Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin offered a clue at his nomination hearing on where he stands on liberal Democrats’ efforts to curtail nuclear modernization, questioning the current pace of modernization even though military commanders have said any further delays would undermine America’s ability to retain all three legs of the nuclear triad.

“I look forward to getting on board, if confirmed, and having an ability to kind of look under the hood and see exactly what we’re doing with our nuclear forces,” Austin said at his Jan. 19 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.