Washington, DC – This week, Congresswoman Stefanik was appointed to two new subcommittee assignments on the House Armed Services Committee for the 117th Congress. She issued the following announcement:
“Since my first year in Congress, I have proudly served on the House Armed Services Committee, successfully delivering results to the men and women in uniform of the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, North Country military families, and veterans. I am honored to announce my appointment as the Ranking Republican on the Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems Subcommittee, and as a member of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee. These subcommittees will focus on critical issues that will be essential to securing America’s national security at home and abroad in the years ahead.
The importance of the newly created Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems Subcommittee is critical to our future national security. The subcommittee has jurisdiction over the policies and capabilities related to cyber, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, spectrum (i.e. 5G) information technology and information operations, and defense-wide research, development, test and evaluation. These issues will be at the forefront of our national defense strategy and policy in the 21st century. Through legislation introduced in this subcommittee, the United States will challenge China’s technological rise and improve our economic competitiveness, as history has shown that technological capabilities developed at the Department of Defense—such as the internet and GPS—have a game-changing effect on our economy and everyday life. The most recent incident under this subcommittee’s jurisdiction, the SolarWinds cyber-hack, demonstrates the importance of providing our cyber forces the resources and support necessary to defend our country’s institutions and infrastructure.
I am also honored to be appointed to serve on the Strategic Forces Subcommittee. This subcommittee has jurisdiction over America’s nuclear weapons, missile defense, space policy and operations, and arms control and non-proliferation. During my time in Congress, I have successfully worked to ensure that Fort Drum is the designated location for a future East Coast Missile Defense site. This subcommittee appointment will allow me to better advocate for future missile defense at Fort Drum. This subcommittee is also a critical component to advancing deterrence against our adversaries. Rogue nations like Iran and North Korea are building increasingly sophisticated nuclear and missile capabilities, and arms control regimes with our peer adversaries in China and Russia continue to be strained, especially with the advent of new capabilities and technologies like hypersonic weapons. This subcommittee is essential to protecting against these threats to the homeland and advancing America’s interest of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
I am proud and excited about these new assignments, and ready to work on the critical issues within their jurisdictions that are essential to the security of the United States. Through this work, I will continue to ensure that the North Country has a seat at the table at the highest levels, and I will continue my role as the chief advocate in Congress for the Fort Drum community.”
