether specific actions under President Trump, such as strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities or commitments to defend Qatar, detracted from the counter-China policy.
• 🇺🇸 The nominee stated that while forces would be deployed as directed, efforts would be made to ensure these actions reinforce China deterrence.
• 🇸🇦 Regarding potential defense pacts and resource dedication to Saudi Arabia, the nominee maintained that US interests in the Middle East are vital and can be upheld while simultaneously reinforcing China deterrence.
• 🌍 It was affirmed that the US must be positioned to consider deterrence in multiple theaters simultaneously.

National Defense Strategy and Interagency Coordination

• 🏛️ Questions were raised about the lack of transparency regarding the Pentagon's strategic documents, specifically the National Defense Strategy (NDS).
• 🤝 The nominee confirmed that the interim NDS was developed in coordination with the Secretary's office, and while interagency discussions occurred, specifics could not be shared in that setting.
• 🔒 He agreed to provide evidence of these interagency engagements in a classified setting.