Letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld calling for renewed attention to EW programs by the Department of Defense

April 3, 2001

The Honorable Donald Rumsfeld
Secretary
U.S. Department of Defense
The Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301-0001

Dear Secretary Rumsfeld: 

As the Department of Defense (DoD), under your leadership, completes its top-to-bottom review of our armed forces, we encourage you to support our military’s electronic warfare (EW) assets and provide renewed attention to EW shortfalls in the Administration’s future defense plan.

Dominance in EW is essential for America to maintain its military superiority.  EW provides access to the battle space, degrades our enemy’s capability to attack, and, most importantly, saves lives.  It ensures that military operations, be they in the air or on the ground, are conducted on our terms.  Further, when combined with stealth technology, EW greatly enhances our ability to stay hidden and keeps our enemy “blind” during military operations.  Unfortunately, our military’s current EW assets are underfunded and over committed.  With an increasing emphasis on air campaigns and effects based warfare the necessity for EW superiority is becoming crystal clear.

Each time America has fought an air campaign adversaries learned new ways of coping with American EW methods, forcing the U.S. military to come up with more clever electronic countermeasures.  This cat-and-mouse game requires DoD to remain on the cutting edge of new EW technologies, and dedicate itself to fully supporting and funding critical EW programs that will protect and sustain our force for years to come           

For these reasons, the EW Working Group was established to encourage awareness of and support for EW capabilities.  Our goal is to ensure that the Members of Congress have a clear understanding of what the issues and requirements are affecting future electronic warfare and to make certain that Congress and DoD pursue EW initiatives that are compatible with the broader objectives of our national security. 

We look forward to working closely with you and welcome any insights that you wish to provide that might help ensure that Congress and DoD address this important issue.

Sincerely,

Joseph R. Pitts                                        
Norman D. Dicks
Randy “Duke” Cunningham                   
Wayne T. Gilchrest
Mark Steven Kirk                               
Rick Larsen
John N. Hostettler                                   
John R. Thune
Walter B. Jones                              
Jim Gibbons
Peter T. King 

Electronic Warfare Working Group

Congressman Joe Pitts, Founder and Chairman

420 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

202 225-2411 phone    202 225-2013 fax