Washington, DC –

Today, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee held a joint hearing with the Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee to hear testimony on irregular warfare, stability operations and interagency integration. Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee ranking Republican Todd Akin (R-MO) released the following opening statement for the hearing:

“Thank you, Chairman Snyder, Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Thornberry. Good afternoon to our witnesses, we appreciate you being here today.

“After studying Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) and the subject of interagency stability operations for more than four months, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee is ready to close out this investigation. Today’s hearing offers an opportunity to hear from administration witnesses and military commanders on how we are learning from the PRT program in Iraq and Afghanistan as we plan and execute future stability operations across the interagency.

“This joint hearing with the Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee offers an opportunity to assess how the Department of Defense is generating and integrating stability operations competencies across the services and in the Department with other non-traditional, unconventional capabilities. In particular, I’m interested in following up on Secretary Vickers’ testimony on how the new Irregular Warfare directive appropriately prioritizes stability operations compared to the previous directive, and takes into account what interagency partners are doing in the arena of stability operations.

“Again, thank you to our witnesses for being here today. I look forward to your testimony.”