National Security
As the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, I am committed to ensuring that our military personnel, veterans, and their families receive the support of our government in return for their years of faithful service. Working to ensure our service members and their families are well cared for will remain my top priority.
In addition to providing our military personnel with adequate pay and benefits, it is important we work to ensure that our military has the proper equipment, resources, and policies to meet the threats we face today and well into the future. However, in a time of mounting pressure on the Federal budget we must also ensure that every dollar spent on defense is done so in an effective and efficient manner. Simply spending more money does not make our country safer – spending more wisely and effectively does.
While we must ensure that our warfighters have the equipment and training they need to carry out their missions, we must do a better job of carefully examining our policies, requirements, and acquisition programs to improve efficiencies and eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in the Department of Defense.
To that end, I will continue to work to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as it is becoming woefully expensive to operate and the annual cost-per inmate greatly exceeds the cost of holding someone in a maximum security federal prison. It is of great importance that we work to restore civil liberties and due process for all persons. Our civilian law enforcement and justice systems have a proven track record of success when it comes to investigating and prosecuting suspected terrorists.
I am proud to serve as the Ranking Member of the Armed Service Committee and remain committed to supporting our local communities in Washington State and all members of the Armed Services who represent us bravely at home and abroad.
- Safeguarding Israel’s security: Requested sufficient procurement, research, and development funding to protect Israel from short, medium, and long-range missile attacks.
- Stability and Security in Somalia: Encouraged and supported the Department of Defense’s (DoD) bi-lateral security cooperation and counter-terrorism efforts to improve the security situation in Somalia and address terrorist threats from Al-Shabaab.
- Exploring Technology for Clean Water and Desalination: Knowing the DoD has made advances in desalination technology and that lack of clean water is a factor in destabilization around the world, Congressman Smith asked the DoD to provide further information on the recent advances in desalination technologies and how those advances have been shared with other Government agencies.
- Protecting Servicemembers: Noting the importance of fighting drug addiction, introduced legislative language directing the DoD to study how education, prevention, treatment, and outreach on opioid prescription drug abuse may improve individual readiness, health, and quality of life of military service members and their beneficiaries, as well as lower health care costs.
- Supporting People-to-People Ties with English language programs: Requested the Department of Defense to issue a brief on opportunities to explore expanded programming in the areas of teaching English abroad and at home.
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More on National Security
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, seven House Democratic national security leaders sent a letter to Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Defense Secretary James Mattis to oppose President Trump’s recent decision to deploy National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Washington, DC – Today, House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA), Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI), House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee Ranking Member Jackie Speier (D-CA), and Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) sent a letter to Secretary of Defense James Mattis
“President Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard on the U.S. border is an ill-conceived, unnecessary stunt that inappropriately militarizes the issue of immigration enforcement. He appears to have based his decision largely on reports disseminated by conservative talk shows. The fact remains that according to the U.S. Border Patrol, for Fiscal Year 2017, illegal border crossings are at their lowest levels since 1971.
Join Congressman Adam Smith for a Town Hall Meeting
Congressman Adam Smith is looking forward to meeting with constituents to hear their concerns, answer questions, and discuss issues facing Congress.
When: Wednesday, March 28th from 6:00pm to 7:00pm
Where: Federal Way City Hall, 33325 8th Ave S, Federal Way, WA 98003
“President Trump’s decision to ban transgender military service is vicious, inhumane, and utterly wrong. There are scores of transgender men and women serving in the military right now, under a policy that had already been established & vetted by DOD and validated by the courts.
“There is zero credible evidence that this policy has negatively affected readiness. By issuing this decision, President Trump has engaged in an act of pure discrimination against people who sacrifice every day to serve their country—and who have been doing so for years.
“Today the House of Representatives passed an omnibus spending bill that funds the federal government through the end of September. This bill will give more certainty to our federal agencies, but unfortunately it underfunds key areas of the budget and takes us further down our current path of fiscal irresponsibility by ballooning our federal debt and increasing our already unmanageable deficit.
WASHINGTON—Today, a bipartisan group of House members introduced legislation to promote more effective development in fragile and unstable countries, addressing the conditions that create safe havens for terrorists, criminal networks, and war lords. The Global Fragility and Violence Reduction Act (H.R.
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Adam Smith, Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Effective Foreign Assistance, and fellow Co-Chair Congressman Ted Yoho (R-FL) have introduced H.R. 5105 – the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development (BUILD) Act of 2018.
“I could have supported most, if not all, of the funding in this bill but for the fact that just two months ago, we cut taxes by $2 trillion dollars. This legislation is like quitting your job and only then deciding that you want to buy a new house and a second car. I am supportive of spending the money necessary to meet our country’s needs. I am not in favor of continuing to borrow it; I want to raise the revenue necessary.