McKeon, Turner & Armed Services Committee Republicans Draw Attention to New Report on Iran’s Military

Washington, D.C.—U.S. House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), Armed Forces Strategic Forces Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Turner (R-Ohio), and Republican members on the committee today called attention to elements included in and certain information excluded from the Department of Defense’s Military Power Report on Iran. The report, which was mandated in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act, is designed to provide Congress and the Administration with an assessment of the Iranian regime’s current and future military strategy.

Rep. McKeon: “The Pentagon’s new report confirms Iran’s efforts to support and cultivate terrorist surrogates throughout the Middle East to attack American citizens and interests. The rogue regime has re-armed Hezbollah and provides the terrorist group hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The assessment also makes it perfectly clear that Iran has gone to great lengths to protect and hide its nuclear infrastructure. Nearly as troubling, Iran is developing anti-access, aerial-denial capabilities with its investments in mobile coastal defense cruise missiles, rockets launchers, coastal artillery and ballistic missiles.”

“Unfortunately, the report failed to include information that is critical to truly assessing Iran’s military capability and future intentions. The Department of Defense failed to provide adequate information on the funding provided to each branch of Iran’s military, the Revolutionary Guards-Quds Force or the country’s special operations forces. Additionally, the report lacked specific information about Iran’s regional strategy and military doctrine—and failed to provide a sufficient assessment of Iran’s conventional or unconventional capabilities.”

“In addition to my concerns about what is not included in the report, I’m bothered by the Administration’s attempts to downplay Iran’s militant ideology in the report. I question the Department’s assessment that the goal of the Iranian strategy is ‘the survival of the regime’ and its ‘ideological goals have taken a back seat to pragmatic considerations.’ This flies in the face of the regime’s efforts to export the Ayatollah’s radical religious vision beyond Iran’s borders.”

Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio): “Despite the Administration’s insistence last September that the long-range missile threat was slower to develop, the Administration’s own report confirms that Iran could develop and test an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the U.S. by 2015. Therefore, I remain gravely concerned that Administration’s Phased Adaptive Approach is not designed to protect our homeland until 2020. I will look to include specific initiatives in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011to address Iran’s development of missile capabilities and to ensure the U.S. homeland and our Allies are adequately protected before the threat develops.”

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.): “The report released yesterday highlighting Iran’s ability to reach the United States with a long range ballistic missile confirms what we already know – that Iran will stop at nothing to demonstrate its military capability. Whether it is funding insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hezbollah in Lebanon, or Hamas in Gaza, or continuing to develop nuclear capabilities, Iran has been and continues to be the largest state sponsor of terrorism and a threat to the entire civilized world. And yet, this Administration continues to believe that diplomacy is the answer. Now, based on reports from Secretary Gates, we are in a situation in which we are unprepared to deal with their military advances. It seems clear to me that the time for diplomacy is over. We need to enforce sanctions that have teeth such as prohibiting refined petroleum from being imported into the country.”

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.): “Recently released information on Iran’s military is a stark reminder of the military and nuclear realities in the region. The Department of Defense’s report confirms many concerns including Iran’s efforts to hide nuclear infrastructure, their support of terrorist surrogates, and the terrifying investment in a missile that could hit the United States by 2015. Now is the time for the Administration and Congress to put forward an effective strategy to deal with Iran. Additionally, it is imperative that we work vigilantly with our allies and partners around the world to ensure any measures dissuade Iran from continuing to go down this dangerous road.”

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.): "I am deeply concerned that the DOD's Military Power Report on Iran leaves conspicuously absent several key factors, including the radical ideology that motivates Iran's leaders and its military, which should impact the United States' response to the increasingly belligerent and aggressive Iranian regime. Ignoring key facts about Iran's conventional and unconventional military strategy could have disastrous implications for our foreign policy toward Iran, the world's greatest state sponsor of terrorism and, I believe, the greatest threat to freedom and security we face today. The last remaining window we have to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear power and transferring that knowledge to terrorists all over the world is rapidly closing. I urge the Administration to adopt every possible sense of urgency when addressing the Iranian threat."

Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.): “The Iranian regime has done nothing to prove itself as anything but a threat to the United States and our allies in the Middle East and Europe. The Administration is doing a disservice to our military by failing to produce a candid report on the military strength of the Iranian regime,” said Congressman Bill Shuster. “I am particularly concerned that the Administration’s report omits significant information about their development and deployment of active denial systems that could defeat our inventory of short and long range missile systems. This is critical information that will have a important impact on the security posture of our interests in the Persian Gulf and that of our allies. This omission must be corrected.”

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.): “The report confirms what most intelligent observers of world events already know: Iran poses an increasing threat to regional and global stability. The report offers substantive analysis of Iran’s attempt to protect and hide its nuclear infrastructure, its growing ballistic missile force, and its continued efforts to export radicalism and terrorism abroad. However, it fails to offer a comprehensive strategy to deal with that imminent threat. We cannot continue to deal with Iran’s growing threat on the fly. We must develop a long term approach on how we will stop Iran from threatening global peace and assist Iranian dissidents in their desire for regime change.”

Rep. John Fleming, M.D. (R-La.): “While I’m glad the Pentagon undertook this assessment, I personally didn’t need a report to confirm that the Iranian threat is real and credible. Bottom line is Iran and its extremist regime pose a significant danger to the United States and our allies, particularly Israel. I can only hope that the Democratic majority doesn’t shortchange the Department of Defense again this year on key investments in ballistic missile defense, which are essential to countering the growing threat of a nuclear armed Iran. President Obama and his national security team should heed this warning and get serious about Iran.”

Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.): “We need more specific intelligence about Iran’s true military capabilities. We cannot underestimate, as this report does, the militant ideology of Iran’s leaders or their desire to do us harm.”

McKeon and Turner indicated that they will look to include specific initiatives in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 to force the Administration to develop a comprehensive, long-term strategy to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions and military build-up. The House Armed Services Committee is expected to consider the annual defense policy bill in May. ###

Press Release: April 20, 2010

Israel’s Independence Day a Reason to Celebrate

Washington, Apr 20 - Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-GA) issued the following statement as the Israeli people celebrate their Independence Day.

“Israel’s Independence Day is an occasion to celebrate for every American who values our strong alliance with the leading democracy in the Middle East,” said Chairman Price. “The Israeli people’s journey to preserve their independence as a Jewish state has been and remains a difficult one. Unfortunately, the chill placed on U.S.-Israeli relations by the Obama administration makes that journey even more challenging. Along with a strong majority of the United States Congress, I remain steadfastly committed to ensuring the mutual security of our two nations.

“The American people have no greater friend or ally than Israel. That Israel has received such a cool reception by this current administration while the tyrannical Iranian regime gets ever closer to possessing a nuclear weapon is reckless and irresponsible. The obvious pursuit by Ahmadinejad and company poses a clear threat to the United States, to Israel, and to stability in the region. I call on President Obama on this special day of recognition for Israel to embrace the freedom loving people of Israel and correct the wayward international course of his administration.” ###

Congressman Tom Price is Chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC). FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4.20.2010