'It Feels Like This Is An Effort To Get Around The Law': Eric Schmitt Questions Army Sec. Wormuth

8 months ago

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) questioned Army Secretary Christine Wormuth about Army CID training protocol.

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Transcript

00:00 Here, I think that looking for those new and innovative ways to recruit is sometimes a

00:07 challenge but always welcome.

00:09 And I saw recently that the Army has entered into a partnership with the UFL, which is

00:15 the new spring football league.

00:17 I'm a little biased here.

00:18 The St. Louis Battle Hawks have the highest, by far and away, highest attendance numbers.

00:23 They average 35,000 people at these games.

00:26 And so I think that's a smart way to reach a new audience.

00:30 I think there's going to be a lot of opportunities there.

00:32 Can you walk me through how this kind of came to be and what you expect from it?

00:37 Sure.

00:38 Senator, the, and I agree with you, we do think it will be a good audience.

00:43 People love watching football.

00:44 I'm at the top of that list.

00:48 The part of this with the UFL that I like about the comparisons are these are a bunch

00:52 of last year.

00:53 There was a hundred that came out of the UFL that went into the pros.

00:57 What we need to get out to everybody, it's the same thing in the Army.

01:01 You can come into the Army and you can accelerate your life.

01:04 You're going to advance your life.

01:05 And so they were interested in this partnership with us and we studied it with our marketing

01:12 agency.

01:14 And we're in a one-year agreement to see how this works.

01:18 But so far, it's been really good.

01:20 We've had troopers telling their stories at every one of these games across all compos.

01:25 I'm sure we've had soldiers out there on the sideline doing that, which I think is great.

01:30 That's good.

01:31 Yeah, maybe we'll have to follow up and get you a t-shirt that call is the law, which

01:36 is the call is for the battle Hawks.

01:39 Anyway, all right.

01:40 So Secretary Wormuth, I do want to ask you a question.

01:45 You know, enjoyed our visit at Fort Leonard Wood.

01:48 I guess it was around a year ago.

01:49 It was in August maybe.

01:52 As you know, in last year's NDAA, it required certain criteria and certifications be made

01:58 by you before the Army can relocate the Army CID Special Agent Training Course or any of

02:04 its training cadre.

02:06 Despite that, our office has learned recently that the Army is already in the midst of a

02:11 comprehensive overhaul of CID training and composition.

02:16 And maybe most concerning, the Army Times reported that, quote, "In the Army, the lowest

02:20 retention job specialties for men were criminal investigation division special agent with

02:26 a retention rate of 38% for fiscal year '23."

02:29 We also learned that CID agents are already flowing through pipelines in the Federal Law

02:35 Enforcement Training Center, the Fleet C. So this was one of the things that we were

02:40 trying to address in the NDAA.

02:41 And it feels like, and I'd like for you to maybe give some explanation, it feels like

02:45 this is an effort to get around the law because there's supposed to be a process before what

02:52 appears to be happening is actually happening.

02:54 So I wanted to give you an opportunity to walk me through this because it feels like

02:59 a workaround.

03:00 Certainly, Senator Schmidt.

03:03 We do not want to try to do a workaround.

03:07 I think as you know very, very well, we are in the process of transforming the criminal

03:11 investigative division and it is our intent to have 60% of those agents become civilian.

03:19 That's a big change and I think I'm not intimately familiar with the retention statistics for

03:24 CID, but I think part of what you're seeing a little bit is change is hard.

03:28 I'm certainly aware, I know that there is some anxiety from our uniformed folks about

03:33 the transformation.

03:35 But we want to comply with the law and what I'd like to do is make sure that we have Director

03:38 Ford come and brief you on how he is proceeding.

03:44 Certainly we continue to plan to have our MPs and agents train at Fort Leonard Wood.

03:52 There is also, I think, some training they're doing with FLETC, but what I'd like to do

03:55 is have Director Ford come and talk with you in detail about what they're doing.

03:59 Okay, let's do that because that's a very important role that Fort Leonard Wood plays.

04:06 I think one of the reasons why we wanted to make sure before there's any real change that

04:10 it's a real process and it appears as though maybe some things are being moved away, whether

04:18 it's without those certifications or not.

04:21 So we'll work with you on that and look forward to that briefing.

'It Feels Like This Is An Effort To Get Around The Law': Eric Schmitt Questions Army Sec. Wormuth

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