DEPUTY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE KATHLEEN HICKS: Okay, so we have gone through most of a day focused primarily around some of the big initiatives. We've been working to advance our modernization and innovation in the department and seeing its application, as we talked about on the plane, here in the Pacific, which is our, you know, primary theater of interest as it relates to the pacing challenge of China.
So this morning, Admiral Aquilino and his staff walked the team that we brought here through the progress they've been making on their capabilities with regard to essentially JADC2, their campaign approach overall, how they think about the theater, and how they set up the capabilities they think they need here.
And we took that then down to the next level to see the test and experimentation capability that they have, the efforts underway to make sure we can share information and thus campaign and, if needed, fight together effectively with partners, you know, starting primarily with those allies that are so important here in the region and then thinking through the partner pieces as well.
We saw some of the initiatives that have come out of OSD, everything from ADA to (inaudible) to RDER, and saw, as I think you did, some of the displays on RDER as well, see some of the items that have actually been tested and that show real promise, and many of them frankly at very low price points and on quicker development -- very advanced in their technology level and quicker development cycle at this point to get them into theater, some of which are already being used. So that was very helpful.
And finally, kind of walked through here most recently, seeing how the team out here is taking the GIDE experiment forward with their preferred applications that are important to how they look at this theater. And why I say it that way is because it really helps to hit home, first, that there's a lot of senior leader buy-in here to the importance of that. Second, that they could hear from us that the way they want to apply it is completely good with us, that we're about enabling what they want to achieve out here, and I think that was a really important point of communication that they appreciated.
I'll stop there.
REPORTER: Okay. So I understand that it happens in the big secret room, but to the extent that you can boil it down for the American public --
DEPUTY SECRETARY HICKS: Sure.
REPORTER: -- what are -- when they talk about the capabilities that they think --
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REPORTER: -- translating across disparate devices and platforms when for the unclassed American public, what are the capabilities they say that they need that you didn't anticipate?
DEPUTY SECRETARY HICKS: I don't think there's anything I didn't anticipate. We're in very strong, routine, daily communications. So what we got by being on the ground is not a surprise. What we got by being on the ground was the depth on top of that kind of surface layer conversation, really understanding at depth what some of those capabilities bring. So to use the examples from RDER that you're referencing, yes, what we could really see is all the things we talk about in terms of decoys, spoofing, whatever you want to call that, were able to see & know that they're real products that are proving out, that they're experimenting with, they're showing success, that they have real battlefield or battle space, in many cases, application, and we're scoring them. We're looking rigorously at how well they perform. And we can bring that back into the building now and decide what we want to scale as a priority out of that. I think, sure, that the average American person public, is exactly- that's kind of where their head is. But that's the answer to what you ask.
Now, I would say the bigger takeaway back to how to do the translation function is a lot of what we're spending time on here is about this decision advantage issue of how you bring information at speed and scale to make a difference on the battlefield. And that is where if you're in INDOPACOM, you may have a particular way you want to manage that visualization of the theater, and we want to enable that. And if you're in NORTHCOM, it might be a very different way you want to visualize that. And if you're the President of the United States, it might be a different way you want to visualize that. And what we're trying to do is enable all of that just like somebody can pick up their phone today, go in to their App Store or equivalent, and pull up the applications that make best use of all that information that's out there.
That's really what we're trying to do, is take all the information that is available and create different applications that meet the needs of, in this case in INDOPACOM, the warfighter.
REPORTER: And those needs also include bringing in data from partners like the Philippines, Australia, et cetera, and having something that's useful to those partners as well?
DEPUTY SECRETARY HICKS: That's exactly right. So obviously, the United States has long-needed to share information with allies and partners to effectively manage day-to-day. How we look at the region, how we build our intelligence, how we perceive the environment. And then, of course, as you move toward crisis, that becomes incredibly important to have a shared understanding of the environment.
So now we enter an era where the systems are advancing, the ways in which the intelligence can flow are opening up even further, enabled by the very things I just described. So now the question is around how you make sure you can share it as widely as possible but also ensure its security. And that's where we're building out capability. What you saw today, I think what you saw would include this application of the mission partner environment. There are different versions of that that exist.
Again, what we're trying to do is make sure that whatever works for the warfighter, we can enable, but also be able to scale that, because your partners in the region here INDOPACOM may be from outside the region. So we have to be thinking globally.
REPORTER: So did Aquilino or anyone else talk at all about Taiwan and the Taiwanese defense concept and that challenge of breaking- of helping them develop asymmetric deterrence capabilities in line with the kind of threat date of 2027? And after your conversation today, or just in general, how do you describe where the Pentagon is in helping Taiwan to nail that defense concept and speed up what they're doing?
DEPUTY SECRETARY HICKS: Yes, we're always talking about how to actualize the U.S. commitment to support Taiwan's self-defense. So certainly today we did that. I'm sure we will be doing that tomorrow. But honestly, that's an everyday effort. What we focused on here was making sure that the approaches, to your point, that the approaches that we are pursuing can have best effect as soon as possible. We were not focused in our conversations around a particular date or year. We're focused on being as ready as possible at any given moment, and given the responsibilities of a combatant command to be ready today and in the near term, the focus of our conversations were around that near term. Within the department, it's that, plus making sure we are pacing ahead of Chinese developments in the mid- and long-term as well.
REPORTER: So we had a really great briefing from the intel guy and brought up something I hadn't considered, which is bilateral conversations between congressional leaders and Taiwanese officials pick up during the summer because Congress is out of session. And he's like, kind of anticipating there might be activity that just sort of usual Chinese kind of bullying activity towards Taiwan that takes place during the summer and it's not alarming, but they're sort of anticipating that, is what he said.
Going through the rest of this year as you talked to Aquilino and everybody else, aside from this capabilities development piece, are there shorter-term things that they're anticipating that you want to support or concerns that they have? And at the DepSec level, I'm not exactly sure because you do like the big longer-term things and helping to outfit. But are there things that they anticipate near term, especially at the end of summer in terms of Chinese activity that they need support with?
DEPUTY SECRETARY HICKS: That was not a focus for the conversations that I was a part of today. What I would say more generally is the competition that we have with China- we've been very clear in our strategy that China is the pacing challenge. And on military modernization, both their capability and their demonstrated will to use it are very concerning.
But that said, we definitely believe that competition is not necessarily leading to conflict. And the efforts that the President has undertaken with President Xi and the efforts that Secretary Blinken has just taken as well, those are all contributors to helping us.
So in times that are relatively stable, those help deliver during times of crisis, like you're describing, where there could be misunderstanding. And we want to really deter any sense that there is an ability for the Chinese to move militarily in those times… that military deterrence is really valuable, but it's also really a support, a bulwark for diplomacy, and that's where the diplomacy really has to kick in.
We always want to be talking to the Chinese and make sure that we can maintain stability during times of crisis. But we did not discuss in particular anything around the congressional delegation visits or near-term peaks.
REPORTER: So one of the things that came up yesterday is the threat that a CR poses to some of this capability development. And there's also this question around the Beltway about nominations. Holds on the nominations. Everyone agrees that holding up nominations are bad, but Americans don't really focus on it until they understand why it might impact something very important, like the INDOPACOM deterrence mission.
So could you go into -- would you elaborate on that a little bit? Is that a tangible effect that is possible that you're seeing here as a result of some of these nomination holdups in the Senate?
DEPUTY SECRETARY HICKS: Yes. So I know directly of cases where we have had to move people into position in the Pacific just to make sure that they could undertake what was needed. This is below the three and four-star level, but that would have been hung up because of that nomination process.
So yes, we absolutely are having to make individual decisions. The services are having to make individuals about what they're going to move forward with and not move forward with- where they can below the level of confirmation- while all the confirmees are held.
Why do I say that? The point is there's what you can see, which is that there's a set of nominees that are held, and then there's everything below the surface that's happening, which is scrambling to make sure that key positions are covered at lower levels, even while we have people in limbo.
That's not even counting the human cost, which is around families, kids who aren't able to start in their schools on time, spouses who are constrained from getting employment in their new home, et cetera, you know, those are the challenges that we face. We can try to get you more information on particular positions, for instance, in INDOPACOM that may be affected but --
REPORTER: That's something the future. That would be good. So Craig Martel was here. And this is the first time -- I don't know if it's the first time, actually; I shouldn't say that -- but CDAO has a presence in a big meeting about exactly what we're talking about, like helping INDOPACOM develop joint all-domain capabilities with partners. Did you get a sense today that there's- are you beginning to get a sense of what are the artificial intelligence areas of application here that could make a big difference? It's very early, but are you beginning to see something?
DEPUTY SECRETARY HICKS: Absolutely. Hopefully you'll talk to Craig as well. So I won't speak for Craig, but the advantage of having him into his team here really has been to get everyone… Frankly, I think everyone is on a common page. It's really validating that, which has been a huge challenge, I think, for the department in its own internal messaging and external messaging in terms of what's that unity of purpose that we have around Joint All-Domain Command and Control. And it starts with data, and they have focused I think, both here at INDOPACOM and at CDAO on making sure there's quality data. And then the AI will layer on top of that.
And so we saw lots of places here in the course of the day where the focus right here and right now is the quality of the data, and the application of that data, making sure that's right and then the potential that creates for layering in AI on top of it. And the largest area probably that I would point to here is on Joint Fires, where the ability to be predictive that AI can bring would be very advantageous to the United States. I think we're making really good progress there. That's all I’ll say.
STAFF: And ma'am, besides Craig being here, you also met with the ADA team, right? So we have these embedded teams at each of the COCOMs. Maybe do you want to talk about that a little bit?
DEPUTY SECRETARY HICKS: Yes, absolutely. And the ADA team? Well, first of all, I had lunch with the ADA team, try to meet with or talk to or make sure they're brought into meetings with COCOMs whenever I go to the COCOMs. And I can give you background on ADA, if it's useful at a later point. But let me skip past that for time, and just say that what I heard very clearly here and reinforced with what I've seen, for instance, at CENTCOM, is we're getting past the point where there's like a cultural challenge to having data or needing data. You have plenty of people who feel like they're maybe not as data-savvy as they should be, but they get the value proposition. That in and of itself is major.
And I think the ADA teams have been really key to that. They've been able to work directly with COCOM leadership in all these various locations and bring solutions- show how bringing data and AI can give solutions. And nowhere has that probably been clearer than in EUCOM. And again, we can talk through that, but I think it's probably a self-evident example.
So yeah, I think they feel energized. I think they feel well-supported. And we're putting in even more support in the ‘24 budget requests from the president to put more data analysts all across DOD, and we have a Digital Workforce Initiative, which CDAO is the lead for, that will further build on that. So the ADA teams do look at themselves as at the forefront of that. Now, what we owe them and others who are doing data analytics, or AI, are career paths that are rewarding, and that's what that Digital Workforce Initiative should help with.
STAFF: Okay. I think we got to tie it up.
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REPORTER: Great.
DEPUTY SECRETARY HICKS: Great. Thank you.
REPORTER: No, thank you.
DEPUTY SECRETARY HICKS: Yes. Thank you.