Sen. Dan Sullivan has been named chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness.
He was appointed by the new chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma.
Both vacancies come after the passing of the late Sen. John McCain, who had chaired the full Senate Armed Services Committee since 2015. Inofe had been the chair of the Readiness Subcommittee.
Sullivan serves on Armed Services; Commerce, Science and Transportation; Environment and Public Works; and Veterans’ Affairs committees.
“The passing of Senator John McCain leaves extremely large shoes to fill, not only in the United States Senate but when it comes to the broader issues of national security, foreign policy, international diplomacy and freedom,” said Sen. Sullivan. “While John’s leadership can’t be replaced, I’m honored to do my part on the Senate Armed Services Committee to continue his legacy of service on behalf of our nation’s men and women in uniform.”
Sullivan will oversee military readiness across each branch within the Department of Defense, including these portfolios:
- Responsibilities: Military readiness including training, logistics, and maintenance; military construction; housing construction and privatization; contracting and acquisition policy; business and financial management; base realignment and closure; and defense energy and environmental programs.
- Special additional areas: Conventional ammunition procurement; Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation of infrastructure; National Defense Stockpile; defense industrial and technology base policies; facility and housing maintenance and repair; land and property management; information technology management policy (excluding cyber); and industrial operations, including depots, shipyards, arsenals, and ammunition plants.
- Oversight of budget accounts: Operation and maintenance; Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation of support programs; conventional ammunition procurement; military construction and family housing; base realignment and closure; working capital funds; the National Defense Stockpile Transaction Fund.
- Oversight of DoD offices: Undersecretary of Defense (Acquisition and Sustainment); Department of Defense Chief Management Officer; and the Chief Management Officers of the military departments.
- Oversight of DOD agencies and commands: U.S. Transportation Command; Defense Logistics Agency; Defense Finance and Accounting Service; Defense Investigative Service; Defense Contract Audit Agency; DOD Inspector General.
“As Alaskans know, our state is at the forefront of military readiness and training – home to expansive training ranges, large-scale exercises like REDFLAG-Alaska and Northern Edge, and the best trained soldiers and airmen in the world,” Sullivan said.
“I recently highlighted these areas with Secretary Mattis and our Service Secretaries so they could better understand the value of our geostrategic location and the vital role Alaska serves in the Indo-Pacific. As the chairman of the Subcommittee on Readiness, I will continue to press these issues and others to take appropriate steps to ensure our troops have the resources, equipment, and training they need to protect our nation against an increasingly complex and diverse array of threats.”