McConnell Comments on Colby Nomination

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) issued the following statement today on the nomination of Elbridge Colby to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy:

"Preparing to deter or defeat an historic alignment of adversaries must be the top priority for the United States and the West. But the more we indulge the fiction that these threats are not linked, and the longer we delay overdue investments in the national defense, the more difficult the task of restoring our credibility, our military capability, and our industrial capacity will become.

"Elbridge Colby's long public record suggests a willingness to discount the complexity of the challenges facing America, the critical value of our allies and partners, and the urgent need to invest in hard power to preserve American primacy. The prioritization that Mr. Colby argues is fresh, new, and urgently needed is, in fact, a return to an Obama-era conception of a la carte geostrategy. Abandoning Ukraine and Europe and downplaying the Middle East to prioritize the Indo-Pacific is not a clever geopolitical chess move. It is geostrategic self-harm that emboldens our adversaries and drives wedges between America and our allies for them to exploit.

"Mr. Colby's confirmation leaves open the door for the less-polished standard-bearers of restraint and retrenchment at the Pentagon to do irreparable damage to the system of alliances and partnerships which serve as force multipliers to U.S. leadership. It encourages isolationist perversions of peace through strength to continue apace at the highest levels of Administration policymaking.

"As I have expressed repeatedly, I remain committed to supporting national security nominees whose records and views make them assets, not liabilities, in the restoration of U.S. hard power. As he gets to work, Mr. Colby will need to work swiftly to advance policy that conforms to the President's recognition of U.S. interests from Europe to the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific. I hope he will come to appreciate the essential role our allies play in advancing our collective interests, the urgent need for enduring investments in our national defense, and the linked and simultaneous challenges we face.

"Make no mistake: America will not be made great again by those who are content to manage our decline."

Permalink: https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2025/4/mcconnell-comments-on-colby-nomination