Copyright Breaking Defense
The subcommittee is responsible for the readiness of the US military, overseeing training, logistics, housing, contracting, and more. Ranking Member, Senate Armed Services (SASC) Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee Senator Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii Responsibilities Sen. Hirono is the ranking chair of the Readiness & Management Support Subcommittee in the 119th Congress. Responsible for the readiness of the US military, the Senate subcommittee oversees: training, logistics, and maintenance-related issues; military and housing construction; base housing construction and privatization; contracting and acquisition policy; base realignment and closure; land and property management; business and financial management; and defense energy and environmental programs. The 11-member subcommittee is given oversight of conventional ammunition procurement; National Defense Stockpile; RDT&E infrastructure; defense industrial and technology base policies; information technology management policy (excluding cyber); and industrial operations, including depots, arsenals, ammunition plants, and shipyards. Quote “Several of the military’s more essential training areas across Hawaii are leased from the state and are set to expire in the coming years. The training areas are foundational to joint readiness in the region and at the same time, they hold cultural and historical significance to the native Hawaiian community. It is essential that any path forward respects that significance while ensuring our forces have access to the ranges and facilities that they need. The [defense] department must work in good faith with state officials and the community to ensure these leases are renegotiated in a way that is equitable to all parties,” she said, during her opening remarks of the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act mark-up. Committees Ranking Member of Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support. During her tenure as subcommittee chair (118th Congress), Hirono prioritized issues such as repairing and modernizing military infrastructure; strengthening DoD’s efforts to combat climate change; overseeing the defueling and closure of Hawaii’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility following the 2021 contamination of Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam’s drinking water system; and improving military housing, calling it vital to maintaining morale, retention and overall readiness. Member of the following Senate committees: Armed Services; Energy and Natural Resources; Veterans Affairs; Small Business and Entrepreneurship; and the Judiciary. Member of the following Senate subcommittees: Personnel; Seapower; Energy; National Parks; Public Lands, Forests, and Mining; Border Security and Immigration; Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights; Intellectual Property; and Subcommittee on the Constitution. Political/Professional Career Serving in the US Senate since 2013, becoming the first female senator from Hawaii, and also the first Asian-born immigrant elected to the position. Elected to the US House of Representatives (HI-2nd District), in 2006. Served three terms in office. Co-chaired the John Kerry presidential campaign in 2004. Made an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2002. Lieutenant governor of Hawaii in 1994. Served alongside Gov. Ben Cayetano, until 2002. Elected to the Hawaii State House in 1980, (12th District), winning re-election six times. Worked in the antitrust division of the Hawaii attorney general’s office. Education Georgetown University Law Center – earned a JD in Law in 1978. University of Hawaii – earned a BA in Psychology in 1970. Personal Mazie K. Hirono calls her pathway to the US Senate “unlikely,” born as she was on her grandparents’ rice farm on Nov. 3, 1947, near Fukushima prefecture in Japan. Mazie’s mother, a second-generation Japanese American, had moved to the island country some years earlier, returning to Hawaii in 1955 following the breakup of a volatile marriage, her children in tow, determined to change their futures. Mazie’s 2020 memoir entitled “’Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter’s Story,” lends personal insight. Married to Leighton Kim Oshima, a lawyer, since 1989. They live in Honolulu. Topics:
