WASHINGTON—Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, at a hearing on Feb. 26, challenged the deployment of the military in support of President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration at the southern border, as commanders emphasized the need for modernization of the U.S. nuclear deterrent in the face of threats from China and Russia.
Air Force Gens. John E. Hyten and Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy testified on issues ranging from modernizing the United States’ nuclear triad (comprised of nuclear-armed air and sea forces and land-based nuclear missiles) and prospects for extending and expanding the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia, to the need for additional space-based sensor technology, and heightening the U.S. presence in the Arctic to confront increasing Russian and Chinese operations there.
