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Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Elizabeth Warren
Democrat·Massachusetts

At Hearing, Warren, Army Secretary Calls for Congress to Authorize the Military Right to Repair, Debunks Defense Contractors’ Claims Undermining Reforms

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Senator Elizabeth Warren's BlueSky (This link opens in new window or tab.) Senator Elizabeth Warren's Twitter (This link opens in new window or tab.) Senator Elizabeth Warren's Youtube (This link opens in new window or tab.) Senator Elizabeth Warren's Instagram (This link opens in new window or tab.) Home Newsroom Press Releases May 12, 2026 At Hearing, Warren, Army Secretary Calls for Congress to Authorize the Military Right to Repair, Debunks Defense Contractors’ Claims Undermining Reforms Driscoll: “We, the U.S. Army and the broader military, must maintain the right to take advantage of all the new tools because if we don't, our adversaries will and we are put at a meaningfully worse position.” Video of Exchange (YouTube) Washington, D.C. — At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Army Secretary Dan Driscoll on claims from big defense contractors’ lobbyists opposing reforms. Secretary Driscoll agreed with the senator on the importance of the military’s right to repair its own equipment. The Department of Defense (DoD) spends billions of dollars buying equipment, but contractors impose repair restrictions preventing servicemembers from fixing their weapons and often overcharge. Senator Warren pointed to Black Hawk helicopter knobs, used to scroll through information, that could be replaced for $15 but instead cause the helicopter to go entirely out of commission when broken unless the Army agrees to pay the contractor $47,000 to replace the entire system’s screen. Last year, Senator Warren fought to include her and Senator Tim Sheehy’s (R-Mont.) bipartisan Warrior Right to Repair Act in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26 NDAA). Both the House and Senate bills included bipartisan military right to repair reforms that were stripped out at the eleventh hour behind closed doors under pressure from major defense contractor lobbyists. During the hearing, Secretary Driscoll rebuked claims made by defense contractors against right to repair that the Army can’t be trusted with sensitive data as “one of the more preposterous things I have heard,” noting that the Army is highly capable of handling sensitive data and does not want to take data but to purchase it. Senator Warren also slammed defense contractors’ counterproposal of “data as a service,” which would allow companies to “meter and bill” the DoD every time they access the materials. One defense contracting company already charges the Air Force $900 a page for upgrades to its maintenance manuals. Secretary Driscoll said soldiers already have trouble in peacetime accessing this information. In a war, not having access to the right to repair “could be the decisive point between us being successful somewhere 6,000 miles away in the Indo-Pacific or failing our mission if we cannot repair our equipment.” “Data as a service is just another attempt to gouge American taxpayers and put our servicemembers at risk,” said Senator Warren . Secreta

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