Tuberville Questions U.S. Southern Command and U.S. Cyber Command Nominees

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) questioned Lieutenant General Francis L. Donovan, nominee to be General and Commander of United States Southern Command, and Lieutenant General Joshua M. Rudd, nominee to be Commander of U.S. Cyber Command, Director of the National Security Agency, and Chief of the Central Security Service, during a Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing.

Read excerpts from Sen. Tuberville's exchange with the nominees below or watch on YouTube or Rumble.

TUBERVILLE: "Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning. Thanks for your service, guys. Thanks for having your families here-and for some of their, obviously, service. Lieutenant Donovan, General, […]-you may not have had the opportunity to spend a significant amount of time at your new headquarters, but I've been there several times. It strikes me that while the current facility is good for Southern Command's previous focus, theater security cooperation, I think the next commander will need to evolve the facilities and staff to operate as a more traditional command, especially given President Trump's stated desire to focus more on our own hemisphere. And what's your thoughts on that statement? And will you agree with that to evaluate your situation in terms of your headquarters once you get to Miami?"

DONOVAN: "Senator, thank you for that. I have been thinking a lot about that. And I have to credit the SOUTHCOM team that have done great work, as you mentioned, Senator, on the security cooperation. They're known for that, allies and partners, [for] building that partnership capacity and capability. The NSS directs us to enhance that now into kind of full spectrum capabilities to offer the best military solutions or advice to the Secretary and the President. And, so, the assessment will include all those things you mentioned, Senator, and we'll do that very quickly."

TUBERVILLE: "Thank you. Being a football coach for thirty years, I've dealt with a lot of young people, and I saw the influx of drugs in our country really increase the last 10 or 15 years. But now that we are taking forceable action in your command, in our state of Alabama, I've seen and heard from our law enforcement officers that we have seen a decline in drugs. And I just wanna make that statement because if we don't do something, if we don't take a serious response to what they're doing and coming through the Caribbean, we're gonna lose this generation because our streets are filled with drugs. And if we're closing our eyes to that then shame on us. But I would hope that what you understand, you got a family, you've seen your family grow up and you've seen the streets, but I think, you know, moving to Miami and moving to Southern Command is gonna be an eye-opening experience for you in terms of kind of a different world from what a lot of us are in.

General Rudd, the NSA is likely our most powerful intelligence agency. Cybercomm's importance has become increasingly more important as it has become part of almost every operation we undertake. It's time to reevaluate that dual hat. You know, I've heard some good arguments on both sides. What's your thoughts? And I know our chairman has brought that up. What's your thoughts on the dual role?"

RUDD: "Yeah. Senator, again, from my experience of where I see that applied throughout my career, I think there's demonstration of effectiveness as well as efficiency. I would characterize effectiveness should always trump efficiency. But again, the principles of unity of command and then the ability for that individual to continue to harness and integrate the incredible capabilities of both those organizations I think is a component that enables that organization-both of those-to provide great support to our warfighters. And again, Senator, if I'm confirmed for this, I think my role is to be objective about that as that comes up or if it continues to come up as a topic, I'll be objective. I'll seek great insight from not only the two organizations, but the customer as well, if you will, how does it work best and provide my best advice?"

TUBERVILLE: "Yeah. There's more than one way to skin a cat, you know, and we've got a lot of people doing dual roles, but this is gonna be a very important position-both of these obviously. […] You know, I got full confidence in you, but, you know, when we get you possibly back after you after you're confirmed, we'd love to get a good evaluation of what you think for the future of both of these commands. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman."

Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans' Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.

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