Washington, D.C. – In case you missed it, WWNY Watertown covered Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s work to secure additional support to develop the United States’ third missile defense site at Fort Drum.
As the chief advocate in Congress for Fort Drum and 10th Mountain Division and a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, Stefanik secured Fort Drum’s designation as the preferred East Coast Missile Defense site in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019. She has continued to advocate to maintain this designation and build additional support in each annual NDAA, including requiring a report for a plan on how Fort Drum will be leveraged for this future site in FY22 and FY23 NDAAs to continue moving this project forward.
Last month, Stefanik’s questioning secured General Milley’s statement of support that it is “strategically worthwhile” to host a third missile defense site at Fort Drum, which WWNY Watertown also covered here. Yesterday, she secured a public commitment from Vice Admiral Jon Hill, the Director of the Missile Defense Agency.
Read the full article here or below:
WWNY: Stefanik gets more support for missile defense site at Fort Drum
April 19, 2023
WASHINGTON (WWNY) - North country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik is lining up more support for an East Coast missile defense site to be built at Fort Drum.
At a Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing in Washington, Stefanik asked for a public commitment from Vice Admiral Jon Hill, the director of the Missile Defense Agency, to develop a third missile defense site at Fort Drum.
He supported the placement.
“When it comes to defense, geography is very meaningful and our ability to expand the battle space for something like a next-generation interceptor, that is exactly what that location does and what it does provide,” said Hill.
A couple of weeks ago, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley also stated his support for the system to be built at Fort Drum, the first high-level voice at the Department of Defense to do so.
There’s no authorization from Congress to spend the billions needed to put the missile defense site at Fort Drum, although it has been chosen as the location if it were to get built.
