This Democrat Is Ready to Beef Up Pentagon Oversight if the House Flips

The challenge, he argues, is balancing accountability with governance. On the policy side, he wants to focus on accelerating military innovation, reforming the Pentagon’s acquisition system, and crafting what he considers a more realistic national-security strategy. “We have substantive work to do,” he says.

For years, Smith tried to work within the rhythms of congressional oversight. During Trump’s first term, he says, he maintained relationships with Defense Secretaries Jim Mattis and Mark Esper. He believed preserving institutional relationships served both Congress and the country. The difference between then and now, he says, is startling. 

“This is such a different Trump Administration,” he says. “Trump has turned his second term into a revenge tour, where he wants sycophants and loyalists around him.

He points toward the framed defense bill on the wall, the veto now distant enough to feel almost historical. “I think that’s a pretty good illustration,” he says, “of how the equation has changed.”