1. United States
2. N.C.
3. Letter

As your constituent, I write to urge immediate congressional investigation into Secretary of Defense Hegseth's management of our military readiness. Recent data reveals catastrophic mismanagement and incompetence on the part of the Mr. Hegseth has created a disastrous mismatch between our defense capabilities and our strategic commitments—a crisis requiring urgent accountability. Our air defense capacity is critically compromised. During early 2026 operations, coalition forces consumed Patriot interceptors at 225 missiles per day while U.S. production stood at only 1.7 per day. Current annual production of 620 missiles cannot sustain modern conflict. The Pentagon's plan to reach 2,000 missiles annually by 2030 falls dangerously short of demonstrated wartime needs. This represents a 4-year gap during which our allies and our own forces lack adequate defensive systems. The bottleneck is systemic: Boeing's single Huntsville facility produces radar seekers at insufficient capacity, while Aerojet Rocketdyne's limited motor production capability constrains the availability not only Patriot systems but THAAD, Tomahawk, and Standard Missile programs. Years of efficiency-focused supply chain management have left us with no surge capacity. The current adminstration, based on Secretary Hegseth's mismanagement, has pursued military commitments our industrial base cannot sustain. Starting high-intensity conflicts while accepting inadequate production of essential defensive systems puts American servicemembers and civilians at risk. We cannot simultaneously maintain global commitments and defend our homeland when fundamental weapons systems are in critical shortage. Congress must: Demand a comprehensive audit of military readiness across all critical weapons systems Establish emergency funding and timelines for defense industrial expansion Investigate whether senior Pentagon leadership misrepresented our actual capabilities Require realistic strategic planning aligned with production capacity Secretary Hegseth's lack of stewardship has created an indefensible vulnerability. Our military cannot fight effectively with depleted inventories and strained supply chains. Congress must act immediately to restore readiness and hold leadership accountable. He should be removed from office.