“Good morning, and welcome to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations’ hearing on a new grand strategy for the United States.

 “At a number of committee and subcommittee hearings over the past year, the need for a relevant, thorough, and publicly-vetted national strategy has become evident.  This subcommittee’s six hearings last July and January on alternative strategies for Iraq caused us to reflect on the need for a context with a more comprehensive set of interests beyond that theater of operations.  Our look into provincial reconstruction teams, as an example of interagency operations, underscored the need for interagency reform.  At the same time, however, it’s difficult to address reforms until we know what we want the interagency to do.

 “The chairman of the full committee, Ike Skelton, has planned to elevate the level of debate on national strategy over the next several months.  In his July 9 speech, ‘The U.S. Needs Comprehensive Strategy to Advance National Interests,’ Chairman Skelton called on the next president to engage in a process for determining a strategy for today’s rapidly changing world. 

 “In what he referred to as the ‘first in a series’ of speeches, Chairman Skelton underscored that ‘Congress should be involved in the process, and to ensure that a new strategy is one that the American people can support, the general outline of the debate should be shared with and involve the American people.’ 

 “Chairman Skelton has expressed his support for this hearing and its follow-on on July 31, where we’ll hear from former flag officers and ambassadors.  He will chair a full committee hearing in September on this topic with former Secretaries of Defense and State.

 “Dr. Henry Kissinger noted in his April opinion piece that the global environment is going through an unprecedented transformation.  Regional power is shifting; some large nation states, such as China, India, Brazil to name a few, are ascending and verge on global power status.  Russia may already be there, again.   Is their rise a challenge to oppose or an opportunity to engage?  Some of our traditional security arrangements may fade in importance as others take on new meaning.  But nation states are not our only concern. 

 “It is clear that a number of trans-national issues will challenge us while others may provide positive potential.  Fundamentalist terrorism and the proliferation of dangerous weapons are obvious examples of serious challenges, of course, but what about climate change, the fragility of increasingly connected world financial markets or the outbreak of pandemic disease? 

 “So, the time could not be better for us to hear the views of this distinguished panel of experts joining us today:

• Dr. Andrew Bacevich, Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University. His latest book is ‘The Long War: A New History of U.S. National Security Policy since World War II.’

• Dr. and Ambassador James Dobbins, Director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND National Security Research Division, who has served as a diplomat in South America, Europe, and Afghanistan.  He is the author of a new book on nation building.

• Dr. Barry Posen, the Ford International Professor of Political Science and Director of Security Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  His recent article in The National Interest entitled, ‘The Case for Restraint’ has received a lot of attention.

• And, Dr. Mitchell Reiss, the Vice Provost for International Affairs at the College of William and Mary’s Marshall-Wythe School of Law, who previously directed the Policy Planning Staff at the Department of State and authored a number of scholarly works on nuclear non-proliferation.

“Welcome to all of you and thank you for being here.  After Mr. Akin’s opening remarks, I’ll turn to each of you for a brief opening statement.  Your prepared statements will be made part of the record.   

“On an administrative note, I’ll remind our members that we will use our customary five-minute rule today for questioning, proceeding by seniority and arrival time. With that, let me turn it over to our ranking member, Mr. Akin, for any statement he would like to make.”