Gil Cisneros Urges Military Officials To Speak Out Against Trump’s Tariffs

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During a House Armed Services Committee hearing held before the congressional recess, Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-CA) questioned Military officials about the effect Trump's tariffs will have on military capabilities.

Transcript

00:00I recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Cisneros.

00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank our witnesses for being here today.

00:07And, Admiral, I want to thank your fleet master chief for your career, sir,

00:11and everything that you've done for this nation.

00:16Chiefs run the Navy.

00:18I'm a former naval officer.

00:20I can tell you one thing.

00:21When I left the Navy, I wish I could have took my chief with me there.

00:25The senior enlisted are a valuable asset to our military,

00:29and we need to do what we can to make sure that we support them in any way possible.

00:35I also want to say, just go back to Mr. Courtney's comments about the tariffs

00:40and what they are doing, Mr. Ngo.

00:44You know, the fact that we have three nations, Japan, South Korea, and China,

00:49that are coming together because of these tariffs,

00:52and these are three nations that have a history of contention.

00:55And you may say it's not an – the tariffs don't affect the military,

01:01but it is going to have an effect later on in the military.

01:04And so the Department of Defense should definitely be speaking up on that there

01:09because it is going to affect us at some point.

01:11General Brunson, I'm going to start with you, sir.

01:13We've seen the DRP, the DPRK, and Iran provide support to Russia during the Ukrainian conflict,

01:20supplying soldiers, munitions, critical minerals.

01:24The strengthening of these relationships continues to undermine the security and stability

01:28of the Indo-Pacific region.

01:31What are we seeing in the reverse as far as, I mean, those – Russia, China – supplying materials,

01:40technology, and things to North Korea?

01:42And really, what have we learned from the North Korean army

01:46with their experience there in Ukraine that is going to benefit you and your knowledge?

01:50Yes, sir.

01:52So one of the first things I would say is I'm looking at – I'm concerned with, more importantly,

01:59what's coming back, vice what's going out.

02:01I can see very, very well all the things that are going out.

02:05But coming back is technology.

02:08Coming back is critical munitions that are coming back there.

02:14What's coming back is critical materiel, which is changing our operating environment in a large way.

02:21And then what it's causing us to really do is look at how we might counter those things,

02:26that we might be able to continue to deter them, or have Kim Jong-un say, not today, not today.

02:34And some of that has to do with the posture that we take as we sort of organize ourselves differently

02:39within our operating environment.

02:41And I think that another thing that I'm looking at routinely is how am I communicating those things back out?

02:49How am I going back to ensure that not only our friends, partners, and allies are also witting to this,

02:55but how am I communicating back with INDO-PACOM to ensure that we are able to talk about the changes

03:00that we might have in our OE as well?

03:03Have you learned lessons from the – about the North Korean Army, about how they've been operating,

03:08what they've been doing in Ukraine that are going to be valuable to you?

03:12Yes, sir.

03:12We most certainly have.

03:13Good.

03:14Admiral, you know, you and your fellow co-coms are competing for assets continually,

03:23whether it be the aircraft carriers, air squadrons, special operation forces, Patriot missile batteries.

03:32Can you discuss the challenges that you're facing there in trying to respond to China's operations

03:38while you're competing for those assets?

03:40Yes, Congressman, understanding that there's a high demand for the global force is just my job.

03:48So mitigating that when the department, when the commander-in-chief makes a decision to shift one capability to another theater

03:55and to be able to mitigate for that.

03:58And sometimes it's the substitution of other relevant capabilities.

04:02Sometimes it's knowing what the response time is of that capability to restore it to the Indo-Pacific.

04:09All those are important factors.

04:12And so our job is to take the policy decisions and to mitigate those, to express the risk,

04:19and to do our very best to restore deterrence and to provide the indications and warnings

04:24if it has to return to a theater that has more exigent needs.

04:30Okay.

04:30With that, thank you very much for that answer, Admiral.

04:32And I've got about 30 seconds left, so I'm just going to yield my time back.

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