RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery
INTRODUCTION
Chairman Green, Ranking Member Thompson, and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for inviting me here to testify today.
Every president since the tragic attacks of 9/11 has stated that “defense of the homeland” is the nation’s number one national security mission. In his first term as president, Donald Trump approved a National Security Strategy that stated his first responsibility was “to protect the American people, the homeland, and the American way of life.”1 As he takes office again eight years later, the homeland has never been less secure, and America’s greatest vulnerability is not a physical attack from non-state actors and terrorists, although that risk still exists. Rather, the greatest vulnerability is the threat of cyberattacks and long-range missile strikes by China and Russia — risks that undermine historical assumptions that the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans will protect America from foreign aggression.
I am confident the Armed Services Committee is looking hard into the missile defense issues, but House oversight of the protection of our national critical infrastructure from cyberattack starts here in the Committee on Homeland Security
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