Mobbs’s full testimony can be found HERE once the hearing begins.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) today announced Meaghan Mobbs, senior fellow at IWF, West Point graduate, and former paratrooper and combat veteran, will provide expert testimony before the U.S. House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs today at 2:00 p.m. ET on politically driven Department of Defense policies that are affecting military readiness and why the military has failed to meet recruiting requirements.
The hearing, entitled “Ensuring Force Readiness: Examining Progressivism’s Impact on an All-Volunteer Military,” will examine how woke military policies are contributing to concerning trends around U.S. military size and readiness. Mobbs will focus on the current state of America’s military forces and what Congress can do to bolster America’s men and women in uniform.
Mobbs will testify alongside other witnesses:
- Jeremy Hunt, Media Fellow, Hudson Institute
- Brent Sadler, Senior Research Fellow, Center for National Defense, The Heritage Foundation
In her testimony, Mobbs states, in part, “We must directly address ongoing challenges within the Department of Defense and find ways to reach our youngest generations currently unfit, unready, and disinterested in service to our nation.”
Areas of concern that Mobbs will focus on in her testimony include:
- Fewer military families recommending uniformed service;
- The inability to effectively field a military capable of meeting the demands of America’s current threat picture;
- Decreasing pride in America, decline in “trust and confidence” in the military, and the military being irrelevant in people’s lives;
- Capability being at risk when biological differences between men and women are not recognized; and
- Decreased focus on the sole function of our military to deter our nation’s enemies and, if that fails, fight and win our nation’s wars.
Mobbs will encourage Congress to:
- Recognize that the military should, and must be, standards-based and a meritocracy;
- Bolster pride in the United States of America;
- Not disregard data in favor of a political agenda;
- Examine ways to expand eligibility and increase desire and willingness to serve without compromising capabilities;
- Create solutions both internal and external to the Department of Defense to address shortfalls and shortcomings; and
- Reconsider the diversity, equity, and inclusion framework being utilized in theory and in practice both in our education system and in the Department of Defense.
“Americans have witnessed progressivism infuse into many aspects of our society, most worryingly within our armed forces,” said Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Chairman Glenn Grothman (R-WI). “Our military has one critical purpose: to keep American citizens safe both at home and abroad. In the eyes of the Biden Administration, is the race, gender, and sexual preference of our servicemembers more important than the quality of our military’s readiness? Missed recruiting targets, mission priorities driven by politics, and environmental concerns trumping warfighting capabilities are all part of a disturbing trend that has surfaced in recent years due to the radical left’s misplaced priorities. Our subcommittee hearing will allow experts to shed light on the consequences of this pervasive ideology existing within the military branches and ways we can ensure our armed forces remain ready to keep Americans safe.”
Details:
WHAT: U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs: “Ensuring Force Readiness: Examining Progressivism’s Impact on an All-Volunteer Military” Hearing
WHEN: Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. ET
WHERE: 2154 Rayburn House Office Building