National Defense Authorization Act

Floor Speech

Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the legislation before us, the National Defense Authorization Act, and to highlight some of the many provisions in this legislation that are critical as we think about our national security and the future of our military. I chair the Readiness and Management Subcommittee, and I understand that one of the chief challenges which faces our military is readiness. The effects of nearly 10 years of warfare on our equipment and personnel, coupled with the sharp budget reductions under sequestration, have made it more difficult for our Nation's military leaders to prepare our forces for combat.

During our markup of the Readiness and Management Subcommittee sections of this bill, I was pleased to work with my colleague from New Hampshire, the ranking member of the Readiness and Management Subcommittee Senator Ayotte to move more than $1.5 billion from low-priority military construction projects into critical operations and maintenance accounts for each of our military services. This move will help mitigate the worst effects of sequestration on readiness. It is obviously not going to address the whole problem. We have a lot more work to do. Our men and women in uniform put their lives on the line for us, and we need to keep the commitment we have made that they should have the best possible training and best available equipment before we send them into combat.

I was also pleased to work with Senators McCain, Leahy, and Grassley to include a 1-year extension of the special immigrant visa programs for both Iraq and Afghanistan. Special immigrant visas allow Afghans and Iraqis who worked directly with our U.S. Government and our men and women on the ground to come to the United States if their lives are in danger as a result of their service. We have heard countless stories of how these young brave men and women risked their lives to help the United States drive out violent extremists from their home countries of Iraq and Afghanistan. As we wind down our military operations, we have a responsibility to ensure that those who are in danger as a result of their faithful service to the United States are protected from harm.

Many of us are now familiar with one of these stories that has been much publicized, the story of U.S. soldier Matt Zeller and his Afghan interpreter Janis Shinwari, who served the U.S. Government for over 9 years in Afghanistan. During an attack in 2009, Shinwari not only pulled Zeller out of a kill zone to safety, he also shot two members of the Taliban who were sneaking up behind them. In doing that, he saved Zeller's life. Following the incident, Shinwari was put on a Taliban kill list.

After many months--really years--of waiting, both Zeller and Shinwari recently reunited here in the United States thanks to this special immigrant visa program. I had the opportunity, with Senator McCain, to meet the two of them in my office several weeks ago. Matt Zeller said that Janis Shinwari is his brother. He expressed how grateful he was to Shinwari for saving not only his life but all of the other members of his unit who were helped by Shinwari.

These stories are incredibly common, and I am grateful to all of our colleagues for their assistance in reauthorizing this program, not just through the NDAA bill that is before us but the short-term extension we were able to get during the government shutdown by unanimous consent in both the Senate and the House. It shows just how much we appreciate, in America, the service these men and women from Iraq and Afghanistan have given to us.

The bill before us also includes provisions from the Next Generation Cooperative Threat Reduction Act, which I introduced earlier this year. The Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Act is the most successful nonproliferation program in our country's history. The language in the underlying bill would expand the scope of Nunn-Lugar to reflect the current security environment.

Specifically, the bill requires the President to develop a comprehensive strategy to address the rapidly growing threat of proliferation across the Middle East and North Africa. The spread of nuclear weapons is one of the gravest threats we face, both in the United States and across our international community. We need to make sure our efforts to combat those challenges are coordinated and reflect where the current security challenges exist.

I am also pleased we were able to increase funding in this bill for the Department of Defense inspectors general by $35 million. This is important because investment in our Nation's inspectors general continues to be one of the most cost-effective ways the government can work, particularly when it concerns the Department of Defense. In 2012, DOD inspectors general saved taxpayers more than $3.6 billion, and IG efforts have been credited with a nearly $11 return on investment for every $1 spent. As the Presiding Officer knows, given our ongoing fiscal challenges, it is now more important than ever before we ensure every dollar is spent effectively.

Finally, I want to address the issue of military sexual assault that is tackled in this National Defense Authorization Act. It makes significant progress toward addressing the crisis of sexual assault in our Nation's military.

I commend all of the members of the Armed Services Committee who worked to tirelessly address this issue, but I want to particularly call out Senators McCaskill and Gillibrand, who have led the charge and worked to help ensure we include provisions in this act that can address this scourge on our military. Because of their leadership, we are going to pass a bill that will take historic steps toward addressing this problem.

As the Presiding Officer knows, we may have had different ideas about the best way to address the problem, but we are united in our commitment to victims of sexual assault and we will keep fighting for them.

I certainly look forward to supporting the Gillibrand amendment, the Military Justice Improvement Act, along with the Presiding Officer, because it addresses chain-of-command issues that I believe can cause victims of sexual assault in the military to refrain from reporting an incident because they fear either that nothing will be done or that there will be retaliation from their commanders.

Regardless of the outcome of that legislation, it is important to reflect on the provisions that are already included in this bill because the bill before us today includes nearly 30 provisions that address sexual assault, prevention, investigation, and prosecution procedures at the Department of Defense. Almost all of these provisions were agreed to unanimously in the Armed Services Committee. Strong bipartisan support for commonsense sexual assault prevention reforms such as those included in this bill sends a powerful message to all of the members of our military, including tens of thousands of victims, many of whom have been suffering quietly for decades, that what happened to them is unacceptable and it will no longer be tolerated.

One of the critical challenges we face in the military is changing the culture surrounding sexual assault. I was pleased to work with our colleagues to include provisions in the bill to help create an environment where victims can feel safe to come forward and report these crimes.

In any organization, the best way to attract the most qualified personnel is to tie an issue to career advancement. Sexual assault prevention and response is no different. That is why Senator Fischer and I included language that elevates the role of sexual assault prevention response officers to ensure we have the highest caliber candidates assigned to those positions.

Also, in recent months I have held roundtable discussions with New Hampshire law enforcement and with members of our University of New Hampshire community who have worked on sexual assault prevention and with members of the New Hampshire National Guard to discuss their best practices, the way in which they are working together in New Hampshire to address domestic violence and sexual assault. As a result of some of those discussions, we have included in the bill a reform that would require the Defense Department to incorporate civilian sexual assault investigation and prosecution best practices into their military procedures.

I wish to close this afternoon by thanking Chairman Levin and Ranking Member Inhofe for their leadership on this bipartisan bill. We still have a lot of work to do here in the Senate, but obviously the foundation has been laid by the work of the committee and by their leadership.

I also thank my staff for their incredibly hard work and dedication, as well as the staff of all of the Armed Services Committee, because without their contributions we would not have made as much progress as we have. From the readiness subcommittee, I thank Jay Maroney, John Quirk, and Mike Noblet on the majority side; Lucian Niemeyer, Bill Castle, and Bruce Hock from the minority; and from my personal staff Chad Kreikemeier, Josh Lucas, Joel Colony, and Patrick Day.

Finally, I want to say a special thank-you to CDR Tasya Lacey. Tasya is a graduate of the Naval Academy, and she served in my office over the past year as a fellow on loan from the Department of the Navy. Her thoughtfulness and insight have been invaluable on a wide range of issues, especially during our efforts to address sexual assault. She is headed back to the Navy soon, but I wanted her to know that it truly has been a pleasure having her on my staff, and I wish her good luck in her next assignment.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. I hope we can come together in the next couple of days and get this bill done.

I yield the floor, and I note the absence of a quorum.

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