Confirmation Hearing: Akno21 (Secretary of Defense)

[Q]

I call this hearing to order.  Senators, please ask your questions of the nominee, Akno21.

[WMS]

What are your plans for the Atlasian military?

[Bacon King]

What is your opinion of Atlasian military units stationed overseas?

[MasterJedi]

Would you consider yourself to be an isolationist or an interventionalist?

[Akno21]

To Master Jedi - I consider myself a mix of both. Pure isolationism, considering that we are the world's only remaining superpower, is simply not an option. It is not in our best interests to stay out of all conflicts, and we would be letting down millions of people across the globe who need our help. While I support intervention in some cases, I do not consider myself a true interventionist, because I oppose several of the interventions that Atlasia has undertaken. However, there are many cases where I believe it is absolutely neccessary for Atlasia to intervene, and therefore I am neither an isolationist or an interventionist.

To Bacon King - I support the Atlasian military units stationed overseas, and applaud the job that they are doing, both those in combat and those out of it. I supported the recent Senate legislation to relocate troops stationed in Europe, and believe that we need to focus on further troop reallocation as we adjust to fighting new types of wars. I think it is important that we have forces stationed all across the world, especially when we are fighting the War on Terror. With that in mind however, we at the same time need to make sure that our forces are not stretched too thin that they cannot operate as well as possible.

To WMS - I hope to do several things during my time as Secretary of Defense. I hope to increase recruitment, which is a neccessity during this time of war. I feel this can be accomplished by an increase in benefits given to soldiers; no one should decline to join the military because they want a higher paying job. I will also initiate plans to look into further moving around our deployed troops to better fit the needs of overall Atlasian plans.  Finally, I plan to devote more resources to port security (Check me if I'm wrong on this, but as we have no Dept. of Homeland Security, I would think the Dept. of Defense would be in charge of this), as we should aim to check a higher percentage of what is coming into the country.

[Democratic Hawk]

In terms of defense spending, do you favour defense spending at current levels or do you see some scope for cuts? If so, where?

'Hawk'

[Sam Spade]

Finally, I plan to devote more resources to port security (Check me if I'm wrong on this, but as we have no Dept. of Homeland Security, I would think the Dept. of Defense would be in charge of this), as we should aim to check a higher percentage of what is coming into the country.

You are correct on this.

[Yates]

Mr. Akno21,

Do you believe that Atlasian forces should remain in Iraq long enough to prevent it from falling into civil war?

[Akno21]

Mr. Akno21,

Do you believe that Atlasian forces should remain in Iraq long enough to prevent it from falling into civil war?

We have spent too much money, lost too many men, and worked too hard to leave Iraq considering the shape it is in now. If we leave now, there is no telling what will happen, but civil war is certainly a likely possibility. There is still work for us to do, and we should continue to do it in the short-term. However, if we stay in Iraq for more than just another few years with the aim of preventing civil war, it will prove not to be feasible, considering how stretched out our military is, nor will it be beneficial in the long-term to the Iraqi people. Eventually, they will need to take care of themselves without our help, but I do not feel we have reached that point yet. I'm also opposed to a timetable because it predicts far into the future, and with Iraq, there's no telling what the situation will be like in 2 years, so it's irresponsible to have a set number of troops for March 2008, for example.

School, I'll answer the rest later.

[CheeseWhiz]

Well, Akno, you already have my support

[WMS]

I thank the honorable nominee for his reply.

[Bacon King]

I thank the nominee for his swift response. I have no additional questions.

[TeePee4Prez]

What more would you do to facilitate in the distribution of fair no-bid military contracts?

[Akno21]

Dave - I do not see any glaring areas that could be cut and really save a large load of money, but I don't believe we should refuse to cut, or at least readjust, the military budget just because it is a time of war. Although I sponsored legislation to provide $1 billion for missile defense, with the type of war we are fighting now, I think that we could reduce, but not eliminate that total. However, at this point I would not come out in support of cutting it, as I have not done sufficient research to say solidly that we can afford to cut spending in that area, but I believe we should look into whether it is neccessary to spend that much on missile defense in this day in age. I am certainly open to cuts, in our budget situation, if we can find them it will be of great help, but we must be rational in what we cut, if we do cut, because the Defense budget is what protects all Atlasians, and before we immediatly cut something, we must make sure that it won't come back to haunt us. I would be open to the idea of setting up some type of group to look into possible defense cuts, and I will look into it in more detail myself, upon confirmation. 

[Democratic Hawk]

May I thank the nominee for his reply

'Hawk'

[Akno21]

Brian- At the very least, I would like to see the recipients of no-bid contracts be a very diverse group of companies. Many of the problems with no-bid contracts are that one company can get too many of them, which leads to unfairness and inefficiency. To solve that, I would limit the number of no-bid contracts that one company can get, in order to keep the contracts out of just a few hands, and into many.

[Q]

72 hours having passed since this nomination was brought to the floor, voting on the nominee, Akno21, is hereby opened.

Senators, please vote aye, nay, or abstain.

[Peter]

Aye

[CheeseWhiz]

Aye

[Bacon King]

Aye

[MasterJedi]

Aye

[WMS]

Aye.

[Gabu]

Aye.

[The Dowager Mod]

Nay

[Q]

This nomination has garnered enough votes to pass.