Frank Kendall of the Department of Defense addresses the House Armed Services Committee
(Haley Hinkle/MNS
WASHINGTON – Under Secretary of Defense Frank Kendall expressed concern Wednesday about the U.S. military’s technological capacity to respond to foreign threats.
Kendall spoke before the House Armed Services Committee along with Lt. Gen. Mark Ramsay of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The two fielded questions as to whether the Defense Department is able to buy the sophisticated technology that it needs.
Kendall expressed serious concern that the U.S. military could lose its technological edge. “We are at risk,” he said in opening of his remarks to the powerful committee.
The Pentagon official said the advanced technologies being used in China and Russia, along with the vulnerability of some of the military’s major air and space assets, are a worry.
“If you send a large number of missiles at a single asset, you are going to get some through,” Kendall said of America’s adversaries.
Kendall said he is worried about the uncertainty created by the threat of sequestration—automatic budget cuts—and the challenge it creates for technological development.
He went on to discuss general budget constraints, particularly those that limit programs that are not of immediate necessity. Armed Services
Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, asked the witnesses how Congress can help support experimentation, research and development.
“Some people have even suggested we need to look at a prototype-experimentation fund,” Thornberry said.
Kendall said it’s a matter of priorities. “It’s a hard area—budgets are tight—to peel out resources from other things,” he said.
On Monday when President Barack Obama’s 2016 budget is rolled out, the Pentagon is expected to seek an increase in its $496 billion budget for the current year.
