During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) questioned Matthew L. Lohmeier, nominee to be Under Secretary of Air Force, about his gaps in experience.
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00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, gentlemen, for willingness to serve Mr. Zimmerman.
00:13Since March 15th, CENTCOM has, forces have conducted a sustained campaign targeting the
00:22Houthi terrorist organization in Yemen to restore freedom of navigation and American
00:26deterrence. As of April 27th, CENTCOM has struck over 800 targets.
00:31These targets have killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders, including
00:37senior Houthi missile and UAV officials. Mr. Zimmerman, in your assessment, have U.S. operations
00:44against the Houthis been a success? Senator, I support the administration's
00:52forcible approach toward the Houthis, beginning in the early days of the administration with
00:57the executive order that called for the elimination of the threat of the Houthis with allies and
01:03designating them as a foreign terrorist organization. I don't think I have access to the classified
01:10information that I would like to have to make an assessment about the efficacy of these strikes,
01:14but I support what the administration is trying to do. Thank you. Mr. Overbaugh, one of the
01:18organizations you will help oversee, if you are confirmed, is the Missile and Space Intelligence
01:24Center, we call MISIC, which is a component of DIA and located in my state of Huntsville,
01:29Alabama. MISIC provides a world-class analysis on the performance of foreign weapons systems,
01:35which is critical to ensuring our warfighters dominate the battlefield against our adversaries.
01:40Mr. Overbaugh, are you familiar with MISIC and MISIC's analysis? And if so, can you talk a little bit
01:47about how important this mission is? Senator, I am familiar with MISIC and particularly their
01:54role in feeding quality intelligence into other entities like DIA to ensure that we have an
02:01accurate picture, a threat picture. I think even more important is the potential for MISIC
02:07to play a key role in ensuring we understand the adversarial threat as it relates to ensuring
02:12that our Golden Dome is as effective as it possibly can be. Have you had the opportunity to visit
02:17MISIC headquarters in Huntsville? Huntsville, yes. MISIC, no, not yet, Senator. Thank you.
02:23Hope you get too soon. Thank you. Mr. Lohmeyer, you have an absolutely outstanding unique career
02:30path as a respected military officer. Thank you for your service. You've got a breadth of experience
02:36in both the Air Force and Space Force, which is very uncommon, but none of those experiences were in
02:41managing large budgets. Why should you be trusted now with such a heavy responsibility at a time
02:47when we are taking physical responsibility more seriously, thank goodness, than ever before,
02:53and while there is a growing demand from the American people that we have a clean audit of the Defense
02:58Department? Thanks, Senator. I'm glad I get to readdress this. While it's true that I don't personally
03:07have extensive experience with a large budget in an organization or acquisition experience,
03:15I have sound judgment. I've demonstrated it throughout my life. I'm a fast learner.
03:21Secretary Mink, if he's confirmed, has demonstrated that you can pass 16 or 17 clean audits at the
03:28National Reconnaissance Office. He'll be a phenomenal leader to work with on this problem in the Department
03:32of the Air Force. What I can say is that we've got exceptional professionals who have been trying
03:37administration after administration to solve our budget problems, our acquisition problems in the
03:41Department of the Air Force, and many of them have had extensive acquisition and budgeting experience,
03:47but that doesn't mean you're able to solve the problems well. And so if confirmed, what I can commit
03:51to this committee and to the American people is that I'm interested in making data-driven decisions.
03:57I'm interested in exercising keen judgment, discernment about these budget decisions,
04:02and coming to the right decisions that I believe the American people will be grateful for and trust,
04:06and doing that in concert with Secretary Mink in support of the President's priorities,
04:11and in support of the Secretary of Defense's priorities. Thank you. And your knowledge will
04:14be very important moving into space. You have a lot of experience in that area. We look forward to
04:20working with you in that area because, as we know, it's going to be a much, much more important
04:24part of our military in the very near future. Thank you, gentlemen. Look forward to confirming you.
04:29Thank you, Senator Tarverville. I would mention to members a vote is going on on the floor.
04:34I think we can possibly finish this hearing before that vote ends.