Thread by @ElbridgeColby

Really important piece from @JimInhofe @MacTXPress here: rollcall.com/news/opinion/a…. Major reaffirmation of leading Congressional support for #NDS w a clarion call for communicating to American people why shift is necessary. @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton 1/

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton Article: "Welcomed with broad bipartisan support, this groundbreaking document #NDS calls on us to make tough choices to reshape our military...to focus on a new era of great-power competition, especially with China and Russia." 2/

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton "The NDS provides the blueprint to achieve that objective, and it must be fully implemented. That is why we have made it our priority on the Senate and House Armed Services committees to ensure that we turn the NDS from a strategy on paper into a strategy in action." 👏👏👏 3/

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton "The good news is that the Department of Defense has made progress toward this goal. The Army trimmed 200 programs and reprioritized savings toward modernizing key capabilities. The Air Force is conducting a similar initiative..." 4/

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton "The Navy has redoubled its efforts to preserve America’s undersea advantage. And the commandant of the Marine Corps has released compelling “planning guidance” that signals a promising transformation to come." 5/

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton Critical message: "But there’s still a lot of work left to do, especially in earning the support of the American people for the NDS. We must start asking ourselves some hard questions and expand the conversation beyond Washington..." @ReaganInstitute #RNDF important venue 6/

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton @ReaganInstitute Key tough questions/issues: "Are we prepared to make the tough decisions required by the NDS?
The NDS can tolerate few sacred cows, but it will require many gored oxen. “Nice to have” programs will have to be cut. Roles and missions of the military services may change." 7/

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton @ReaganInstitute "Our troop deployments around the world must better reflect our focus on China and Russia. Some defense agencies will shrink. Pentagon leaders have talked a lot about what they’re “doing” to implement the NDS. We’d like to hear more about what they’re “not doing.”' Yes!!! 8/

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton @ReaganInstitute "Frankly, if the NDS is fully implemented, there should be voices of discontent across the Pentagon and Washington. At the moment, such voices are eerily quiet." Bingo 9/

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton @ReaganInstitute "Are we prepared to resource the NDS?
We can’t buy our way out of the problems our military faces. But there’s no doubt that meeting our present challenges will require sufficient, sustained and predictable funding." 10/

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton @ReaganInstitute "Does the NDS have bipartisan buy-in?...We’ve been able to find agreement with our Democratic colleagues on many important issues, including the need for NDS implementation..." 11/

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton @ReaganInstitute On this front, I'm encouraged:
a) washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-p…
b) cdn.defenseone.com/a/defenseone/i…
c) foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/29/uni… and rand.org/pubs/perspecti…
d) cnas.org/publications/c…

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton @ReaganInstitute "Do the American people support the NDS?
More often than not, Americans outside Washington believe our military has the best of everything and that no other military in the world could challenge us. The NDS explicitly warns the opposite." 13/

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton @ReaganInstitute "If there is a consensus about the National Defense Strategy, it’s a Washington consensus, and a fragile one at that. If the NDS is to last, it must be supported by an American consensus." Bingo! 14/

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton @ReaganInstitute "Political leaders of both parties, from the president on down, have to remind the American people at every opportunity that we are in a competition." 15/

@JimInhofe @MacTXPress @HawleyMO @SASCMajority @HASCRepublicans @SenTomCotton @ReaganInstitute "We’re not going to win this competition with a strong military alone — but we will lose it without one. These are the stakes for the NDS: revitalizing American military power so that America can achieve its vision of a safe, prosperous and free world." SUPERB!!! 16/