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Today's Topics:
1. 'AUKUS review emerged after talks with counterparts' SecDef
(Stephen Loosley)
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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2025 00:39:56 +0930
From: Stephen Loosley <stephenloos...@zoho.com>
To: "link" <l...@mailman.anu.edu.au>
Subject: [LINK] 'AUKUS review emerged after talks with counterparts'
SecDef
Message-ID: <1978de3a984.bed1831a126339.2277609602348983...@zoho.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
AUKUS review emerged after talks with counterparts, SecDef says
Hegseth cites ?long, personal conversations? with UK, Aussie defense ministers.
By Meghann Myers Staff Reporter June 18, 2025
https://www.defenseone.com/business/2025/06/aukus-review-emerged-after-talks-counterparts-secdef-says/406173/
Navy Pentagon Asia-Pacific Congress
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers Wednesday that his decision to
review the AUKUS security agreement came out of ?long, personal conversations?
with the U.K. and Australian defense ministers.
He also suggested, without details, that the agreement might boost U.S. nuclear
deterrence in the Indo-Pacific.
News broke June 10 that the Pentagon would launch a 30-day review into the
agreement, first reported by The Financial Times, and Hegseth confirmed his
decision in testimony Friday.
When asked about the decision again Wednesday, he told the Senate Armed
Services Committee that he made the move after consulting his counterparts.
?Reviews are always prudent, but those reviews actually come after
conversations I've had with the Minister of Defence [Secretary John] Healy in
the U.K. and [Minister for Defence Richard] Marles in Australia ? long,
personal conversations about the status of this arrangement, both aspects of
it.?
The review will be led by the Pentagon?s policy chief, Elbridge Colby, who has
been publicly wary of the agreement.
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operations
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In a series of tweets last summer, Colby expressed ?skepticism? about the
agreement, particularly whether it would result in more or fewer submarines
deployed to the Indo-Pacific.
?Usual caveat here that I make no presumptions about any future role for myself
and only speak for myself,? he wrote, nine months before assuming his current
role.
Hegseth and President Donald Trump have in the past expressed strong support
for the agreement.
?This is not a mission to the Indo-Pacific that America can undertake by
itself,? Hegseth said in February, following a meeting with his counterparts.
?It has to be robust allies and partners. Technology sharing and [submarines]
are a huge part of it.?
The agreement, signed in 2021, includes plans to sell U.S. submarines to
Australia, increase the members? ability to operate together under U.S.
Indo-Pacific Command, and share other technology. Congress authorized the sub
sale two years later, with an 87-13 vote in the Senate and 310-188 in the House
of Representatives.
Hegseth let on during the hearing that the first part of the agreement might be
the source of the concern.
?So we are reviewing it, because that's what the Defense Department ought to
do, to make sure it fits the priorities of the president and that our defense
and shipbuilding industrial base can support,? he said.
Lawmakers from both parties were immediately concerned about the review?s
implications.
U.K. and Australian leaders voiced support for the review and confidence that
AUKUS would continue.
?It's a really important project,? British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told
reporters Monday. ?So I don't have any doubt that this will progress.?
Congress is also looking for that reassurance, Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., told
Hegseth on Wednesday.
Asked later whether AUKUS could help the U.S. with nuclear deterrence in
INDOPACOM, Hegseth hedged.
?Working through AUKUS as a possible avenue for that is a good thing,? he said.
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