OPENING REMARKS OF CHAIRMAN WILSON

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, on the Subcommittees' hearing titled “Army Futures Command:  Will it help?” For testimony and to watch the hearing click here.  

"Good afternoon. The subcommittee will come to order.  I welcome each of you to this hearing of the Readiness Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee on the new Army Futures Command.

Today the subcommittee will hear from the Under Secretary of the Army and the Commander of the Army Futures Command about the reasons the Army decided to establish a new major command, the most significant restructuring of the institutional Army since the 1970s.  Because this new entity will work within the existing Army structure, the subcommittee will be interested in learning how the Army Futures Command will work other important players in the Army modernization process.  Relationships with the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, as well as those with the Army’s Materiel Command and the Training and Doctrine Command, will be critical.  Indeed, it’s difficult to envision how all these changes will synchronize in a smooth fashion.  We recognize that the Army’s intent is to improve and speed the modernization process.  As you are aware, acquisition improvement across the Department of Defense has been a committee focus for a long time, though discernable change is elusive.  We will be eager to understand how the Army intends to overcome the obstacles to improvement that have frustrated so many who have tried to overcome them.  

While I am hopeful, I am not yet persuaded that a new command is the right answer to the Army’s acquisition challenges.

We welcome the witnesses’ perspective on these issues and any recommendations they may have.

I am pleased to recognize our witnesses today.  I thank them for taking the time to be with us.  They are:

• Honorable Ryan McCarthy, Under Secretary of the Army
• General John M. Murray, Commanding General, US Army Futures Command

Before we begin, I remind our witnesses that your full written statements will be submitted for the record, and we ask that you summarize your comments in five minutes or less.

Mr. McCarthy, we will begin with you, and we look forward to your opening statement."