SENATOR JOE DONNELLY: On behalf of the people here at Crane and all the people of Indiana, we want to welcome you, Mr. Secretary, to our facility here.
Crane is an extraordinary place. And it helps keep our warfighters safe. It helps make sure they have the equipment they need to go into battle and to come back home to their families, to move our nation forward. And so we take great pride in the work being done here. It's done in extraordinary fashion. It's done with the most creative engineering in the world. And it's an absolute gem to our entire country.
And so we're blessed to have Secretary Carter with us, who, we've talked, and he said I'd like to see just the kind of things that we're doing out there. And so he's been kind enough to come by today.
Secretary Carter works nonstop to make sure that our men and women are safe, that they have the equipment they need; that when we go into a fight, we win the fight. And that our nation move forward.
And so, Sir, we're proud to have you here. Thank you very, very much for -- (inaudible).
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASHTON CARTER: Thanks.
Listen, I want to thank Senator Donnelly for knowing the importance of this place and making the suggestion to me that we come here together to learn about what's going on there; to make sure that I'm completely up to date on the fantastic work being done here; to thank the spectacular work of the staff here, and also the community for supporting this terrific installation.
What Crane does for us is so wide and so deep, but just to give everyone a little bit of a sense of this -- the significance for our national security of the work that goes on here, they do things that range from our nuclear deterrent, which is the bedrock of our security, to supporting today's warfighter who is protecting us and our people and our country right now, today, tonight, around the world; to high-tech, but incredibly important areas for our future, like electronic warfare, -- (inaudible) -- micro circuits, and all of these fancy and advanced technologies, without which the finest fighting force the world has ever known can't remain that way.
So we have to be the best. We have to be the first with the best. We have to be the fastest with the best. And as the senator said, support the people who are supporting us. And in that connection, I want to thank him both for his support, of course, for Crane, but more generally for our military -- always -- (inaudible) -- our men and women first. He's done a tremendous amount, for example, in the area of mental health. So this is somebody who really cares about the troops and knows that at bedrock, it's a force that is made up of people.
And there are people in uniform. There are people -- civilians, like the many civilians here at Crane, scientists and engineers, skill sorts of all kinds -- of all kinds.
So this is a national treasure, this location right here at Crane, and we're grateful to the community here, to your congressional delegation for their support of us as we support this installation.
SEN. DONNELLY: We've go time for a few questions before the secretary heads off for Chicago. I'll start, you're working hard -- (inaudible) -- (Laughter.)
(CROSSTALK)
Q: Secretary, I'm sure you have heard of the arrest of the teenager in Indiana last night on federal terrorism charges. Wondering -- arrests like that, does that come to your level? What do you make of that? And what does this say about the overall fight, which is the backdrop here today?
SEC. CARTER: Well, it's a law enforcement matter, so it doesn't come to the secretary of defense per se. I know the FBI was involved, the U.S. attorney here. The FBI is doing an excellent job of getting on top of this problem of homegrown terrorism.
Our job is to destroy ISIL in Iraq and Syria, which we must do and will do. That's absolutely necessary because it's essential that we destroy the idea that there can be a state based upon this ideology. We will do that. We have to combat ISIL where it spreads everywhere around the world.
But then last, we have to do it here at home and that's principally a law enforcement, Homeland Security and intelligence matter. But wherever the Department of Defense can be helpful to our colleagues in doing that, we will be.
SEN. DONNELLY: I'd like to mention that it's a real credit to our FBI team, to U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler and his team. They knew about this individual. They tracked him. They got hold of him. Their focus, like our focus, is to keep our nation safe, to keep our state safe, and so they did a great job on all of that.
What you see here in Crane, their mission, their dedication is to make sure it's never a fair fight, that our men and women always have the quantitative edge and quantitative advantage. And so we're very fortunate in that respect, the work they do here.
And then on the homefront, folks like the FBI with everybody in our state, that if you see something a little bit off, call. Let us know. Let us know what you see, let us know what's going on because, as a team together, we can keep our country safe and our state safe.
But I really want to give credit to the whole law enforcement community, not just the FBI, but everybody, to our U.S. attorney for -- for doing this in such an extraordinary fashion, such a quick fashion and taking this guy off the streets.
(CROSSTALK)
STAFF: I'm sorry. Laurie, go ahead.
Q: Real quick. Secretary Carter, you knew about Crane way back, I think, when you were in charge of acquisitions for the military -- the DOD. What did you know about Crane back then, 2009, before you ever came here?
SEC. CARTER: Well, I mean, it's a pretty well-known place in the technological community because of the level of -- of technical talent that resides here. It's very well-known for its work in supporting our sea-based nuclear deterrent, and that -- that's a -- something that goes back decades.
It's -- it's very well-known for its work, which I haven't mentioned yet, which -- which the Army manages here, for ammunition management, shipping, huge. But the thing that -- if you're going to go back to 2009, it will always be dear to my heart and should be for every American, is the role that Crane played in helping us support the warfighter rapidly when we were moving into Afghanistan and we needed to all sort of new things really fast. And our -- our campaign's success depended upon it and the lives of our servicemembers depended upon it.
And Crane was involved in all kinds of things to -- to fight; improvised explosive devices --
Q: Jamming technology -- (inaudible). Yes.
SEC. CARTER: Absolutely critical. So these are things that are -- saved life and limb for Americans fighting for us. I saw it everyday in those days and I knew it was coming from here, and there's nothing that fills your heart more when you're working on national security problems than that kind of contribution. It doesn't get any better than that.
Q: Will that ensure Crane's future, that kind of -- (inaudible)?
SEC. CARTER: I think that Crane has a bright future because it is in so many areas of technology that are critical to our country's future and because it has a way of operating which is being rapid and close to operational need that is exactly what we need.
SEC. CARTER: So for both of those reasons, I think it's got a very -- (inaudible).
SEN. DONNELLY: If I could just say one other thing. I was on one of our nuclear submarines last winter. We were doing a ballistic missile test, the USS Kentucky. And was there with Admiral Benjamin. And Admiral Benjamin said to me, too me aside, he said, "You know, in this submarine," he goes, "other than the hull, I think Crane's involved in everything going on in this submarine." And so that's a real testament to the work being done here.
STAFF: We have time for two more.
Q: Given the lag that we face a lot of times between when a weapons systems gets introduced and when it goes into service, and then our expectation is that it's going to last for 50 years, I mean, how hard is it to keep the technology up to speed?
SEC. CARTER: Well, it is hard. And that's why places like this are essential. And you're right. It's not only important for new things, but it's important for keeping things that we want to have for a long time. For example, the Trident missile system -- make sure that even though it looks the same on the outside, and it's still in submarines, that in fact it incorporates some of the newest technology inside.
And Crane is involved in both the new things, where nothing like that has ever been done before, and in making sure that things we've had for a while, but still need, are sustained, are sustained economically, and are improved and modernized as needed. They do the whole thing here at Crane.
STAFF: We have time for one more.
Q: With the votes that went on with the guns in the last couple of days, and the fear of guns being out there and that -- the vote that you did, why did you take the vote you did? And what is the next step to that?
SEN. DONNELLY: Well, you know, I'd be more than happy to focus on that a little bit more after -- the secretary's on such limited time. But I'll answer briefly. There were four votes. I voted for all four, because I want to make sure that the people of our country are safe. I don't think that people on a terrorist watch list or on the no-fly list ought to be able to buy a gun. I don't think that those who are struggling with mental challenges or people with felony records ought to be able to go to a gun show and get a gun. I think that's common sense.
And so I voted for both Democrat and Republican proposals because some folks said, "Well, these don't move the ball enough." And some folks said that "these move the ball too much." Well, you know what? I just want to move the ball. I just want to make the people of Indiana and our nation safer. And I think we're going to continue discussions.
Senator Susan Collins is working right now with a group of us to try to come up with alternative ideas. But the whole goal is, I'm a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. But at the same time, the Second Amendment is not in conflict with keeping the people of our nation safe.
STAFF: Thank you, Senator.
Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
SEC. CARTER: Thanks very much, everybody.