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Mattis: Budget Predictability Shows Alignment of Congress, Executive Branch

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The Defense Department’s best budget predictability in more than a decade shows that Congress and the executive branch are aligned in terms of the threats to the nation and current and future military readiness, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said today.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis speaks during a news conference with Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Pentagon, May 19, 2017. Mattis and Dunford updated reporters on the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. DoD photo by Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith
Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, update reporters on the effort to defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria during a joint news conference at the Pentagon, May 19, 2017. DoD photo by Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis speaks during a news conference with Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Pentagon, May 19, 2017. Mattis and Dunford updated reporters on the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. DoD photo by Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith
Mattis Remarks
Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, update reporters on the effort to defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria during a joint news conference at the Pentagon, May 19, 2017. DoD photo by Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith
Photo By: Amber I. Smith
VIRIN: 170519-D-SV709-137

“We are aligning that money on current readiness, but also with future readiness,” the secretary told reporters at the Pentagon. “You will see more money going into research and engineering about future protection and future readiness.”

The National Defense Strategy says America faces an ever more lethal and disruptive battlefield -- combined across domains and conducted at increasing speed and reach, from close combat, throughout overseas theaters and reaching to the homeland.

“It’s not the Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy, its America’s National Defense Strategy,” the secretary said, adding that it’s contingent on him and his team talking to people and making certain they have their ears open to criticism and the ideas of the people.

Expulsion of Russian Diplomats

Mattis also talked about governments in Europe, the United States and beyond expelling Russian diplomats in response to an attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain.

NATO’s expulsion of Russian diplomats showed the alliance was still relevant,” Mattis told reporters. Russia has the potential to be a partner with Europe, but Russia has chosen to seek a different relationship with the NATO nations, he said.

Russia’s actions have been a threat to democracy, seeking to break the Western alliance, Mattis said, not only with its recent attack on the Russian spy and his daughter, but also with its 2014 annexation of Crimea, military intervention in eastern Ukraine, and its interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

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