Hearings to examine the nomination of Vice Admiral Richard A. Correll, USN, to be Admiral and Commander, United States Strategic Command.

Armed Services Committee

2025-10-30

Source: Congress.gov

Summary

This hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee was held to consider the nomination of Vice Admiral Richard Correll for appointment to Admiral and to be the Commander of the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) [ 00:21:21 ]

. Admiral Correll and his wife, Samantha, were welcomed and thanked for their service [ 00:21:36 ] . If confirmed, Admiral Correll would serve as the principal advisor to the President for all nuclear deterrence missions during an exceptionally challenging period .

Themes

Tone of the Meeting

The meeting maintained a largely respectful and professional tone, with senators congratulating Admiral Correll and thanking him and his family for their decades of service [ 00:21:49 ]

[ 00:24:27 ] [ 00:43:43 ] [ 01:05:07 ] . However, discussions were marked by serious concerns regarding national security threats, the challenges of nuclear modernization, and the implications of presidential statements [ 00:32:08 ] [ 00:56:31 ] [ 00:58:19 ] [ 01:23:20 ] . A notable political charge emerged around the topic of nuclear testing, with strong opposition from some senators and differing interpretations or justifications from others regarding President Trump's recent comments [ 00:38:36 ] . There was also a consistent emphasis on the importance of congressional oversight, transparency, and the nominee's commitment to providing candid military advice, even if it contradicts administration views [ 00:56:58 ] [ 01:42:01 ] .

Participants

Transcript

Good morning, everyone. Admiral. Admiral, good morning. Senator Rosen, thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this morning's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to consider the nomination of Vice Admiral Richard Correll for the appointment to Admiral and to be the Commander of the United States Strategic Command. Admiral Correll is here with his wife, Samantha. Thank you both for being here today. Vice Admiral Correll is a career submariner. Throughout his illustrious career, Admiral Correll has led many different commands and organizations. Their success during and after his time with them is a testament to his leadership. Since 2022, Vice Admiral Correll has served as the Deputy Commander of STRATCOM. If confirmed, his leadership, knowledge, and direct command experience will be invaluable to the men and women who serve at STRATCOM and to the Secretary, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Commander-in-Chief. And STRATCOM will continue to need great leadership in the next several years. The United States faces two adversarial nuclear powers in Russia and China. It is STRATCOM's responsibility to ensure they remain deterred and never believe they can attack the United States or our allies and not risk their own annihilation. Russia is concluding a significant modernization effort of its nuclear forces. Russia now wields modern, diverse, and capable nuclear forces, and they continue to test novel weapons, including their new Skyfall missile earlier this week. They have long held an advantage in tactical nuclear weapons.

China is also modernizing its nuclear forces, but with far less transparency. They have improved their launchers, missiles, and warheads by simultaneously ramping up warhead production to potentially triple their stockpile by 2035. And they are moving breathtakingly fast. For our own forces, every day our sailors and airmen operate the missiles, submarines, and aircraft that carry nuclear weapons. continuously deterring any would-be aggressor, but they will not last forever. The Minuteman III ICBMs representing the land-based leg of the triad has been in operation for 60 years. Each year, the average age of our Ohio-class submarines, which provide the most survivable leg of the nuclear triad, gets closer to 40. And although it is a testament to the brave men and women serving that we have been able to maintain and modernize our fleet of bombers over the decades, they are also aging and must be replaced with newer and stealthier aircraft who remain relevant and lethal in the years to come. The Sentinel ICBM system, Columbia-class submarines, and the B-21 bombers are all progressing, but we see too many delays. While it is up to each of the services to properly sustain their legacy systems while fielding the new capabilities, it is the responsibility of the commander of U.S. Strategic Command to mitigate any risks caused by those delays, always ensuring our nuclear forces never experience a lapse in their 24-7 mission. The STRATCOM commander also has the responsibility to provide the president a broad array of options and to prevent gaps in our deterrence posture. One gap identified by the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review

is an adversary's potential use of a tactical nuclear weapon based on a belief that the U.S. does not have an adequate response to such a strike and therefore would not or could not respond, the theory known as escalate to deescalate. Our adversaries must always know that the U.S. will have a response. I look forward to hearing Admiral Currell's thoughts on options to address these capability gaps during this hearing. I also look forward to hearing Admiral Currell's thoughts and recommendations with respect to the command, control, and communication of our nuclear forces, or NC3, what Senator King and I refer to as the fourth leg of the triad. NC3 underpins all aspects of nuclear deterrence and is vital to ensuring our nuclear deterrent remains effective and reliable. The current STRATCOM commander, General Cotton, developed an NC3 roadmap to lay out the path ahead for NC3 technology development, and the next STRATCOM commander will need to continue these efforts. So again, I say thank you to Admiral Correll and to his family for their years of service to our country and for being here today. We are truly grateful to have such a uniquely suited individual sitting before us today. With that, I would ask unanimous consent to enter Senator Wicker's opening statement into the record. With no objection, so moved. Senator Reid, you are recognized for your opening.

John (Jack) F. Reed

Well, thank you very much, Madam Chairman. And good morning, Admiral Correll, and congratulations on your nomination. I'd like to welcome you and your wife, Samantha, to the hearing today. And thank you both for the long career of service to the nation. Thank you.

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