Defense Writers Group
18 March 2024
Moderator: Welcome to this Defense Writers Group with Senator Jack Reed. Senator Reed as everyone knows is Chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee. As I told him before we logged on, this is one of our largest gatherings of the year which shows the intense interest in what you have to say. The ground rules as always. It’s on the record. You can record for accuracy and quotes, but there’s no rebroadcast of audio or video.
The first question is mine, power of the chair, and then I’ll go around the room. Almost 20 of you emailed in advance to get on the list. We’ll get to as many as we can, and we save the last five minutes for Senator Reed’s closing comments.
Senator, thank you for joining us. It’s good to have you here. You recently returned from a very important trip to Ukraine. Given your military experience, what you know as Chairman now, can you share your battlefield assessment? How are things going there on the ground? What is your sense for coming weeks and months? And also if you can comment on the other battleground, sir, the one in Congress over funding.
Senator Reed: We had a great opportunity to first link up with our team lead by Ambassador Brink. I also preceded my entry into Ukraine by visiting our Army posts and Air Force posts in Germany -- Stuttgart, Wiesbaden, Grafenwoehr, et cetera. I wanted to get a sense of what we’re learning from the Ukrainians and what we’re teaching the Ukrainians and have a better perspective as I entered.
