Mike Turner Emphasizes The Importance Of US Presence In Europe Through EUCOM

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During a House Armed Services Committee hearing held before the congressional recess, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) questioned Military officials about U.S. military presence in Europe.

Transcript

00:00Our chair now recognized gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Turner.

00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:05Mr. Chairman, thank you for your great opening statement

00:07and your great articulation of the importance of our support for Ukraine,

00:11the importance of our support for NATO,

00:13the importance of NATO's integration into our own national security.

00:20I appreciate also the ranking member's statements.

00:24I appreciate the chairman's statement with Chairman Wicker

00:27concerning the importance of the Supreme Allied Commander's position.

00:31General Cavoli, thank you for your great service as Supreme Allied Commander

00:35and the work that you have done.

00:39General Cavoli, we have nuclear weapons in Europe, do we not?

00:45Yes, we do.

00:46The number and the modification of them is classified, but their existence is not.

00:50It is important that the United States has those nuclear weapons there, correct?

00:54Yes, they fall under my command and control for that purpose, sir,

00:57as the commander of UConn.

01:00And so, it is important that the United States have the position of Supreme Allied Commander

01:06because we have nuclear weapons in Europe.

01:08Sir, if those nuclear weapons were going to be offered to the Alliance for nuclear deterrence

01:20or for nuclear operations, that would come under the command of the Supreme Allied Commander.

01:26The way we're currently set up, I, as the commander of UConn, own the weapons,

01:31and I hand them to myself as the Supreme Allied Commander.

01:36That's possible because I am the same person and I am American.

01:42So, I really appreciate that you just did that straight line for everyone

01:49because the idiocy of the fact that there was any discussion

01:53about the aspects of relinquishing the demand or even the rumor of relinquishing the demand

01:59is just beyond me because you both indicated that we have nuclear weapons in Europe,

02:06that it's important we have nuclear weapons in Europe,

02:08and that it's important that you have the command because you are an American

02:13and they are under your command.

02:16So, beyond all the other aspects of its importance, which is important,

02:22all of which are incredibly important to our national security,

02:25that alone ought to just end all of the debate.

02:31So, thank you for making that with such unbelievable clarity.

02:35There have been individuals who have unbelievably also stated

02:40that they don't understand why we have bases in Germany to defend Germany.

02:46In your opening, you were describing that you don't go to work every day to defend Europe,

02:53that you're part of the overall arching aspects of the extended reach

03:02of the United States national and international security apparatus.

03:07Would you please give us some description, again, of the fact that the work that you do,

03:13that you're UCOM, but you don't sit around every day and wait to see whether or not

03:18there's someone who's trying to invade Germany, that our bases in Germany actually,

03:24where there are Americans, are working every day on international security operations

03:29for the United States and on international security issues around the world?

03:34Congressman, as the commander of U.S. European Command, I have U.S. missions.

03:43I take all of my instructions and my direction from the United States, from the Secretary of Defense,

03:49and I am there exclusively to pursue U.S. interest and to defend U.S. interest.

03:57Inasmuch as I'm located in Europe with that force, it's almost always in conjunction with allies,

04:03but I am doing it from a U.S. perspective for U.S. interest.

04:07But you were describing Israel. You do things in the Middle East.

04:14You do things all around the world. You're not just sitting there defending Europe.

04:18No, sir. If you look at the Mediterranean Sea, three very important U.S. combatant commands come together there.

04:29There's U.S. AFRICOM, Mike Langley, there's U.S. CENTCOM with Eric Carilla, and there's UCOM.

04:35And the intersection of the boundaries of those three organizations demands that we work together.

04:42In the event, UCOM has the most bases and the most developed infrastructure to be able to support the other two.

04:51So, obviously, I spend more time supporting General Langley in Africa than he spends, you know, supporting me in Europe.

04:59This is a result of the infrastructure, the bases, the forces we have located there,

05:05and very importantly, the government-to-government agreements we have that permit us to use non-U.S. territory to stage our operations.

05:13Mr. Chairman, thank you. That was very important, General. I appreciate that.

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