WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) spoke with Daniel Zimmerman, Justin Overbaugh, and Matthew Lohmeier, President Trump’s nominees to be the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, and Under Secretary of the Air Force, respectively.
Excerpts from Senator Tuberville’s conversation with the nominees can be found below, and the full conversation can be found on YouTube or Rumble.
ON CENTCOM TARGETING HOUTHIS AS FTO
TUBERVILLE: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, gentlemen, for [your] willingness to serve. Mr. Zimmerman, since March 15th, CENTCOM forces have conducted a sustained campaign targeting the Houthi terrorist organization in Yemen to restore freedom of navigation and American deterrence. As of April 27th, CENTCOM has struck over 800 targets. These targets have killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders, including senior Houthi missile and UAV officials. Mr. Zimmerman, in your assessment, have U.S. operations against the Houthis been a success?”
ZIMMERMAN: “Senator, I support the administration’s forcible approach toward the Houthis beginning in the early days of the administration with the Executive Order that called for the elimination of the threat of the Houthis with allies and designated them as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. I don’t think I have access to the classified information that I would like to have to make an assessment about the efficacy of these strikes, but I support what the administration is trying to do.”
ON MSIC IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA
TUBERVILLE: “Thank you. Mr. Overbaugh, one of the organizations you will help oversee if you are confirmed is the Missile and Space Intelligence Center—we call MSIC—which is a component of DIA and located in my state [in] Huntsville, Alabama. MSIC provides a world-class analysis on the performance of foreign weapons systems, which is critical to ensuring our warfighters dominate the battlefield against our adversaries. Mr. Overbaugh, are you familiar with MSIC and MSIC’s analysis, and if so, can you talk a little bit about how important this mission is?”
OVERBAUGH: “Senator, I am familiar with MSIC and particularly their role in feeding quality intelligence into other entities like DIA to ensure that we have an accurate threat picture. I think even more important is the potential for MSIC to play a key role to ensure we understand the key adversarial threat as it relates to ensuring that our Golden Dome is as effective as it possibly can be.”
TUBERVILLE: “Have you had the opportunity to visit MSIC headquarters in Huntsville?”
OVERBAUGH: “Huntsville, yes. MSIC, no.”
TUBERVILLE: “Thank you. Hopefully you get to soon. Thank you.”
ON SUPPORTING FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AT DOD
TUBERVILLE: “Mr. Lohmeier, you have an absolutely outstanding unique career path as a military officer. Thank you for your service. You’ve got a breadth of experience in both Air Force and Space Force, which is very uncommon, but none of those experiences are with managing large budgets. Why should you be trusted now with such a heavy responsibility at a time when we are taking [fiscal] responsibility more seriously—thank goodness—than ever before, and while there is a growing demand from the American people that we have a clean audit of the defense department?”
LOHMEIER: “Thanks, Senator. I’m glad that I get to readdress this. While it’s true that I don’t personally have extensive experience with a large budget in a large organization or acquisition experience, I have sound judgment. I’ve demonstrated it throughout my life. I’m a fast learner. Secretary Meink, if he’s confirmed, has demonstrated that you can pass 16 or 17 clean audits at the National Reconnaissance Office. He’ll be a phenomenal leader to work with on this problem in the Department of the Air Force. What I can say is that we’ve got exceptional professionals who’ve been trying administration after administration to solve our problems—our budget problems, our acquisition problems in the Department of the Air Force—and many of them have had extensive acquisition and budgeting experience, but that doesn’t mean you’re able to solve the problems well. And so, if confirmed, what I can commit to this committee and to the American people is that I’m interested in making data-driven decisions. I’m interested in exercising keen judgement and discernments about these budget decisions, and coming to the right decisions that I believe the American people would be grateful for and trust—and doing that in concert with Secretary Meink and in support of the President’s priorities and in support of the Secretary of Defense’s priorities.”
TUBERVILLE: “Thank you, and your knowledge will be very important moving into space. You have a lot of experience in that area. We look forward to working with you in that area because as we know, it is going to be a much, much more important part of our military in the very near future. Thank you, gentlemen. Look forward to confirming you.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.
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