{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://fortenberry.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/omaha-world-hearld-owh-world-still-very-dangerous-place-gen-hyten-takes", "Omaha World Herald: OWH: 'The world is still a very dangerous place': Gen. Hyten takes helm of StratCom at a time of increasing global tensions", "2016-11-04", "2016", "2016-11", "Republican", "House", "NE", "Jeff Fortenberry", "F000449", "fortenberry.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Twenty years ago, Lt. Col. John Hyten moved from Colorado Springs to Offutt Air Force Base to become the last commander of the 6th Space Operations Squadron, which operated weather satellites.\nHyten, now a four-star general, is back for his second and last tour at Offutt, this time at U.S. Strategic Command in charge of America\u2019s nuclear, space and cyber defenses.\n\u201cI can\u2019t help but notice how life sometimes comes full circle,\u201d Hyten said Thursday, during a change of command ceremony. \u201cIt\u2019s great to be back here at Offutt. Now, the circle is complete.\u201d\nHyten, 57, took over the StratCom mantle from Adm. Cecil Haney, who had held the post for the past three years. A veteran of the Navy\u2019s submarine force, Haney, 60, is retiring after a 38-year career.\nHyten is the 11th senior officer to command StratCom, which was created in 1992 to replace the Cold War-era Strategic Air Command.\nNearly 1,000 people, most of them military and civilian employees of StratCom, attended the ceremony, held in a giant aviation hangar that houses the E-4B Nightwatch, the National Airborne Operations Center aircraft. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both attended, as did Nebraska Reps. Brad Ashford and Jeff Fortenberry.\nAccompanied by drumrolls, Haney\u2019s four-star command flag was furled. He handed it to Carter, who presided over the ceremony. Then the StratCom banner was unfurled, and Carter handed it to Hyten.\n\u201cI\u2019m really proud to turn over to someone I can call a friend,\u201d Haney said.\nHyten takes over StratCom with international tensions at a post-Cold War peak, including nuclear saber-rattling by the leaders of Russia and North Korea.\nHe nodded to those threats in his first speech to StratCom.\n\u201cThe world is still a very dangerous place, and those dangers seem to be building daily,\u201d he said. \u201cWe never want to go to war with nuclear weapons. We never want to go to war in space, or in cyberspace.\u201d\nHyten said he admired the motto of the Strategic Air Command, which also was based at Offutt: \u201cPeace is Our Profession.\u201d\n\u201cIt meant that, in order to keep the peace, we had to be ready and willing to fight the most unthinkable war at a moment\u2019s notice,\u201d Hyten said. \u201cThat motto is still true. We never want to go to war with nuclear weapons. We never want to go to war in space, or in cyberspace. But in order to keep the peace, we must be ready and willing to fight these kinds of wars.\u201d\nHyten brings to StratCom experience in the futuristic area of space warfare. For the past two years, he has led the Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs, which oversees the launch and maintenance of military satellites and other high-value payloads.\nCarter, who presided over the ceremony, praised Hyten\u2019s contributions and pitched him as the right leader for StratCom.\n\u201cJohn\u2019s helped build a more resilient national-security space enterprise,\u201d Carter said. \u201cThat\u2019s something he\u2019ll continue to do here at StratCom. There\u2019s more to be done to confront the 21st century threats we face.\u201d\nDespite the international threats facing the country, some experts have said Hyten\u2019s stiffest challenge may come at home: persuading a tight-fisted and frequently dysfunctional Congress to fund the largest overhaul of the nuclear arsenal since the Reagan administration.\nCarter said the nation needs to replace its fleet of strategic bombers, ballistic-missile submarines, and land-based missiles \u2014 all parts of the air-land-sea nuclear triad. Total costs are expected to exceed $350 billion over the next 15 to 20 years.\n\u201cWe\u2019re beginning to correct for decades of underinvestment in our nuclear enterprise,\u201d Carter said. \u201cWe\u2019re replacing many weapons systems, because we can\u2019t afford to lose them.\u201d\nCalling the nuclear arsenal \u201cthe bedrock of our national security,\u201d Hyten said the upgrades are his highest priority.\n\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt the nuclear triad of this nation has to be modernized,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a matter of if we\u2019re going to do it, it\u2019s how we\u2019re going to do it. And we will figure that out, because we have to.\u201d\nStratCom commanders typically serve from two to four years. That means Hyten will likely be in charge when StratCom begins moving into its new $1.2 billion headquarters, which is being built near Offutt\u2019s Capehart Avenue gate. The move is expected to begin in about a year.\nGen. John E. Hyten\nAge: 57\nFamily: Wife, Laura; two children\nBorn: Huntsville, Alabama\nEducation: Harvard (1981), bachelor\u2019s degree in applied science and engineering; Auburn (1985), master of business administration\nPrior Command: Aug. 2014\u2013Oct. 2016, commander, Air Force Space Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.\nTop Awards: Distinguished Service Medal; Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster; Defense Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters\nClick here to read the entire article.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://fortenberry.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/omaha-world-hearld-owh-world-still-very-dangerous-place-gen-hyten-takes"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8894861675798893, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}