WEBVTT

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Uh Thank you , Judge Carter . Uh Thank

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you , Mr Chairman and uh welcome to all

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of you uh been great working with you

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um General Milley . You're welcome in

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Texas when you get ready to retire . Uh

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If that be your choice , I just

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finished the uh the travel

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where there was the importance of uh

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power projection for the region , which

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seemed to be very , very important . We

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need to modernize weapon systems . We

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also need a place to forward operate

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from what are we doing to get more

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infrastructure for power projection in

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the pay ? And are we doing enough ?

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Thank you , sir . Um Yeah , answer to

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the second question first . I , you ,

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I'll probably never say we've done

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enough . Uh We will continue to work at

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this . Uh I think you , you may have

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heard me say earlier that um we're

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investing $9.1 billion in uh this year

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in the Pacific deterrence initiative uh

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that allows us to uh to invest in

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infrastructure uh that gives us greater

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uh access uh and , and uh and also

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improve some of the , the uh defensive

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uh our defensive postures in places

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like uh Guam and also do things to

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protect Hawaii as well . Um We , we

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have uh we have done a lot of work to

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uh engage uh the uh our partners and

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our allies in the Philippines . Uh

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We're working with Australia uh to uh

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to increase our access there and we've

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developed a great partnership . Uh

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We're , our , our rotational units are ,

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are going in and out of Australia at a

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greater frequency . So , so we continue

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to work this , but we , we to answer

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your question , we , we're doing a lot .

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Uh It will probably never be enough .

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Uh Well , we continue to see an

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increased budget for infrastructure and

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acquisition and development in that

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area , in your opinion , as we go down

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the road because I just came from

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uh and yes , we're building a

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barracks there , but they've got some

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buildings there that or really need

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work . You , you will continue to see a

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significant investment in those types

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of things going forward . I think it's ,

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it's important that that we have the

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ability to uh to be able to forward

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station our position , our troops so

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that they can be relevant in any kind

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of uh upcoming contest . Thank you .

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Thank you , Mr Chairman . Thank you ,

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Mr Carter Mr Case . Thank you , Mr

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Chair uh Mr Secretary . I have to ask

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you about Redhill bulk fuel storage

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facility in my district in Honolulu .

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Uh First of all , I just want to

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commend the uh um the job that uh Vice

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Admiral Wade and the Pearl Harbor , uh

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joint task force are doing to address

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this crisis in a transparent and

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deliberate manner . So they're doing a

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good job . Uh but they need a lot of

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help obviously from uh back in the

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Pentagon . And so I would commend that

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to you , but I have to ask you just uh

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for a clarification confirmation , I

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hope , does the Department of Defense

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remain fully committed uh to the

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expeditious and safe Deuel and closure

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of the Red Hill facility ? The

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Department of Defense remains fully

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committed . Uh And I personally remain

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fully committed . As a matter of fact ,

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I just met with the team uh out in uh

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in Hawaii on this very topic here and

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we routinely get updates . Um And I , I

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would agree with you that uh the

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admiral is doing a tremendous job . Uh

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and most important , he's doing a lot

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of , a lot of good things to keep the

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community informed and , and , you know ,

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the delegation informed of what we're

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doing and , and what his , what his

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needs are , what our , what our

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requirements are . Thank you so much

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for that . Um Are you aware of any

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budgetary limitations on the defense

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department ? Achieving the um safe and

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expeditious uh refueling enclosure of

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Red Hill ? I've looked high and low for

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it . I don't believe so . I believe

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that you have the adequate funding to

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um achieve that um goal . Uh But I

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don't want this uh budget to go , go

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past us if there are any limitations um

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whatsoever uh in the in , in that

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mission , as well as the , the broader

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mission , which is um you know ,

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remediation , uh some health , some

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health risks as well . Well , uh again ,

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thanks for your continued support in

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this uh uh in in this area as well . I

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am currently not aware of any uh any

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obstacles that would prevent us from uh

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achieving our objective . This is uh

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this is , this is gonna take some time

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and things can change and if they do

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change and we do need requirement , uh

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do do have requirements , uh I'll

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certainly uh come back and ask for ,

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for more help , sir . Ok . Thank you so

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much . Let me shift gears on you

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because I was um also on the uh

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congressional delegation that the chair

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led uh to the Indo Pacific . Uh We were

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not only in Taiwan but in Japan ,

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Okinawa and the Republic of Korea . And

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first of all , it was amazing uh to

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spend time with our um service members

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there , top to bottom high quality ,

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committed to the job . So I just wanted

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to pass that along to you . One of my

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huge takeaways uh uh was um along the

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lines of Mr Womack's questions which

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have to do with um the sufficiency of

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our munitions and other armaments that

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are provided to our friends and allies

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around the world and it just strikes me

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that with the burn raid in Ukraine ,

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which is not gonna go away any time

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soon . And with the needs of our

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friends and allies relying on us uh to

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provide uh them uh because they don't

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have that capability for the most part

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themselves . And with our own

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intentions uh to as part of our Indo

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Pacific strategy to preposition uh

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equipment and other facilities

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including munitions out in the Indo

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Pacific um that our defense industrial

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base just really needs to be ramped up .

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Now . It's , I don't think this is a

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matter only of uh you know , multi

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fiscal year uh programming and

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procurement . It's , it's a matter of

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the basic funding to do that because

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you can , you can , you can set it up

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for multi year procurement . But if the

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money's not there to do it to start

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with or if the defense industrial base

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is not capable of that Production ,

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then we've got a problem you referenced

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in your opening remarks , 10 billion

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invested in our industrial base . And

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so what I'd like to explore with you is

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how do we not get ourselves behind the

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eight ball in terms of the basic needs

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uh that we have uh in , in both Ukraine

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and the Indo Pacific and conflicts that

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we may not know about today . Well ,

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well , thanks . Uh We , we're doing a

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lot . Uh We uh and let me say up front

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that our industrial base is uh really a

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core element that's uh uh enable our

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strategic advantage . And then we will

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continue to work with uh with industry

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to make sure that we're doing

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everything possible to uh signal to

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them , the , the , you know , the right

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things in terms of our requirements and

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to help wherever possible to expand

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capacity and capability . Um So , you

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know , we have 100 and $70 billion

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request for for procurement . Uh We've

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asked you for a multiyear uh

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contracting contracting authority and I

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think those send powerful signals . Um

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but not only are we buying uh the , the

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uh numbers of munitions that industry

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can produce . Um We're also helping ,

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we're also investing in additional

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capacity so that uh so they can begin

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to expand and uh and rapidly uh get us

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up to uh to where we need to be and

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help us replenish the stocks of uh of

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some of our allies and partners who

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have uh who have donated uh to uh to

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the Ukraine effort . Um So , uh we ,

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we've asked for additional authority in

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terms of uh the Defense Production Act ,

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uh a a authorities and the president

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has supported us on that . And uh and

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so , uh my , my team is working uh uh

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day and night , working with the

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industry to make sure that , you know ,

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we are getting as much productivity out

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of uh uh the key , key places in

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industry as possible . And uh you know ,

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I've engaged uh uh uh CEO S , my

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deputies engage CEO S and uh but , but

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to your point , uh we need to do more .

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We are doing more and , and we will do

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more in the future . Thank , thank you ,

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gentlemen , Mr Garcia .

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Thank you , Mr Chairman . Uh Thank you

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gentlemen for the testimony uh and your

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service uh Mr Secretary , I want to

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thank you for mentioning the spousal uh

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uh working uh conditions improving . Uh

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I'm very proud that my , my spouse uh

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licensing Relief Act was signed into

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law by the president in January under

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the VA bill . Uh As I visited multiple

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commands from Coco down to , you know ,

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platoon commander . I'm not sure that

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the troops yet fully uh understand that

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this uh spouse licensing reciprocity is

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available to them and it is the current

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law of the land . So I recommend we get

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a dod wide uh way to message that

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spouses can cross deck their

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professional licenses , doctors ,

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lawyers , real estate agents across

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state lines when they're active duty

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and on orders , I don't , I don't think

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it's being fully uh absorbed and , and

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utilized yet uh on the , on the pay

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raise . Uh I , I personally do not

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believe that 5.2% pay raise is enough ,

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especially for our , our , our junior

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enlisted troops uh to put things in

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context , the average E one E two are

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making roughly $22,000 a year . And in

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fact , it's not until you're an E 4/5

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years that you're making the equivalent

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of what would be a $15 per hour uh

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wage if it was normalized for a 40 hour

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work week , which , which means that uh

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effectively the bottom third of our

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ranks are making less than fast food

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workers are in many of our states . Uh

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And some of our states are very high

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cost of living given the recruitment

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and retention challenges that we have .

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I , I think we have a collective action

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here between this committee uh Armed

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Services Committee as well as in the

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Senate and dod to look at how we can uh

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maybe not take a one size fits all uh

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pay adjustment of 5.2% And get our

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junior enlisted specifically above that ,

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that $32,000 a year number , which is

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the equivalent of $15 per hour . I , I

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think there's ways to do that without

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impacting the , the top line budgets ,

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whether it's , it's , it's harvesting

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from the , the , the , the flag officer

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ranks that uh that , you know , 1% goes

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a lot further for a flag officer than ,

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than our junior enlisted . Uh and so I ,

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I look forward to those conversations ,

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but I think that's a critical element

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to the quality of life , especially

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from a recruitment perspective . The

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gap between dod and civilian

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counterparts is at an historic high

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when it comes to salaries right now ,

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especially for the junior enlisted . Um

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Mr secretary , are you aware of the uh

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the strike fighter shortfall that we

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have dod wide , but specifically within

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the Navy . Um , the challenges that we

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have from a number of aircraft per ,

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per air wing and per aircraft carrier .

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Uh What , what I , what I do know is

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that uh uh C N O and uh and the

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Chief of the Air Force continue to

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invest in uh in uh fighter capability .

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And again , it's gonna take uh uh a

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couple of uh Y or several years before

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we get up to what they believe is . Uh

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Yeah , that's right , meets their full

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capacity and I understand there's some

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projections where we're , we're

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literally two air wings short relative

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to the number of aircraft carriers

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within the , within the navy side . Uh

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If and , and I'm sure you're aware this ,

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this committee as well as our

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counterparts in the Senate uh in F Y 22

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added 12 Super Hornets uh to the budget

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and then an F Y 23 added eight Super

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Hornets to the budget . I wasn't sure

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if you're aware but those , those ,

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those jets have yet to be actually

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awarded to the prime contractor and

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they are actively shutting down not

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just their production line but their

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entire supply chain . Uh I'm a big

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proponent of F-35 , a large portion of

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that aircraft is made in my district .

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Uh I believe we need capacity uh as

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well as the capability . And I think

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right , now we are losing as a nation ,

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one of the critical tools to closing

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that strike fighter gap in the form of

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the Super Hornet uh production line .

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Uh The lawyers are battling it out

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right now . Um This is one of those

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things that watching it from my

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perspective , I'm calling balls and

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strikes . I think the government is

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overreaching . They're asking for

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intellectual property from the

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contractor that is different from tech

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data packages designed for basic

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sustainment and repair . I think we are

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overreaching . Uh And this is one of

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the things that I think is going to

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impact the customer , the customer

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being the war fighter and the taxpayer

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Uh in the form of 20 jets not being put

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on contract . And , and so I would , I

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would encourage you to look into that

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the , the Navy is actively working this

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with the prime contractor right now .

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But I think we need some supervision

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here and just get the lawyers in the

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room to put a , put a kibosh on this ,

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get a negotiated settlement and figure

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out some other means to get that uh

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intellectual property . Um And so I'll ,

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I'll end with the , the question , uh

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General Milley , uh you worked in both

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administrations , you were very

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familiar with the conditional uh

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withdrawal , elements of the

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Afghanistan um uh con you know ,

13:32.876 --> 13:35.119
situation under both administrations .

13:35.130 --> 13:37.559
Um Do you agree with the assertion that

13:37.570 --> 13:40.219
was made earlier in this room that um

13:40.520 --> 13:42.631
that the that the debacle , the state

13:42.631 --> 13:44.298
department led debacle out of

13:44.298 --> 13:46.409
Afghanistan and the , the travesty of

13:46.409 --> 13:48.576
Abby Gate , the devastation , uh , the

13:48.576 --> 13:50.576
loss of 13 personnel , uh , was the

13:50.576 --> 13:52.742
fault of the previous administration .

13:54.820 --> 13:56.487
Uh , I , I'm not gonna , uh ,

13:56.487 --> 13:58.431
characterize , uh , fault or point

13:58.431 --> 14:00.542
fingers . Uh , I think as we all know

14:00.542 --> 14:03.130
that the , uh , end state was a , uh ,

14:03.140 --> 14:05.390
um , you know , a strategic withdrawal

14:05.400 --> 14:07.511
and , and when the enemy occupies the

14:07.511 --> 14:09.233
capital of the nation that you

14:09.233 --> 14:11.511
supported , that's a strategic failure .

14:11.511 --> 14:11.510
And there's a lot of lessons to be

14:11.520 --> 14:13.687
learned . All of us are learning those

14:13.687 --> 14:15.909
lessons . Uh Both Secretary Ausin and I

14:15.909 --> 14:18.131
have served many years in Afghanistan .

14:18.131 --> 14:20.298
I'm deeply personally invested in it ,

14:20.298 --> 14:22.409
uh and psychologically invested in it

14:22.409 --> 14:24.409
and , and I can think of no greater

14:24.409 --> 14:24.289
tragedy than what happened at a gate .

14:24.599 --> 14:28.330
Uh And uh and I have yet uh to , to

14:28.340 --> 14:30.950
fully reconcile myself to that entire

14:30.960 --> 14:34.599
affair . Uh So I don't wanna uh point

14:34.609 --> 14:36.831
fingers or anything . Uh The , the what

14:36.831 --> 14:38.998
happened in Afghanistan did not happen

14:38.998 --> 14:41.220
in the last 19 days or even the last 19

14:41.220 --> 14:43.442
months . That was a 20 year war . There

14:43.442 --> 14:45.665
were decisions made all along the way ,

14:45.665 --> 14:47.887
uh which culminated in what the outcome

14:47.887 --> 14:49.998
was . And there's many , many lessons

14:49.998 --> 14:52.053
to be learned . Uh And I think we're

14:52.053 --> 14:51.479
just at the beginning of that lessons

14:51.489 --> 14:53.822
learned process , not at the end . Well ,

14:53.822 --> 14:55.989
said , thank you for your service . If

14:55.989 --> 14:58.267
I could , I'd like to thank you though ,

14:58.267 --> 14:57.510
personally , on behalf of my wife ,

14:57.520 --> 14:59.960
really , she's pushed uh , that , uh ,

14:59.969 --> 15:02.469
license her , license her uh , um

15:02.650 --> 15:05.559
amendment uh uh significantly for years .

15:05.570 --> 15:07.737
She and many others . Uh , and you and

15:07.737 --> 15:09.848
the president and members of Congress

15:09.848 --> 15:11.959
brought that home . So thank you very

15:11.959 --> 15:10.890
much for that . Thank you , General . I

15:10.900 --> 15:13.159
appreciate it . Thank you . Thank you .

15:13.489 --> 15:16.380
Um Next , uh Mr Kilmer , thank you ,

15:16.390 --> 15:18.549
Chairman and uh , thank you both for

15:18.559 --> 15:21.320
being with us today . I'm hoping to get

15:21.330 --> 15:23.979
to two topics . Uh first , um as you

15:23.989 --> 15:25.989
both know , changes to the military

15:25.989 --> 15:27.711
health system have resulted in

15:27.799 --> 15:29.780
downsizing at several military

15:29.789 --> 15:31.956
treatment facilities , including naval

15:31.956 --> 15:34.122
hospital , Bremerton in my neck of the

15:34.122 --> 15:36.178
woods , um which recently closed its

15:36.178 --> 15:38.233
emergency and its labor and delivery

15:38.233 --> 15:40.039
departments . Uh Prior to that

15:40.049 --> 15:42.539
downsizing our area already had uh

15:42.549 --> 15:44.969
challenges , accessing care had been

15:45.010 --> 15:47.177
identified by the Department of Health

15:47.177 --> 15:49.343
and Human Services as a high risk area

15:49.343 --> 15:51.880
and a health shortage area . We raised

15:51.890 --> 15:53.723
concerns about this prior to the

15:53.723 --> 15:55.580
downsizing because of that . And

15:55.590 --> 15:58.049
unfortunately , the um closures have

15:58.059 --> 16:00.969
had a real impact on our region and on

16:00.979 --> 16:04.530
service members . Um I really think

16:04.539 --> 16:06.750
that the uh that the network analysis

16:06.760 --> 16:09.340
that was done was really off . Uh the

16:09.349 --> 16:12.400
hiring goals were really off and

16:13.799 --> 16:15.632
this isn't sort of a theoretical

16:15.632 --> 16:17.632
conversation . We did a round table

16:17.632 --> 16:19.743
with submariners in our area who have

16:19.743 --> 16:21.466
been unable to receive routine

16:21.466 --> 16:23.410
screenings uh or medical care that

16:23.410 --> 16:25.880
impacts fleet readiness I met with a

16:25.890 --> 16:28.340
pregnant sailor who due to downsizing

16:28.349 --> 16:30.460
at the naval hospital , was forced to

16:30.460 --> 16:32.739
go to a local hospital . Um waited

16:32.750 --> 16:35.030
eight hours uh in the emergency room ,

16:35.039 --> 16:37.539
uh sorry in the waiting room and uh

16:37.549 --> 16:39.909
ultimately miscarried in their waiting

16:39.919 --> 16:42.369
room and these aren't isolated in

16:42.380 --> 16:44.213
influence . I bring this to your

16:44.213 --> 16:46.436
attention because after several letters

16:46.436 --> 16:48.269
and questioning and hearings and

16:48.269 --> 16:50.324
meetings with the head of DH A where

16:50.324 --> 16:52.436
we've emphasized the inability of the

16:52.436 --> 16:54.491
network to handle the burdens of the

16:54.491 --> 16:56.547
clo closures at the Naval Hospital ,

16:56.547 --> 16:58.436
the concerns of my community just

16:58.436 --> 16:58.270
aren't being heard . And so I wanna

16:58.280 --> 17:01.229
raise this again and ask you if dod can

17:01.239 --> 17:03.469
direct DH A to review some of that

17:03.479 --> 17:05.729
downsizing in underserved areas like

17:05.739 --> 17:08.649
Kitsap County . I wanna ask you what

17:08.659 --> 17:11.029
tools are in place to reassign military

17:11.038 --> 17:13.239
and civilian providers to areas where

17:13.249 --> 17:14.860
there has been a significant

17:14.860 --> 17:17.149
degradation in care that is impacting

17:17.159 --> 17:19.548
folks in uniform . And I wanna know if

17:19.558 --> 17:21.725
there's any plan to reassign providers

17:21.725 --> 17:23.780
to areas like Kitsap County where we

17:23.780 --> 17:25.780
have seen a significant and frankly

17:25.780 --> 17:27.614
dangerous decline in health care

17:27.614 --> 17:30.750
quality for service members . Well ,

17:30.760 --> 17:32.760
well , thank you , sir . I , I just

17:32.760 --> 17:34.871
like to start by saying , um , uh the

17:35.020 --> 17:36.964
health and welfare of the force is

17:36.964 --> 17:39.131
extremely important to me and I really

17:39.131 --> 17:41.131
appreciate all your support and the

17:41.131 --> 17:44.459
support of Congress um over the years .

17:44.880 --> 17:48.260
Um We continue to

17:48.270 --> 17:51.189
follow uh congressional intent uh to ,

17:51.229 --> 17:54.660
as you know , we uh we were mandated to

17:54.670 --> 17:56.920
uh consolidate military health care

17:56.930 --> 17:59.097
under DH A . And of course , there are

17:59.097 --> 18:01.263
decisions that have to be made there .

18:01.263 --> 18:03.541
And since that decision was , was made ,

18:03.541 --> 18:05.319
uh you know , we faced a global

18:05.319 --> 18:07.486
pandemic that put uh that put pressure

18:07.486 --> 18:10.599
on uh on , on the workforce across

18:10.609 --> 18:12.776
America , the medical workforce across

18:12.776 --> 18:14.831
America . And so it made it uh a bit

18:14.831 --> 18:17.109
more difficult to uh to do some things .

18:17.260 --> 18:19.316
And so we're facing some of the same

18:19.316 --> 18:21.579
challenges that uh that the medical

18:21.589 --> 18:23.645
community community across the , the

18:23.645 --> 18:26.729
country are facing . Um But what we're

18:26.739 --> 18:28.739
doing about it is we're trying to

18:28.750 --> 18:30.619
utilize a variety of tools and

18:30.630 --> 18:34.300
including uh direct hiring authorities .

18:34.310 --> 18:37.859
Uh We're uh exploring bonuses

18:37.869 --> 18:40.859
and uh and incentives uh to hire to ,

18:40.869 --> 18:43.619
to , to get the right talent in uh to ,

18:43.630 --> 18:45.741
to fill the vacancies that , that you

18:45.741 --> 18:48.180
mentioned . And I will , I will ask uh

18:48.560 --> 18:51.020
uh our new DH a leader to come in and ,

18:51.030 --> 18:53.141
and sit down with you and , and , and

18:53.141 --> 18:55.500
brief you specifically on Bremerton and

18:55.510 --> 18:57.732
uh and what the cha what our challenges

18:57.732 --> 19:00.010
are and what we're doing about it . So ,

19:00.010 --> 19:02.010
secretary , if I could make a quick

19:02.010 --> 19:04.288
comment , let go ahead on that . Um In ,

19:04.288 --> 19:06.566
in , in my travels around the military .

19:06.566 --> 19:08.621
Uh The , the number one topic that I

19:08.621 --> 19:10.843
get in terms of life is the health care

19:10.843 --> 19:12.899
system . I was chief of staff of the

19:12.899 --> 19:15.121
army , uh uh you know , 3.5 years ago .

19:15.121 --> 19:17.343
Uh in my first year , this was an issue

19:17.343 --> 19:19.343
and we were asked as Chiefs at that

19:19.343 --> 19:21.343
time , um to write an assessment of

19:21.343 --> 19:23.510
what we thought of the congressionally

19:23.510 --> 19:25.454
mandated consolidation at the DH A

19:25.454 --> 19:27.621
every one of the Chiefs at that time .

19:27.621 --> 19:29.621
As I recall , we wrote that this is

19:29.621 --> 19:31.843
gonna result in significant risk . What

19:31.843 --> 19:31.400
we're seeing today , seven years later ,

19:31.410 --> 19:33.632
eight years later , uh is the fraying ,

19:33.632 --> 19:35.799
it's not broken , but we're seeing the

19:35.799 --> 19:37.743
fraying of the defense health care

19:37.743 --> 19:39.799
system , which is one of the biggest

19:39.799 --> 19:39.439
health care systems in America . And ,

19:39.449 --> 19:41.282
and that's really caused for the

19:41.282 --> 19:43.393
concern and it's the number one issue

19:43.393 --> 19:45.282
that's on a lot of solder sales ,

19:45.282 --> 19:47.227
airmen , marines , mines and their

19:47.227 --> 19:46.780
families . It's a big deal . I , I , I

19:46.790 --> 19:49.250
think acknowledging that we are seeing

19:49.260 --> 19:51.770
that we are seeing that in our area and

19:51.780 --> 19:54.040
I , I just , I , I , I plea with you to

19:54.050 --> 19:56.217
take a look at what's happening in our

19:56.217 --> 19:58.400
region to look at the impact on

19:58.410 --> 20:00.920
readiness um on sailors and on their

20:00.930 --> 20:03.859
families . Uh because I , I , I don't ,

20:03.869 --> 20:06.459
you know , sitting sitting across from

20:06.469 --> 20:08.580
a sailor who miscarried after waiting

20:08.580 --> 20:10.691
for eight hours to get care like this

20:10.691 --> 20:12.913
is just not acceptable and we've got to

20:12.913 --> 20:14.802
do better for these folks who are

20:14.802 --> 20:16.969
stepping up for our country . So thank

20:16.969 --> 20:19.136
you chairman , I go back . Right . I ,

20:19.136 --> 20:21.191
and I agree with the gentleman we uh

20:21.191 --> 20:23.302
need to do a deep , deep dive on that

20:23.302 --> 20:25.302
and see what's uh what we can do to

20:25.302 --> 20:27.413
improve this immediately . Uh Next uh

20:27.413 --> 20:30.050
Mr Diaz Balart , thank you very much uh

20:30.060 --> 20:32.630
Mr Chairman . I , before my question ,

20:32.640 --> 20:34.862
Mr Secretary , you mentioned South um a

20:34.862 --> 20:37.530
little while ago and uh one of the

20:37.540 --> 20:39.890
things that is crucial to them uh is

20:39.900 --> 20:41.956
the Security Cooperation Agreement ,

20:41.956 --> 20:43.622
something that I've been very

20:43.622 --> 20:45.844
supportive , there's $200 million there

20:45.844 --> 20:47.844
and , and uh I just wanna make sure

20:47.844 --> 20:50.011
that , that it's on your radar because

20:50.011 --> 20:52.289
it's $200 million for South and Africa .

20:52.289 --> 20:54.511
And I just wanna make sure that uh in a

20:54.511 --> 20:56.622
region that is , you know , not , not

20:56.622 --> 20:55.770
many good things are happening in this

20:55.780 --> 20:57.780
region right now in this hemisphere

20:57.780 --> 20:59.650
that south comm has uh has the

20:59.660 --> 21:02.170
resources it needs . Uh And , and as

21:02.180 --> 21:04.180
you well know , South comm not only

21:04.180 --> 21:06.124
does , you know , kind of like the

21:06.124 --> 21:07.902
regular mission , but they also

21:07.902 --> 21:09.902
literally are saving American lives

21:09.902 --> 21:09.739
through their in interdiction uh

21:09.750 --> 21:11.972
program . So I just just wanted to flag

21:11.972 --> 21:14.139
that uh for you and , and if you could

21:14.139 --> 21:16.306
take a look at it to make sure that it

21:16.306 --> 21:15.900
doesn't fall through the cracks and

21:15.910 --> 21:18.250
that South comm is not kind of uh

21:18.260 --> 21:20.593
ignored there , I would appreciate that .

21:20.593 --> 21:23.599
Uh is , you know , there's been a lot

21:23.609 --> 21:25.331
of conversation about this leg

21:25.331 --> 21:27.387
potential legislation to auction off

21:27.387 --> 21:29.498
the lower three uh gigahertz spectrum

21:29.498 --> 21:32.880
band , which obviously the dod uses for

21:32.890 --> 21:34.890
you know , important missions . And

21:34.890 --> 21:36.946
Secretary Austin and the uh Commerce

21:36.946 --> 21:39.112
Secretary sent a letter endorsing this

21:39.112 --> 21:41.168
agreement while the director of , of

21:41.168 --> 21:43.670
joint staff signed a formal non concur

21:43.680 --> 21:46.609
memo . So Mr Chairman , what in your

21:46.619 --> 21:50.500
view , uh what is

21:50.510 --> 21:52.566
your view about potentially vacating

21:52.566 --> 21:54.788
the spectrum and what risks potentially

21:54.788 --> 21:56.930
could it pose to national security if

21:56.939 --> 22:00.739
any ? So I

22:00.750 --> 22:03.050
just uh just wanna make sure uh

22:04.310 --> 22:07.800
that uh you know , where , where we are

22:07.810 --> 22:11.619
with this is , is uh understood it .

22:12.380 --> 22:15.069
I , I , I convey where we are uh in ,

22:15.079 --> 22:19.010
in terms of what we've done . Uh First

22:19.020 --> 22:21.680
of all , I support sharing the spectrum

22:21.689 --> 22:23.467
of pieces of the spectrum where

22:23.467 --> 22:26.819
appropriate . Uh I do not support , I

22:26.829 --> 22:29.229
do not support putting our , our uh

22:29.239 --> 22:31.461
national security at risk . And to your

22:31.461 --> 22:33.770
point , uh there are , there are

22:33.780 --> 22:36.130
platforms and capabilities that we use

22:36.140 --> 22:39.400
and we need that employ uh uh uh

22:39.819 --> 22:42.689
pieces of that spectrum . And , and so

22:42.699 --> 22:44.643
what we're doing now is that we're

22:44.643 --> 22:46.866
conducting a study to make sure that we

22:46.920 --> 22:48.976
account for everything and once that

22:48.976 --> 22:50.864
study is done , then we'll make a

22:50.864 --> 22:53.520
recommendation to the president . But

22:53.530 --> 22:56.060
uh but just to be clear , I , I have

22:56.069 --> 22:59.459
not agreed to uh auction off that piece

22:59.469 --> 23:01.770
of the spectrum that we need to uh uh

23:01.780 --> 23:04.890
to , to be uh to effectively protect

23:04.900 --> 23:07.067
the homeland or conduct our operations

23:07.067 --> 23:09.520
all together . I , I don't know if uh

23:09.530 --> 23:11.863
Mr Chairman , you wanna , you wanna the ,

23:11.863 --> 23:13.919
the potential risk if there is any .

23:13.919 --> 23:16.141
But yeah , there is risk . The um first

23:16.141 --> 23:18.363
of all , I I , I'm waiting of the , the

23:18.363 --> 23:20.586
uh memorandums that you , you mentioned

23:20.586 --> 23:24.569
uh I concur that we need to wait

23:24.579 --> 23:26.746
until there's a study complete , which

23:26.746 --> 23:28.968
is due end in September . And therefore

23:28.968 --> 23:31.023
you make a fully informed decision ,

23:31.050 --> 23:33.272
making a decision , right ? This second

23:33.272 --> 23:35.680
is probably not a good idea . Um And I

23:35.689 --> 23:37.689
concur that it needs to be shared .

23:37.689 --> 23:39.856
Sure , no problem sharing the issue is

23:39.856 --> 23:41.967
how to do that . Uh And we need to do

23:41.967 --> 23:44.180
that in a way that doesn't jeopardize

23:44.189 --> 23:46.300
national security . And , and what we

23:46.300 --> 23:48.949
can't do is vacate the spectrum sharing

23:48.959 --> 23:51.070
it fair enough if we can figure out a

23:51.070 --> 23:52.903
way to do that correctly without

23:52.903 --> 23:55.070
placing national security at risk . Uh

23:55.070 --> 23:57.292
If we were to vacate it , if we were to

23:57.292 --> 23:57.069
give up that piece of the spectrum , it

23:57.079 --> 23:59.489
would have a significant huge impact on

23:59.500 --> 24:01.667
our ability to protect North America ,

24:01.667 --> 24:03.889
our ability to protect the Pacific or ,

24:03.889 --> 24:06.056
or Europe or anywhere else . Uh That's

24:06.056 --> 24:08.111
the , that is the uh uh the , the uh

24:08.111 --> 24:10.167
part of the spectrum that we use for

24:10.167 --> 24:12.389
radars and communications and our ships

24:12.389 --> 24:14.611
and navigation and so on and so forth .

24:14.611 --> 24:16.722
So , um it , it , it wouldn't be good

24:16.722 --> 24:18.722
if we didn't have access to that uh

24:18.722 --> 24:20.722
part of the spectrum . So there's a

24:20.722 --> 24:22.778
study ongoing . That study is due in

24:22.778 --> 24:24.889
September . I would caution everybody

24:24.889 --> 24:26.944
just wait until the study's done and

24:26.944 --> 24:29.000
then move out . Second point is when

24:29.000 --> 24:31.167
that study is complete . I or whomever

24:31.167 --> 24:33.278
is the chairman at the time are , are

24:33.278 --> 24:35.000
required to render or , or our

24:35.000 --> 24:37.222
recommendation was to the secretary and

24:37.222 --> 24:39.167
he , he agrees with it is that the

24:39.167 --> 24:40.833
secretary and I rec uh make a

24:40.833 --> 24:42.944
independent recommendation in writing

24:42.944 --> 24:44.889
to the president so he can make an

24:44.889 --> 24:47.056
informed decision . And I think that's

24:47.056 --> 24:49.222
the proper way to head . Good . No , I

24:49.222 --> 24:49.180
appreciate that and I don't have a lot

24:49.189 --> 24:51.356
of time . So I don't know if I'm gonna

24:51.356 --> 24:53.578
get an answer on this . But , but , you

24:53.578 --> 24:52.930
know , obviously , I think it's

24:52.939 --> 24:54.939
important to defeat Putin uh in the

24:54.939 --> 24:58.150
Ukraine . Um but as the chairman said ,

24:58.160 --> 25:00.382
you know , the days of blank checks are

25:00.382 --> 25:02.604
over . And so I think one of the things

25:02.604 --> 25:04.604
that would be helpful is if we knew

25:04.604 --> 25:06.680
what the strategic end state is in

25:06.689 --> 25:09.280
Ukraine and , and if you , you know ,

25:09.290 --> 25:11.290
not a lot of time , but it would be

25:11.290 --> 25:14.310
helpful . The , the president was very

25:14.319 --> 25:16.520
clear actually , uh with the strategic

25:16.530 --> 25:18.752
end state at the very beginning of this

25:18.752 --> 25:20.586
thing , he said it to myself and

25:20.586 --> 25:20.329
secretary also to many others . He's

25:20.339 --> 25:22.829
also said it many , many times uh in

25:22.839 --> 25:25.061
public forums in his speeches . Uh It's

25:25.061 --> 25:27.172
very clear the strategic end state is

25:27.172 --> 25:29.228
the global rules based international

25:29.228 --> 25:31.395
order that was put in place in 1945 is

25:31.395 --> 25:33.450
upheld . How do you do that ? How do

25:33.450 --> 25:32.880
you know , you've achieved that end

25:32.890 --> 25:35.112
state , you achieve that end state when

25:35.112 --> 25:36.946
Ukraine remains a free sovereign

25:36.946 --> 25:39.001
independent country with a territory

25:39.001 --> 25:41.168
intact . Uh And , and , and then , you

25:41.168 --> 25:43.168
know , the rules base was upheld if

25:43.168 --> 25:45.223
that rules based order , which is in

25:45.223 --> 25:47.279
its 80th year . If that goes out the

25:47.279 --> 25:49.390
window and be very careful , we'll be

25:49.390 --> 25:51.446
doubling our defense budgets at that

25:51.446 --> 25:53.612
point . Uh because that will introduce

25:53.612 --> 25:55.723
not an era of great power competition

25:55.723 --> 25:57.834
that will begin an era of great power

25:57.834 --> 26:00.057
conflict and that'll be extraordinarily

26:00.057 --> 26:02.279
dangerous for the whole world . Ukraine

26:02.279 --> 26:04.223
is , is a fight for Ukraine that's

26:04.223 --> 26:04.050
existential for Ukraine . But for the

26:04.060 --> 26:06.060
rest of us , it's a much bigger and

26:06.060 --> 26:08.004
important national interest that's

26:08.004 --> 26:10.260
fundamental to the United States , to

26:10.270 --> 26:12.560
Europe and global security . Thank you ,

26:12.920 --> 26:15.829
Chairman . Thank you , Mr Joyce . I

26:15.839 --> 26:19.040
told her , Mr Mr Joyce .

26:20.160 --> 26:24.060
It uh thank you uh uh

26:24.250 --> 26:27.069
Mr Chairman . Appreciate it , gentlemen .

26:27.079 --> 26:28.968
Thank you for your service to our

26:28.968 --> 26:31.135
country and for being here today , the

26:31.135 --> 26:33.079
United States has a vested natural

26:33.079 --> 26:35.190
national security interests in taking

26:35.190 --> 26:36.857
decisive action to reduce our

26:36.857 --> 26:39.079
dependence upon China , particularly as

26:39.079 --> 26:41.135
it relates to military readiness . I

26:41.135 --> 26:43.079
have concerns that our military is

26:43.079 --> 26:45.246
dangerously relying upon China when it

26:45.246 --> 26:47.357
comes to procuring raw materials like

26:47.357 --> 26:49.357
plastic and rubber that our defense

26:49.357 --> 26:49.050
industrial base needs to produce

26:49.060 --> 26:51.282
defense articles . We must have a whole

26:51.282 --> 26:53.640
of government strategy in place to free

26:53.650 --> 26:56.040
our military from relying upon goods

26:56.050 --> 26:58.161
coming from communist China . As soon

26:58.161 --> 27:00.130
as physically possible in F Y 23

27:00.140 --> 27:02.307
defense appropriation bill . I work to

27:02.307 --> 27:04.140
include language , directing the

27:04.140 --> 27:06.362
Department of Defense to issue a report

27:06.362 --> 27:08.529
outlining the department's increase of

27:08.529 --> 27:10.362
domestic sourcing of plastic and

27:10.362 --> 27:12.696
plastic alternatives . Secretary Austin ,

27:12.696 --> 27:14.862
do you have an update on the status of

27:14.862 --> 27:16.973
this report and expectation when this

27:16.973 --> 27:16.319
report will be made available to

27:16.329 --> 27:17.329
Congress ?

27:21.160 --> 27:23.382
I'm sorry , sir . I missed uh missed an

27:23.382 --> 27:26.469
increase from uh the production of

27:26.479 --> 27:28.489
plastic , uh domestic sourcing of

27:28.500 --> 27:31.290
plastic or plastic uh alternatives for

27:31.300 --> 27:34.069
the defense industry . I'll take that

27:34.079 --> 27:36.190
question for the record , sir and get

27:36.190 --> 27:38.357
back to you . But I would like to tell

27:38.357 --> 27:38.000
you some of the things that we are

27:38.010 --> 27:40.810
doing uh along along the lines of uh

27:40.819 --> 27:43.630
strengthening our supply chains and

27:43.640 --> 27:46.310
making sure that we onshore capability

27:46.319 --> 27:48.541
because I absolutely agree with you and

27:48.541 --> 27:50.708
this needs to be a whole of government

27:50.708 --> 27:52.875
effort . I want to thank you and , and

27:52.875 --> 27:54.930
the rest of Congress for what you've

27:54.930 --> 27:57.152
done for the chips uh in support of the

27:57.152 --> 27:58.986
Chips Act . Uh I think that'll ,

27:58.986 --> 28:00.652
that'll make a , a really big

28:00.652 --> 28:02.819
difference . Uh in this budget , we're

28:02.819 --> 28:04.930
asking you for $2.6 billion to invest

28:04.930 --> 28:07.300
in micro , micro electronics . Uh We're

28:07.310 --> 28:09.439
investing 100 and $25 million in

28:09.449 --> 28:11.505
batteries and electronics . Uh We're

28:11.505 --> 28:13.819
going after critical minerals and , and

28:13.839 --> 28:16.060
uh you know , I've asked for $253

28:16.069 --> 28:18.650
million to be focused on that as well .

28:18.890 --> 28:21.619
Uh so , and things like casting and

28:21.630 --> 28:24.560
forging uh $177 million dollars for ,

28:24.569 --> 28:26.869
for that . So , I , I absolutely agree

28:26.880 --> 28:28.991
with you , sir , that we have to do a

28:28.991 --> 28:32.339
lot to make sure that we can , uh we

28:32.349 --> 28:34.627
have independence , we , you know , we ,

28:34.627 --> 28:37.060
we can trust our supply chains and uh

28:37.069 --> 28:39.069
and so we're gonna continue to work

28:39.069 --> 28:41.125
with the industry to do that . Thank

28:41.125 --> 28:43.013
you very much , secretary . I was

28:43.013 --> 28:42.439
pleased to read that the Biden

28:42.449 --> 28:44.560
administration is working to expedite

28:44.560 --> 28:47.560
the delivery of 31 Abrams tanks to our

28:47.569 --> 28:49.800
allies in Ukraine , the rival which

28:49.810 --> 28:52.032
will undoubtedly provide the Ukrainians

28:52.032 --> 28:54.032
with a technological advantage over

28:54.032 --> 28:55.977
their Russian counterparts . I was

28:55.977 --> 28:57.921
disappointed however , to find the

28:57.921 --> 28:57.819
president's budget including funding

28:57.829 --> 29:00.770
for 34 Abraham tanks , uh just three

29:00.780 --> 29:02.502
more than we're sending to the

29:02.502 --> 29:04.669
Ukrainians . This reduction in funding

29:04.669 --> 29:06.891
is a concerning departure from previous

29:06.891 --> 29:09.002
years in which Congress has indicated

29:09.002 --> 29:11.169
continued support , funding for a full

29:11.169 --> 29:13.169
battalion of tanks . Uh This is for

29:13.169 --> 29:15.391
either of you gentlemen . Uh You know ,

29:15.391 --> 29:17.558
if considering a commitment we made to

29:17.558 --> 29:19.669
Ukraine in regards to transfer of the

29:19.669 --> 29:21.891
Abrams Tanks , can you offer insight uh

29:21.891 --> 29:23.891
to explain the justification behind

29:23.891 --> 29:27.109
this reduction in funding ? We , we're

29:27.119 --> 29:29.660
actually funding a , a bat a Ukrainian

29:29.670 --> 29:31.837
battalion of tanks , uh which is why ,

29:31.837 --> 29:33.900
which is reflects the number that ,

29:33.910 --> 29:36.849
that you've seen . Uh Sir , we've heard

29:36.859 --> 29:39.081
at length about the need to bolster the

29:39.081 --> 29:41.420
military industrial supply base . Could

29:41.430 --> 29:43.486
a reduction in funding for the tanks

29:43.486 --> 29:45.819
program , not make it more difficult to ,

29:45.819 --> 29:48.041
to make sure we have the supply base uh

29:48.041 --> 29:50.208
to effectively scale up production for

29:50.208 --> 29:52.152
this and future needs . Uh So what

29:52.152 --> 29:54.152
we'll do for these tanks that we're

29:54.152 --> 29:56.208
providing to Ukraine , if that's the

29:56.208 --> 29:58.374
question is that we're , we'll , we're

29:58.374 --> 30:00.486
taking tanks , tanks out of our stock

30:00.486 --> 30:02.486
and re rebuilding those tanks uh so

30:02.486 --> 30:05.209
that they are exportable and uh and so

30:05.430 --> 30:07.652
that actually will come out of drawdown

30:07.652 --> 30:10.959
versus uh new purchase . But I , I

30:10.969 --> 30:13.025
understand and appreciate that . But

30:13.025 --> 30:15.080
are we not securing new tanks in the

30:15.080 --> 30:18.510
process from the supply chain uh here

30:18.520 --> 30:21.770
in America because it was a reduction

30:21.780 --> 30:23.947
from the amount that were authorized ,

30:23.947 --> 30:26.224
there are just not at the rates . Uh I ,

30:26.224 --> 30:28.224
I'll have to go back and check with

30:28.224 --> 30:30.391
General mcconnell and the army staff .

30:30.391 --> 30:32.447
But uh the uh the , the tank plan at

30:32.447 --> 30:34.447
Ohio is continuing its operations .

30:34.447 --> 30:36.558
It's not being shut down and , and if

30:36.558 --> 30:38.891
you have information is being shut down ,

30:38.891 --> 30:40.947
that would be new news to me . The ,

30:40.947 --> 30:40.670
the tank production line is gonna be

30:40.680 --> 30:42.847
kept open . It is necessary to keep it

30:42.847 --> 30:44.902
open . Uh It's a unique thing . It's

30:44.902 --> 30:47.124
not , aren't produced in the commercial

30:47.124 --> 30:49.291
world . So we've got to keep that line

30:49.291 --> 30:51.402
open because tanks , although there's

30:51.402 --> 30:53.736
gonna be a future operating environment ,

30:53.736 --> 30:55.958
uh you're gonna have uh introduction of

30:55.958 --> 30:55.064
robotics , you're gonna have all kinds

30:55.074 --> 30:57.018
of other things in the future with

30:57.018 --> 30:59.130
artificial intelligence and so on and

30:59.130 --> 31:01.130
so forth . But tanks have value and

31:01.130 --> 31:00.785
they have value today and you're seeing

31:00.795 --> 31:02.962
it right , play out in the Ukraine and

31:02.962 --> 31:04.962
they're gonna have value for many ,

31:04.962 --> 31:07.017
many years to come . Uh , so I don't

31:07.017 --> 31:09.073
know of any intent to shut down that

31:09.073 --> 31:11.295
liar Ohio Tank production line . Well ,

31:11.295 --> 31:13.462
uh , I didn't mean to bring it up as a

31:13.462 --> 31:15.628
Buckeye thing but the , the , the fact

31:15.628 --> 31:17.739
that , uh , we're actually slowing it

31:17.739 --> 31:19.851
down as you know , uh the , the , the

31:19.851 --> 31:22.017
problem with that is that you have the

31:22.017 --> 31:21.810
pieces and parts and mom and pop people

31:21.819 --> 31:24.089
who produce on that supply line . And

31:24.099 --> 31:26.380
if there's slowing down or being shut

31:26.390 --> 31:28.560
down because we're not doing that ,

31:28.780 --> 31:31.058
that slows down our ability to ramp up .

31:31.058 --> 31:33.699
God forbid the need be uh thank you for

31:33.709 --> 31:35.709
your uh answers . I look forward to

31:35.709 --> 31:37.765
getting a copy of that report soon .

31:37.765 --> 31:40.410
Secretary and uh you'll back . Thank

31:40.420 --> 31:43.930
you , gentlemen , Mr Aguilar . Thank

31:43.939 --> 31:46.239
you , Mr Chairman General Milley . I

31:46.250 --> 31:49.400
wanted to , to start where some of my

31:49.410 --> 31:51.500
colleagues have in , in thanking you

31:51.510 --> 31:53.890
for your service , but specifically ,

31:54.640 --> 31:56.810
uh for your testimony and honesty .

31:56.819 --> 31:58.708
When you sat with the January 6th

31:58.709 --> 32:01.060
Committee , your commitment to the

32:01.069 --> 32:03.479
truth , your , your honesty and

32:03.489 --> 32:07.089
availability uh is only matched by your

32:07.099 --> 32:09.266
commitment to protecting our democracy

32:09.266 --> 32:11.488
and protecting this country . So I just

32:11.488 --> 32:14.780
wanted to thank you for that . Um I

32:14.810 --> 32:17.910
wanted to also echo the concerns that

32:17.920 --> 32:20.087
ranking member Delo and Representative

32:20.229 --> 32:23.500
Ruger said about some of the cuts in

32:23.510 --> 32:25.510
defense spending and how they would

32:25.510 --> 32:27.732
negatively impact our national security

32:27.732 --> 32:29.677
general . How could a reduction in

32:29.677 --> 32:31.899
military funding impact the joint force

32:31.899 --> 32:33.899
and our ability to provide credible

32:33.899 --> 32:35.630
deterrent specifically to pr C

32:35.640 --> 32:39.520
activities in the Indo Pacific ? Um It ,

32:39.530 --> 32:41.808
it would impact several different ways .

32:41.808 --> 32:43.863
Uh If you think of the domains uh of

32:43.863 --> 32:46.030
space , cyber , land , sea and air and

32:46.030 --> 32:48.086
under sea . Uh Right now , we've got

32:48.086 --> 32:50.030
roughly speaking about 100 120,000

32:50.030 --> 32:52.030
troops uh west of the International

32:52.030 --> 32:54.197
Date Line of all branches of service .

32:54.197 --> 32:56.363
Uh And we , we have at sea at a moment

32:56.369 --> 32:59.839
in time by 2030 surface combatant ships .

32:59.849 --> 33:02.071
We've got subsurface ships , submarines

33:02.071 --> 33:04.238
out there as well . You've got marines

33:04.238 --> 33:06.182
conducting exercise in Okinawa and

33:06.182 --> 33:08.238
beyond . Uh you got army forces with

33:08.238 --> 33:10.405
the long range uh task forces . You've

33:10.405 --> 33:12.349
got the marine regiments , all the

33:12.349 --> 33:14.405
training is conducted . This , there

33:14.405 --> 33:16.460
was 24,000 live fires conducted last

33:16.460 --> 33:18.516
year by just the Army and the Marine

33:18.516 --> 33:20.627
Corps , not just in the Pacific , but

33:20.627 --> 33:22.405
worldwide . So uh that level of

33:22.405 --> 33:24.571
training would be reduced , that level

33:24.571 --> 33:26.793
of operational tempo would be reduced .

33:26.793 --> 33:29.016
And that level of what , what Secretary

33:29.016 --> 33:28.640
Austin has in the National defense

33:28.650 --> 33:30.761
strategy of day to day campaigning if

33:30.761 --> 33:32.761
you will , uh which acts as a great

33:32.761 --> 33:34.817
deterrent . So I think if you reduce

33:34.817 --> 33:37.030
all that , you're gonna uh force us to

33:37.040 --> 33:39.373
reduce our up tempo force us to do less .

33:39.373 --> 33:41.560
Taiwan straits transits , uh less

33:41.569 --> 33:43.739
freedom of navigation , uh less

33:43.750 --> 33:46.060
patrolling in the air , less I S R ,

33:46.270 --> 33:48.214
everything will be less which will

33:48.214 --> 33:50.214
increase risk , increase danger and

33:50.214 --> 33:52.048
send the wrong message . And the

33:52.048 --> 33:54.060
probable result will be uh an

33:54.069 --> 33:57.229
acceleration of what could be some sort

33:57.239 --> 33:59.295
of aggressive moves in the future by

33:59.295 --> 34:02.810
China or other countries . Secretary

34:02.819 --> 34:05.041
Austin . I wanted to thank both you and

34:05.041 --> 34:07.263
the general for your work in addressing

34:07.263 --> 34:09.430
domestic violent extremism . Uh in the

34:09.430 --> 34:12.669
department in December 22 The inspector

34:12.679 --> 34:14.735
general released a report that among

34:14.735 --> 34:16.568
other things uh talked about the

34:16.568 --> 34:18.790
effectiveness of policy and programs to

34:18.790 --> 34:20.957
prevent and respond to supremacist and

34:20.957 --> 34:23.012
extremist activity in the military .

34:23.012 --> 34:25.012
The report found 200 allegations of

34:25.012 --> 34:27.123
prohibited activity including 100 and

34:27.123 --> 34:29.250
46 allegations of supremacists and

34:29.260 --> 34:31.989
extremist activities on its face . This

34:32.000 --> 34:34.056
is a concerning number , but the I G

34:34.056 --> 34:36.222
report also stated that the department

34:36.222 --> 34:38.570
had decentralized and non-standardized

34:38.580 --> 34:40.858
systems to collect and track this data .

34:41.290 --> 34:43.457
For example , one of the quotes in the

34:43.457 --> 34:45.320
report was that the army's total

34:45.330 --> 34:47.530
allegation data does not reflect its

34:47.540 --> 34:49.707
total number of allegations , just the

34:49.707 --> 34:51.651
total number of allegations with a

34:51.651 --> 34:53.762
follow on status . What steps has the

34:53.770 --> 34:55.719
department taken , Mr Secretary to

34:55.729 --> 34:57.469
standardize the collection of

34:57.479 --> 35:00.050
allegations of extremism by service

35:00.060 --> 35:01.949
members since the release of that

35:01.949 --> 35:05.169
report ? Oh , we , we continue

35:05.179 --> 35:07.590
to uh to make sure that our , our

35:07.600 --> 35:10.040
leadership uh is doing the right thing

35:10.050 --> 35:13.830
to , uh , uh , to , first of all

35:14.510 --> 35:16.510
our troops understand , uh , how to

35:16.510 --> 35:18.399
recognize , uh , certain types of

35:18.399 --> 35:20.288
behavior . What's , what's , uh ,

35:20.288 --> 35:21.659
what's , uh ,

35:23.620 --> 35:25.719
acceptable , what's not acceptable ,

35:25.729 --> 35:27.507
what we , what , what the , the

35:27.507 --> 35:29.618
military won't tolerate . And I think

35:29.618 --> 35:31.673
that's a , that's a first , uh , the

35:31.673 --> 35:33.785
first step in making sure that , uh ,

35:33.785 --> 35:36.062
that we're doing the right things . Uh ,

35:36.062 --> 35:38.340
but , uh , we , but we are emphasizing ,

35:38.340 --> 35:40.340
uh , that we do have , uh the right

35:40.340 --> 35:42.451
means in place , the right methods in

35:42.451 --> 35:45.590
place to accurately reflect or collect

35:45.600 --> 35:47.711
uh you know , reports that are , that

35:47.711 --> 35:49.711
are being rendered . Um And I would

35:49.719 --> 35:51.941
also say that , you know , you've heard

35:51.941 --> 35:54.909
me say this before 99.9% of our troops

35:55.070 --> 35:57.219
are doing the right thing . Each and

35:57.229 --> 35:58.850
every day they're focused on

35:58.919 --> 36:00.975
accomplishing their mission . They ,

36:00.975 --> 36:03.030
our , our , our leaders are , are uh

36:03.030 --> 36:05.580
are focused on uh their , their task at

36:05.590 --> 36:08.050
hand , their missions . Uh And uh you

36:08.060 --> 36:10.060
don't get to be a ready force , the

36:10.060 --> 36:11.893
ready force that we are that the

36:11.893 --> 36:13.782
chairman described uh unless your

36:13.782 --> 36:16.004
leaders are focused on the right things

36:16.004 --> 36:18.760
and , and while um you know , making

36:18.770 --> 36:20.826
sure that we don't have an extremist

36:20.826 --> 36:22.714
behavior in our , in our ranks is

36:22.714 --> 36:24.937
important . Uh It is not , it , it , it

36:24.937 --> 36:27.103
hasn't consumed the force . Uh a focus

36:27.103 --> 36:29.270
on this , it just enables us to do the

36:29.270 --> 36:31.492
things that we're supposed to do and it

36:31.492 --> 36:33.548
makes us better . So it allows us to

36:33.548 --> 36:35.739
look at tools to , to help make the

36:35.750 --> 36:37.583
force better . Correct . Right .

36:37.583 --> 36:40.419
General , any other thoughts ? Yeah .

36:40.429 --> 36:42.540
The , in , in the year you're talking

36:42.540 --> 36:45.750
about 183 , uh out of 2.1 million uh

36:45.760 --> 36:47.949
were referred for extremist behavior .

36:47.959 --> 36:50.090
And we have means and mechanisms that

36:50.100 --> 36:52.211
can discipline the force that are not

36:52.211 --> 36:54.489
necessarily available in civil society .

36:54.489 --> 36:56.711
We're very disciplined force . We don't

36:56.711 --> 36:58.711
tolerate extremism of any kind left

36:58.711 --> 36:58.409
right in between . It doesn't matter ,

36:58.520 --> 37:00.631
no extremists in the ranks . Period .

37:00.631 --> 37:02.798
We're not a political military , we're

37:02.798 --> 37:04.964
an alit military and we intend to stay

37:04.964 --> 37:06.909
that way . So there's no extremism

37:06.909 --> 37:09.242
tolerated . We find it , we discover it ,

37:09.242 --> 37:11.242
we refer it and we take appropriate

37:11.242 --> 37:13.076
disciplinary action . And as the

37:13.076 --> 37:14.687
secretary said , out of that

37:14.687 --> 37:17.530
2.1,099.9.9.9 are in there every single

37:17.540 --> 37:19.596
day trying to do the right thing for

37:19.596 --> 37:21.484
the right reasons to protect this

37:21.484 --> 37:23.762
country and they wake up every morning ,

37:23.762 --> 37:23.409
try to better themselves , better the

37:23.419 --> 37:25.475
unit and better this country . I , I

37:25.475 --> 37:27.530
completely agree with that , but the

37:27.530 --> 37:29.800
report also mentioned 183 , which is

37:29.810 --> 37:31.921
the accurate number , but there might

37:31.921 --> 37:33.810
be more that just had not had the

37:33.810 --> 37:35.921
follow on status there , there may be

37:35.921 --> 37:37.588
but , but I would say it's uh

37:37.588 --> 37:39.643
relatively small numbers . I've been

37:39.643 --> 37:41.810
doing this for a long time . Um When I

37:41.810 --> 37:41.449
was a lieutenant and captain , we had

37:41.459 --> 37:43.659
extremists then too . Um Secretary

37:43.669 --> 37:46.002
Austin when he was a young officer , uh ,

37:46.002 --> 37:48.113
he had some experiences at Fort Bragg

37:48.113 --> 37:49.891
with extremists . So this isn't

37:49.891 --> 37:52.225
something new . We discipline the force .

37:52.225 --> 37:54.391
We don't tolerate it , we find it , we

37:54.391 --> 37:54.169
punish it , we get it out , but that

37:54.179 --> 37:56.401
shouldn't smear the entire force . This

37:56.401 --> 37:58.235
force is a disciplined dedicated

37:58.235 --> 38:00.401
patriotic force that loves America and

38:00.401 --> 38:02.512
will fight and die for it . I agree .

38:02.699 --> 38:06.179
Thank you , Mr Chairman . Thank you ,

38:06.189 --> 38:08.411
Mr Chairman and congratulations on your

38:08.411 --> 38:11.090
accession to your position . Um

38:12.090 --> 38:15.129
Welcome uh to our subcommittee , uh

38:15.139 --> 38:17.879
Secretary Austin and uh General Milley ,

38:17.889 --> 38:19.889
General Milley . Thank you for your

38:19.889 --> 38:22.111
service to our country . Both of you uh

38:22.111 --> 38:24.222
have distinguished yourselves in your

38:24.222 --> 38:26.278
service . I'm very proud of both you

38:26.278 --> 38:28.500
and I know my constituents are too . Um

38:28.500 --> 38:30.445
I wanted to say my top priority is

38:30.445 --> 38:32.667
Ukraine right now and Mr Chairman , I'm

38:32.667 --> 38:34.833
sure you'll have a closed door session

38:34.833 --> 38:37.056
on that um before we move into markup .

38:37.056 --> 38:39.278
But I just wanted to request that uh if

38:39.278 --> 38:41.333
possible . Uh General Milley uh as a

38:41.333 --> 38:43.000
follow up to the Liberty Road

38:43.000 --> 38:45.222
initiative , I would greatly appreciate

38:45.222 --> 38:47.222
an individual we could work with on

38:47.222 --> 38:49.111
your staff somewhere in the uh uh

38:50.419 --> 38:52.860
rather large staffing at the Department

38:52.870 --> 38:55.139
of Defense . Uh We've been unable to do

38:55.149 --> 38:58.100
that effectively . Um uh Then I wanted

38:58.110 --> 39:00.221
to follow up on something congressman

39:00.221 --> 39:02.479
talked about the severe uh illicit

39:02.489 --> 39:04.489
narcotics activity . That is this ,

39:04.489 --> 39:06.489
that is really destabilizing in his

39:06.489 --> 39:08.489
region and frankly having an impact

39:08.489 --> 39:10.656
across our country . And I just wanted

39:10.656 --> 39:12.822
to put on the record for those who are

39:12.822 --> 39:12.340
listening . There's a great book called

39:12.350 --> 39:16.020
Dreamland by Sam Canon and uh who

39:16.030 --> 39:18.989
tracks the economics of what's going on

39:19.000 --> 39:22.000
following the passage of NAFTA in 1993 .

39:22.300 --> 39:24.244
Uh and the wipe out of the Mexican

39:24.244 --> 39:26.570
white corn market and the springing up

39:26.580 --> 39:29.020
in all the those places , Tama et

39:29.030 --> 39:32.750
cetera of uh the uh planning of heroin

39:32.760 --> 39:35.679
and moving into other um into other

39:35.689 --> 39:37.911
drugs . It's quite sobering to read and

39:37.911 --> 39:39.967
I just placed that on the record for

39:39.967 --> 39:42.133
those who really care about this until

39:42.133 --> 39:44.133
we solve that uh the abject poverty

39:44.133 --> 39:46.356
that resulted from that we're not gonna

39:46.356 --> 39:45.389
solve the problem . And I don't know if

39:45.399 --> 39:47.566
the government of Mexico is capable of

39:47.566 --> 39:49.621
solving it . Um Secretary Austin , I

39:49.621 --> 39:51.788
wanted to ask if you might help us set

39:51.788 --> 39:53.788
up a meeting with the folks who are

39:53.788 --> 39:56.219
handling the ramp up of additional work

39:56.229 --> 39:58.451
and defense industrial based activities

39:58.451 --> 40:00.285
in your department . I come from

40:00.285 --> 40:02.340
manufacturing America . We help save

40:02.340 --> 40:04.562
the M one , the Abraham tank plant . We

40:04.562 --> 40:06.451
were told , oh , we'll never have

40:06.451 --> 40:05.959
another land war . What do I need ?

40:05.969 --> 40:08.025
What do we need that for ? We had to

40:08.025 --> 40:10.025
save the uh tank capability of this

40:10.025 --> 40:11.858
country . We have to save the uh

40:11.858 --> 40:13.858
strategic petroleum reserve of this

40:13.858 --> 40:15.969
country because there were people who

40:15.969 --> 40:18.136
were willing to wipe it out . Those of

40:18.136 --> 40:17.784
us who come from manufacturing America

40:17.794 --> 40:19.905
understand what it takes . I would be

40:19.905 --> 40:21.961
very grateful so we could learn more

40:21.961 --> 40:24.183
about , uh , the funding , the staffing

40:24.183 --> 40:26.183
and the current authorities if they

40:26.183 --> 40:28.238
need to be expanded . Uh , thank you

40:28.238 --> 40:28.054
for listening to that . And finally ,

40:28.094 --> 40:30.324
um , for , for either gentleman today ,

40:30.574 --> 40:32.949
um , in terms of hybrid warfare , I'm

40:32.959 --> 40:35.129
very interested in more detail on the

40:35.139 --> 40:36.969
impact of the internet on

40:36.979 --> 40:39.035
communications and how us forces are

40:39.035 --> 40:40.923
working to overcome communication

40:40.923 --> 40:42.868
problems with host nations and the

40:42.868 --> 40:44.979
impact that the internet is having on

40:44.979 --> 40:48.760
creating , um , disruptive activities ,

40:48.770 --> 40:51.669
uh , false information and so forth

40:51.679 --> 40:53.568
that , uh , I'd like to know more

40:53.568 --> 40:55.790
detail about that as we move forward in

40:55.790 --> 40:57.846
terms of meeting um , threats to our

40:57.846 --> 41:01.530
security globally . Uh Well , thank you

41:01.540 --> 41:03.651
and , and thanks for all your support

41:03.651 --> 41:06.340
and certainly , uh , we'll make , I'll

41:06.350 --> 41:08.790
make sure my staff reaches out to yours .

41:08.800 --> 41:12.520
Uh , and we give , we , uh , provide

41:12.530 --> 41:14.363
you access to the people who are

41:14.363 --> 41:16.586
working on these , uh , issues with the

41:16.586 --> 41:18.697
industrial base . For , uh , for us ,

41:18.697 --> 41:20.919
we have a manufacturing , uh task force

41:20.919 --> 41:20.389
here , sir . On the house side , we're

41:20.399 --> 41:24.090
very interested . Thank you with

41:24.100 --> 41:27.310
respect to , uh , you know , the , the

41:27.320 --> 41:29.149
internet and information , how

41:29.159 --> 41:32.070
information impacts uh , operations .

41:32.459 --> 41:34.570
Uh , we've seen over the years that ,

41:34.570 --> 41:36.681
that , uh , in terms of transnational

41:36.681 --> 41:38.879
terrorist activity , uh , people that

41:38.889 --> 41:42.239
have been , uh , um , have been

41:42.250 --> 41:45.060
recruited , uh , and , uh , and , and

41:45.070 --> 41:48.030
actually , uh , encouraged to take

41:48.040 --> 41:49.820
action over the internet and

41:49.830 --> 41:52.370
radicalized over the internet , uh that

41:52.379 --> 41:54.780
kind of thing continues to uh we

41:54.790 --> 41:57.409
continue to see that . But in on the ,

41:57.419 --> 41:59.919
uh even in a , in a kind of a

41:59.929 --> 42:02.530
conventional fight , uh there's still a

42:02.540 --> 42:05.060
lot of activity that the adversaries

42:05.070 --> 42:07.860
will put on uh on the , on the internet

42:07.870 --> 42:11.560
to uh creates a number of different

42:11.570 --> 42:14.090
types of effects . And we see this as ,

42:14.100 --> 42:16.500
you know , uh with the uh with the

42:16.510 --> 42:20.370
Ukraine Russia conflict .

42:20.379 --> 42:24.310
And we have to be our , you know ,

42:24.699 --> 42:26.921
we , we have to be active in that space

42:26.921 --> 42:28.810
and we also have to enable uh our

42:28.820 --> 42:31.149
partners uh to be active in that space .

42:31.260 --> 42:33.427
So this is , it is really important to

42:33.427 --> 42:35.316
us and it's , it will continue to

42:35.316 --> 42:37.038
evolve and , and uh so there's

42:37.038 --> 42:39.419
significant significant activity uh in

42:39.429 --> 42:41.318
those spaces and they do directly

42:41.318 --> 42:43.820
affect uh the fight and let me see if

42:43.830 --> 42:47.469
Mark wants to add anything . Yeah . Uh

42:47.479 --> 42:49.590
Congresswoman uh first on the Liberty

42:49.590 --> 42:51.701
Pro road thing , I , I'll circle back

42:51.701 --> 42:53.757
with you and make sure that uh we're

42:53.757 --> 42:55.590
closing loops on , on that whole

42:55.590 --> 42:57.812
project . Um And I was very proud to be

42:57.812 --> 42:57.629
there with you . And as part of that

42:57.639 --> 43:00.239
over in Poland um on , on this , on ,

43:00.250 --> 43:02.449
on the uh communications piece uh

43:02.459 --> 43:04.750
communications is fundamental obviously

43:04.760 --> 43:06.982
to the conduct of military operations .

43:06.982 --> 43:09.038
That is one of the key pieces of our

43:09.038 --> 43:10.982
joint war fighting concept , which

43:10.982 --> 43:13.204
would be doctrine here uh this summer .

43:13.204 --> 43:15.371
Uh The T C two piece is part of that .

43:15.371 --> 43:17.149
So our , for , from a defensive

43:17.149 --> 43:19.316
standpoint , our communication systems

43:19.316 --> 43:18.770
have got to become more resilient uh

43:18.780 --> 43:21.189
And , and less susceptible to either

43:21.199 --> 43:23.659
jamming or spoofing or any other kind

43:23.669 --> 43:25.780
of interference or intercepting and ,

43:25.780 --> 43:27.947
and , and collecting off of our signal

43:27.947 --> 43:30.225
systems . Uh I think we're pretty good ,

43:30.225 --> 43:32.336
but we need to get better Uh in terms

43:32.336 --> 43:34.558
of uh broader implications , the social

43:34.558 --> 43:36.891
media and in the advent of social media ,

43:36.891 --> 43:39.113
if you think about it , the iPhone just

43:39.113 --> 43:41.280
came out in 2008 . Uh so we are really

43:41.280 --> 43:43.558
at the beginning of a proliferation of ,

43:43.558 --> 43:45.725
of , of all kinds of information , all

43:45.725 --> 43:47.836
kinds of platforms out there that can

43:47.836 --> 43:49.836
spew all kinds of accurate data and

43:49.836 --> 43:51.613
inaccurate data . Uh and that's

43:51.613 --> 43:53.725
something that we all have to come to

43:53.725 --> 43:55.725
grips with because there's a lot of

43:55.725 --> 43:55.290
stuff out there in the Internet and

43:55.300 --> 43:57.669
social media that is false . And we

43:57.679 --> 43:59.623
have to be wary of that because of

43:59.623 --> 44:01.512
misinformation , disinformation ,

44:01.512 --> 44:03.679
propaganda . We know factually that uh

44:03.679 --> 44:05.989
adversary states using bots uh on a

44:06.000 --> 44:08.222
very frequent basis to try to influence

44:08.222 --> 44:10.389
our elections , influence elections in

44:10.389 --> 44:12.500
Europe , influence elections in other

44:12.500 --> 44:14.278
countries . Uh undermine create

44:14.278 --> 44:16.222
divisiveness where there's already

44:16.222 --> 44:17.944
divisiveness in a society . Uh

44:17.944 --> 44:20.111
Adversary states may try to pour on uh

44:20.111 --> 44:22.278
with the social media and make it even

44:22.278 --> 44:24.389
though it's just a single person in a

44:24.389 --> 44:26.500
foreign city who's doing this through

44:26.500 --> 44:28.556
some means and mechanisms . But they

44:28.556 --> 44:30.722
can uh they can take a single uh issue

44:30.722 --> 44:32.778
and blow it up and make it much more

44:32.778 --> 44:32.629
divisive than it would have been

44:32.639 --> 44:34.806
otherwise . So there's a lot of issues

44:34.806 --> 44:37.229
with social media and how it's being

44:37.239 --> 44:39.406
used for information transmission , uh

44:39.406 --> 44:41.406
disinformation transmission . And I

44:41.406 --> 44:43.517
think there's a lot of things that we

44:43.517 --> 44:43.050
have to come to grips with from a

44:43.060 --> 44:45.419
military standpoint though . Uh for us ,

44:45.429 --> 44:47.651
it's really just a communication system

44:47.651 --> 44:49.429
that we need to build , make it

44:49.429 --> 44:51.485
resilient so that we can effectively

44:51.485 --> 44:53.373
command control and coordinate uh

44:53.373 --> 44:55.540
during combat operations . Thank you ,

44:55.540 --> 44:57.818
John . It's time to describe Mr Rogers .

44:59.290 --> 45:02.300
Thank you , Mr Chairman , gentlemen .

45:02.310 --> 45:04.739
Uh Thank you for your service to the

45:04.750 --> 45:07.979
country , a lifetime of service and we ,

45:07.989 --> 45:11.290
we thank you very much . Let me uh

45:11.300 --> 45:14.050
bring up a topic that's the elephant in

45:14.060 --> 45:16.649
the room and there's a competition with

45:16.659 --> 45:20.570
China . Uh How do you assess

45:20.580 --> 45:23.939
the Chinese president's visit to

45:23.949 --> 45:27.360
Moscow recently ? And how does that

45:27.370 --> 45:30.120
play in the larger world stage on our

45:30.169 --> 45:32.729
competition with , with China ?

45:34.689 --> 45:37.659
The uh I'll be through it and , and uh

45:37.669 --> 45:39.836
certainly offer the chairman with your

45:39.836 --> 45:41.836
permission , uh chance to comment .

45:42.320 --> 45:46.120
Certainly , this is , it's troubling to

45:46.129 --> 45:48.810
see that Putin

45:50.909 --> 45:52.560
attacked his neighbor in an

45:52.570 --> 45:56.489
unprecedented way and uh and seeks to

45:56.919 --> 46:00.169
uh uh to change the border and uh

46:00.620 --> 46:04.310
and access his neighbor's property or ,

46:04.320 --> 46:07.399
or sovereign territory . Um So

46:08.090 --> 46:11.540
Xi's visit to Putin , uh it's and , and

46:11.550 --> 46:13.717
remaining there for a couple of days ,

46:13.717 --> 46:15.994
I think sends a very troubling message ,

46:16.280 --> 46:19.709
a message of support . Uh We don't see

46:19.719 --> 46:23.070
them providing any material support to ,

46:23.080 --> 46:25.439
to Russia right now . Uh But we're

46:25.449 --> 46:27.727
watching this very , very closely . Uh ,

46:27.727 --> 46:29.838
if they were to go down that path , I

46:29.838 --> 46:32.005
think it would be very troubling for ,

46:32.005 --> 46:34.116
for the international community , but

46:34.116 --> 46:36.227
certainly just showing support by his

46:36.227 --> 46:38.338
presence there , I think is , uh , is

46:38.338 --> 46:42.100
very troubling . Um I think that , uh ,

46:43.300 --> 46:45.540
you know , this is uh this is , it's

46:45.550 --> 46:47.328
been described as a marriage of

46:47.328 --> 46:49.409
convenience . Uh you know , Putin

46:49.419 --> 46:51.330
doesn't have any , any allies or

46:51.340 --> 46:53.340
partners that he can turn to in the

46:53.340 --> 46:55.770
international community . Uh And , and

46:55.780 --> 46:58.870
so China has uh is , is ,

46:59.790 --> 47:01.957
is willing to continue to develop that

47:01.957 --> 47:04.068
relationship . That's , that's very ,

47:04.068 --> 47:05.790
very interesting . Uh But it's

47:05.790 --> 47:08.012
troubling that uh you know , what we've

47:08.012 --> 47:10.179
seen , uh again , it will be even more

47:10.179 --> 47:12.899
troubling if she decides to provide

47:12.909 --> 47:15.560
material support to uh to , to Russia ,

47:15.639 --> 47:17.889
it would prolong the conflict and uh

47:18.219 --> 47:20.449
and , and certainly broaden the

47:20.459 --> 47:23.000
conflict potentially uh not only in the

47:23.010 --> 47:26.790
region but globally . So

47:27.100 --> 47:29.649
m uh thanks for the question . I , you

47:29.659 --> 47:32.360
know , look at China is a serious ,

47:32.370 --> 47:35.060
probably the most serious geostrategic

47:35.070 --> 47:37.181
adversary the United States is facing

47:37.181 --> 47:39.292
today and we'll be facing through mid

47:39.292 --> 47:41.570
century and perhaps the entire century .

47:41.570 --> 47:43.903
And if you were a historian in the year ,

47:43.903 --> 47:46.014
uh you know , a century from now , uh

47:46.014 --> 47:48.070
the story of this century uh uh will

47:48.070 --> 47:50.070
likely be the geostrategic story is

47:50.070 --> 47:50.040
gonna likely be the , what was the

47:50.050 --> 47:52.217
relationship between the United States

47:52.217 --> 47:54.383
and China did end up in a war or not ?

47:54.383 --> 47:56.272
Uh And I think that we need to be

47:56.272 --> 47:58.494
really careful as we go forward to make

47:58.494 --> 48:00.217
sure that our military and our

48:00.217 --> 48:02.161
capabilities are way stronger than

48:02.161 --> 48:04.050
anything China can field . That's

48:04.050 --> 48:06.106
fundamental to deterrence . We don't

48:06.106 --> 48:08.272
want a great power war with China . Uh

48:08.272 --> 48:07.889
We want to prevent that and the way to

48:07.899 --> 48:09.788
prevent it is a strong , powerful

48:09.788 --> 48:12.010
military uh demonstrated will to use it

48:12.010 --> 48:14.177
if necessary and that they clearly and

48:14.177 --> 48:16.288
unambiguously understand it . What we

48:16.288 --> 48:18.343
see in China , what we see in a , in

48:18.343 --> 48:20.455
terms of a nation state over the last

48:20.455 --> 48:22.621
40 plus years . Uh since Deng Xiaoping

48:22.621 --> 48:24.677
introduced his reforms in 1979 is an

48:24.677 --> 48:26.979
enormous growth in wealth . Uh The

48:26.989 --> 48:28.822
greatest growth in wealth of any

48:28.822 --> 48:31.004
country uh to include all the the

48:31.014 --> 48:33.236
United States back in the 18 hundreds .

48:33.236 --> 48:35.292
This is an enormous growth in wealth

48:35.292 --> 48:37.181
and enormous shift in uh in power

48:37.181 --> 48:39.125
globally . And in the wake of that

48:39.125 --> 48:41.070
wealth is coming . This military ,

48:41.070 --> 48:43.014
their military has advanced from a

48:43.014 --> 48:45.604
peasant based infantry army in 1979 to

48:45.614 --> 48:48.155
a world class military that is a near

48:48.165 --> 48:50.221
peer of the United States . They are

48:50.221 --> 48:52.276
not better than we are , they have a

48:52.276 --> 48:54.387
long way to go for that . Uh But they

48:54.387 --> 48:56.721
are closing the gap very , very quickly .

48:56.721 --> 48:58.887
It is incumbent upon us . To make sure

48:58.887 --> 49:01.165
that we remain number one at all times ,

49:01.165 --> 49:03.165
that will help keep the peace if we

49:03.165 --> 49:05.332
somehow fall behind , that will become

49:05.332 --> 49:07.498
very dangerous in my opinion . So , so

49:07.498 --> 49:09.665
the goal is to deter China from making

49:09.665 --> 49:12.649
an ill advised decision going forward .

49:13.060 --> 49:15.227
Uh And you've heard me say a number of

49:15.227 --> 49:18.290
times that I don't think uh uh a

49:18.300 --> 49:20.939
military action against Taiwan is

49:20.949 --> 49:24.300
either imminent or uh or ,

49:25.030 --> 49:27.750
you know , unavoidable . I think that

49:27.760 --> 49:30.750
uh that the way that we keep things uh

49:30.760 --> 49:32.982
in the right place is to make sure that

49:32.982 --> 49:35.093
we're able to talk to each other . Uh

49:35.093 --> 49:37.093
You've , you've seen me reach out a

49:37.093 --> 49:39.093
number of times to my counterpart .

49:39.093 --> 49:41.038
I'll continue to do that . I think

49:41.038 --> 49:43.149
military leaders uh should be able to

49:43.149 --> 49:45.093
uh to talk to each other to manage

49:45.093 --> 49:46.982
escalation and , and to determine

49:46.982 --> 49:49.093
intent and a number of other things .

49:49.093 --> 49:50.982
But I think this communication is

49:50.982 --> 49:52.982
really , really important . So , uh

49:52.982 --> 49:56.830
again , um I do not think that uh that

49:56.959 --> 50:00.570
military action is imminent . Uh But ,

50:00.580 --> 50:02.636
you know , certainly as the chairman

50:02.636 --> 50:04.858
pointed out , we have to make sure that

50:04.858 --> 50:07.360
we remain a combat credible force and

50:07.370 --> 50:09.592
we'll do everything within our power to

50:09.592 --> 50:13.330
make sure we do that well , in um the

50:13.340 --> 50:15.396
question of competition with China ,

50:15.959 --> 50:19.689
undoubtedly we are at a crucial moment

50:19.699 --> 50:23.389
here , we are beginning to lose our

50:23.399 --> 50:26.500
critical competitive edge in multiple

50:26.510 --> 50:29.979
domains . Um I'm interested to

50:29.989 --> 50:32.860
know in your budget request .

50:34.020 --> 50:37.820
Um what is

50:37.830 --> 50:41.270
needed to reverse this trend that we're

50:41.280 --> 50:44.929
on . Well , you see

50:44.939 --> 50:48.110
us uh number one investing uh in our

50:48.120 --> 50:51.879
posture . Uh And , and so , uh the

50:51.889 --> 50:55.050
Pacific uh deterrence initiative , uh

50:55.060 --> 50:57.360
we've allocated or requested for , for

50:57.370 --> 51:00.860
that initiative , uh some $9.1 billion

51:00.870 --> 51:03.260
this year , that's a 40% increase over

51:03.270 --> 51:05.500
what we asked for last year that will

51:05.510 --> 51:07.729
help us uh you know , improve

51:07.739 --> 51:10.889
infrastructure that uh provides us uh

51:12.290 --> 51:15.100
the ability to , to position our troops

51:15.110 --> 51:18.370
forward in theater so that we can deter

51:18.419 --> 51:20.959
much further forward . You've seen us

51:20.969 --> 51:24.540
ask for $61 billion

51:24.550 --> 51:27.860
to support and maintain our dominance

51:27.870 --> 51:31.050
in the air domain . Uh $48 billion in ,

51:31.449 --> 51:33.649
In combat effective naval forces and

51:33.659 --> 51:37.479
some $13 plus billion dollars for

51:37.489 --> 51:40.209
our effective ground forces . And we're

51:40.219 --> 51:42.489
investing in the capabilities that

51:42.500 --> 51:45.830
support our war fighting

51:45.840 --> 51:47.699
concepts that , that support our

51:47.709 --> 51:49.729
strategy . So there's a lot in this

51:49.739 --> 51:51.939
budget that's focused on uh on this

51:51.949 --> 51:54.739
particular challenge . And uh and again ,

51:54.790 --> 51:57.012
we will continue to invest in the years

51:57.012 --> 51:59.179
going forward to build upon the things

51:59.179 --> 52:01.290
that we're we're asking for today and

52:01.290 --> 52:04.370
doing today in theater . Thank you , Mr

52:04.389 --> 52:06.389
Chairman . Thank you , Mr Stewart ,

52:07.820 --> 52:09.987
gentlemen . Thank you for being here .

52:09.987 --> 52:12.439
Uh I have three things I want to talk

52:12.449 --> 52:14.616
about briefly but I'm gonna have to go

52:14.616 --> 52:16.782
fairly quickly through them if I could

52:16.782 --> 52:19.060
in the time allowed uh chairman Milley ,

52:19.060 --> 52:21.227
I want to follow up with something you

52:21.227 --> 52:23.338
said and just try to add some clarity

52:23.338 --> 52:25.560
to it when we talk about and I want you

52:25.560 --> 52:27.727
to know in fairness . I'm , I'm one of

52:27.727 --> 52:29.782
the members who is becoming more and

52:29.782 --> 52:31.782
more concerned about our efforts in

52:31.782 --> 52:34.005
Ukraine . And what , where , where that

52:34.005 --> 52:36.227
actually leads us ? And have we applied

52:36.227 --> 52:38.560
any of the lessons of the last 20 years ?

52:38.560 --> 52:40.782
And can we apply those to Ukraine ? And

52:40.782 --> 52:40.229
so when you talk about our goals ,

52:40.239 --> 52:42.560
there are international , I'm

52:42.570 --> 52:44.570
paraphrasing international rule are

52:44.570 --> 52:46.540
preserved . Ukraine , a free and

52:46.550 --> 52:48.760
independent nation with its territory

52:48.770 --> 52:51.810
preserved . Does that include Crimea ?

52:53.290 --> 52:55.457
Yeah , the what the president has said

52:55.457 --> 52:57.568
and the guidance he's given out uh is

52:57.568 --> 52:59.649
publicly as well as , as well as

52:59.659 --> 53:02.020
Secretary Blinken , Mr Sullivan .

53:02.080 --> 53:04.239
Others uh is that that is for a

53:04.250 --> 53:07.340
decision for Ukraine to decide our task

53:07.350 --> 53:09.540
is to help Ukraine defend itself . Uh

53:09.550 --> 53:11.606
The United States is not at war with

53:11.606 --> 53:13.550
Russia even though Russia tries to

53:13.550 --> 53:15.661
portray that we are helping a country

53:15.661 --> 53:17.828
defend itself , defend its territorial

53:17.828 --> 53:20.050
integrity and its people . Well , and I

53:20.050 --> 53:22.217
think that's where this becomes a very

53:22.217 --> 53:24.161
different situation for us . And I

53:24.161 --> 53:24.050
would say a very much more dangerous

53:24.060 --> 53:26.282
situation if we stay our say , our goal

53:26.282 --> 53:28.370
is to reclaim all of the Eastern

53:28.379 --> 53:30.729
Donetsk region and then including U uh

53:30.739 --> 53:33.530
Crimea and including the land bridge .

53:33.540 --> 53:35.669
Uh I I just the , the , the evidence

53:35.679 --> 53:37.846
and the intelligence and experience is

53:37.846 --> 53:40.090
really clear that that is a very , very

53:40.100 --> 53:42.322
different thing than what we're talking

53:42.322 --> 53:44.489
about if I said that publicly , that ,

53:44.489 --> 53:46.711
that , that goal , uh which is really a

53:46.711 --> 53:48.544
maximalist goal set by President

53:48.544 --> 53:50.267
Zalinsky publicly , that is an

53:50.267 --> 53:52.156
extraordinarily difficult goal to

53:52.156 --> 53:53.989
achieve militarily . And , and I

53:53.989 --> 53:55.989
appreciate that and we'll have more

53:55.989 --> 53:58.044
time to talk about that . You know ,

53:58.044 --> 53:57.209
the interesting thing about these

53:57.219 --> 53:59.386
hearings is we often come with kind of

53:59.386 --> 54:01.552
esoteric issues , things that are kind

54:01.552 --> 54:03.775
of personal to our district maybe or to

54:03.775 --> 54:05.997
our state . And this , this is a little

54:05.997 --> 54:08.163
bit like that , but not , not really .

54:08.163 --> 54:10.441
It's actually very broad and strategic .

54:10.441 --> 54:12.608
And I think also in meeting with our ,

54:12.608 --> 54:12.429
our conversations with your staff , it

54:12.439 --> 54:14.661
appears that both of you are supportive

54:14.661 --> 54:16.495
of this and that's the Office of

54:16.495 --> 54:18.709
Strategic Capital , the $115 million

54:18.719 --> 54:20.886
that was allocated . And I have talked

54:20.886 --> 54:22.997
with dozens and dozens and I know you

54:22.997 --> 54:25.163
have two , dozens of small companies ,

54:25.163 --> 54:27.386
but , you know , some other larger ones

54:27.386 --> 54:29.275
as well who want to work with the

54:29.275 --> 54:31.330
department , but they just can't get

54:31.330 --> 54:33.899
through the contracting process . Uh Mr

54:33.909 --> 54:36.131
undersecretary , you have the worst job

54:36.131 --> 54:38.242
in the world as a comp controller and

54:38.242 --> 54:40.298
the , and the person who's got a , I

54:40.298 --> 54:40.179
mean , I think God looks at the

54:40.189 --> 54:42.356
acquisition process , he says it's too

54:42.356 --> 54:44.578
hard , I can't do it . Uh , it's a very

54:44.578 --> 54:46.522
difficult thing but this Office of

54:46.522 --> 54:48.522
Strategic Capital , I believe would

54:48.522 --> 54:50.411
bring billions of dollars of , of

54:50.411 --> 54:53.129
market money , private money uh , to

54:53.139 --> 54:55.361
the Department of Defense in a way that

54:55.361 --> 54:57.528
just , we can't do now because they're

54:57.528 --> 54:59.583
so , is so difficult and they get so

54:59.583 --> 55:01.583
frustrated and , uh , either of you

55:01.583 --> 55:01.340
would like to respond to that . I'd

55:01.350 --> 55:03.683
appreciate it if you have views on that .

55:03.683 --> 55:05.794
But if not , we'd like to continue to

55:05.794 --> 55:07.906
work with the offices . We try to try

55:07.906 --> 55:10.017
to make this actual reality . This is

55:10.017 --> 55:12.017
really important to us . And , uh ,

55:12.017 --> 55:14.017
thanks for your support . I want to

55:14.017 --> 55:13.580
thank the chairman for his support as

55:13.590 --> 55:15.368
well . Uh We've had a couple of

55:15.368 --> 55:17.530
conversations on this initiative . I

55:17.540 --> 55:19.770
wanna applaud Heidi's efforts uh in

55:19.780 --> 55:23.340
this area . Uh She and I and a couple

55:23.350 --> 55:26.979
of others sat down uh you know , many

55:26.989 --> 55:29.800
months ago and really uh focused on the

55:29.810 --> 55:32.399
problem of trying to get uh small

55:32.409 --> 55:34.989
companies uh into this , uh you know ,

55:35.000 --> 55:37.229
in , in , into the business here and ,

55:37.239 --> 55:39.350
and how do we break down barriers and

55:39.350 --> 55:41.183
how do we make it ? Uh how do we

55:41.183 --> 55:43.760
incentivize uh investment ? And , and

55:43.770 --> 55:46.540
so , uh that's what this is about . Uh

55:46.550 --> 55:49.080
We really are interested in making sure

55:49.090 --> 55:51.189
that it , it begins to move in the

55:51.199 --> 55:53.088
right in the right direction . We

55:53.088 --> 55:54.977
partnered with the small Business

55:54.977 --> 55:58.219
Bureau and , and uh and so , uh again ,

55:58.229 --> 56:00.285
we're optimistic about it and thanks

56:00.285 --> 56:02.618
for your support . Well , and secretary ,

56:02.618 --> 56:04.562
thank you because I think it could

56:04.562 --> 56:06.618
really make a difference and some of

56:06.618 --> 56:05.909
the technology they would make

56:05.919 --> 56:07.919
available to our war fighters would

56:07.919 --> 56:10.086
make a difference to them . Uh They've

56:10.086 --> 56:12.086
got things that we need , we find ,

56:12.086 --> 56:14.197
need to find a way to get it , to get

56:14.197 --> 56:16.475
us access to it . And the last comment ,

56:16.475 --> 56:18.586
if I could very quickly , uh , I come

56:18.586 --> 56:20.586
from a family of military . I'm the

56:20.586 --> 56:22.752
third , three generations now . All of

56:22.752 --> 56:24.863
my brothers , my father , et cetera .

56:24.863 --> 56:26.808
Um , and one of the reasons that I

56:26.808 --> 56:28.919
joined the military is because my dad

56:28.919 --> 56:31.030
did . And if he had ever indicated to

56:31.030 --> 56:33.141
me , you know , I don't know if you'd

56:33.141 --> 56:33.010
like it or I'm not sure it's a good

56:33.020 --> 56:35.242
thing anymore . I would never have done

56:35.242 --> 56:37.409
it . And there's a culture here that I

56:37.409 --> 56:39.631
think we've , we've , I don't wanna say

56:39.631 --> 56:41.520
broken , but we've strained it in

56:41.520 --> 56:43.631
general . Or chairman milly . I think

56:43.631 --> 56:45.853
you've seen it in the army in the sense

56:45.853 --> 56:45.169
of our recruitment goals . I mean ,

56:45.179 --> 56:48.290
15,000 soldiers short , 25% short of

56:48.300 --> 56:50.739
our , uh short of our goal . And we can

56:50.750 --> 56:52.806
talk about salaries and compensation

56:52.806 --> 56:54.917
and that's part of it . But I'm , but

56:54.917 --> 56:56.806
you both know that that's not the

56:56.806 --> 56:56.459
primary reason someone joins the

56:56.469 --> 56:58.413
military . They do because of that

56:58.413 --> 57:00.580
culture and that uh wanting to serve .

57:00.580 --> 57:02.691
And we've broken that somehow between

57:02.691 --> 57:04.580
fathers and sons and , and I just

57:04.580 --> 57:06.747
wondered , and my time is up and maybe

57:06.747 --> 57:09.030
we can talk about it again . But what ,

57:09.040 --> 57:12.520
what has changed culturally to make it ?

57:12.530 --> 57:14.530
So we're not meeting our recruiting

57:14.530 --> 57:16.586
goals . And how do we address that ?

57:17.770 --> 57:20.280
Thanks for the question . The um , well ,

57:20.290 --> 57:22.290
1st , 1st the services army and the

57:22.290 --> 57:24.512
recruiting goes , with the exception of

57:24.512 --> 57:26.679
the army , the army ran into some real

57:26.679 --> 57:26.149
headwinds there and , uh , they're

57:26.159 --> 57:28.270
trying to dig their way out of that .

57:28.270 --> 57:30.326
Uh Secondly , we're , we are at a 50

57:30.326 --> 57:32.270
year high actually , since the all

57:32.270 --> 57:34.326
volunteer military began right after

57:34.326 --> 57:36.459
Vietnam , 50 year high on retention .

57:36.790 --> 57:38.901
Uh So that should tell us something .

57:38.901 --> 57:41.123
What , what that tells us is that those

57:41.123 --> 57:43.290
that are in uniform are very satisfied

57:43.290 --> 57:45.512
with , with what they're doing on a day

57:45.512 --> 57:45.389
to day basis . And , and , and they

57:45.399 --> 57:47.455
have , they feel fulfilled that this

57:47.455 --> 57:49.455
are gonna cause better themselves .

57:49.455 --> 57:51.621
They're better in their own lives , et

57:51.621 --> 57:53.677
cetera . Uh So those are on , on the

57:53.677 --> 57:55.788
plus side uh for the recruiting piece

57:55.788 --> 57:55.409
though we are in a difficult uh

57:55.419 --> 57:57.641
recruiting period . There's no question

57:57.641 --> 57:59.752
about it , I think , uh for sure , uh

57:59.752 --> 58:01.975
COVID plays a role in that . Um We know

58:01.975 --> 58:03.863
that uh only , uh in terms of the

58:03.863 --> 58:05.808
demographics of our society , only

58:05.808 --> 58:08.030
about 23% of America's youth between 17

58:08.030 --> 58:10.060
and 25 even qualify to get into the

58:10.070 --> 58:12.870
military and of them only 9% uh show

58:12.879 --> 58:14.990
propensity to serve . Uh We know that

58:14.990 --> 58:17.139
about 78% of those of us in uniform

58:17.149 --> 58:19.371
have military family members in uniform

58:19.371 --> 58:21.316
like yourself . Both my mother and

58:21.316 --> 58:23.649
father served in World War Two . Uh and ,

58:23.649 --> 58:25.927
and and , and grandparents before them ,

58:25.927 --> 58:25.850
uncles , brothers , sisters and cousins ,

58:25.860 --> 58:27.749
all of them served at one time or

58:27.749 --> 58:29.804
another . And that's true with you .

58:29.804 --> 58:31.804
That's true . Us , and it's true of

58:31.804 --> 58:34.082
many of us uh , in this , in this room .

58:34.082 --> 58:35.804
Uh , so 78% of those that have

58:35.804 --> 58:37.916
familiarity with the military tend to

58:37.916 --> 58:40.193
join the military . Uh so contact time ,

58:40.193 --> 58:42.416
uh , familiarity with the military , uh

58:42.416 --> 58:44.471
meeting troops , et cetera . We also

58:44.471 --> 58:44.350
know that the army did a study and I ,

58:44.360 --> 58:46.360
I think , I don't know if it's been

58:46.360 --> 58:48.582
made available or not . Uh , but , uh ,

58:48.582 --> 58:50.638
I was briefed on it and , and one of

58:50.638 --> 58:52.804
the things in the study that comes out

58:52.804 --> 58:52.540
is in terms of a barrier to join for

58:52.550 --> 58:54.550
kids coming out of high school , et

58:54.550 --> 58:56.772
cetera . Uh , is , is the fear of being

58:56.772 --> 58:59.209
injured or the fear of getting hurt

58:59.219 --> 59:01.840
PTSD . Uh , uh , there's , there's a

59:01.850 --> 59:04.128
lot of stuff out there about , uh , uh ,

59:04.128 --> 59:05.850
rape , sexual assault , sexual

59:05.850 --> 59:08.017
harassment . Those sorts of things are

59:08.017 --> 59:10.072
out there that have mischaracterized

59:10.072 --> 59:09.989
actually the military in many , many

59:10.000 --> 59:11.889
ways . And so it creates a little

59:11.889 --> 59:14.167
barrier for those that , uh , are , uh ,

59:14.167 --> 59:16.389
uh , considering joining in addition to

59:16.389 --> 59:18.611
that . Uh , there's , there's , there's

59:18.611 --> 59:20.778
probably about 20 or 30 factors . Uh ,

59:20.778 --> 59:22.778
but I think one of the biggest ones

59:22.778 --> 59:24.778
actually is the lack of , uh , kids

59:24.778 --> 59:24.570
going to school in the last couple of

59:24.580 --> 59:26.939
years , uh , has , uh , prevented our

59:26.949 --> 59:28.838
recruiters from getting into high

59:28.838 --> 59:31.005
schools and having contact time . Uh ,

59:31.005 --> 59:33.060
and we know , uh , right off the bat

59:33.060 --> 59:35.393
that , that drops recruiting rates . Uh ,

59:35.393 --> 59:35.270
if you don't have contact time with

59:35.280 --> 59:37.391
recruits , there's a lot of reasons ,

59:37.391 --> 59:39.689
uh , uh , I , I wouldn't , uh , you

59:39.699 --> 59:41.866
know , say that there's one particular

59:41.866 --> 59:43.866
reason there's a lot of reasons why

59:43.866 --> 59:43.760
it's challenging right now , but those

59:43.770 --> 59:45.937
that are coming into service are doing

59:45.937 --> 59:48.103
it for the same reasons that you did ,

59:48.103 --> 59:50.270
which is to serve your country , serve

59:50.270 --> 59:49.629
a cause greater than yourself . Try to

59:49.639 --> 59:51.528
better yourself , develop certain

59:51.528 --> 59:53.417
skills . Uh They're coming in for

59:53.417 --> 59:55.583
certain pays and benefits to be sure .

59:55.583 --> 59:57.695
But no one comes in the military just

59:57.695 --> 59:57.010
for the money . And that's not why you

59:57.020 --> 59:59.020
come in , you come in to serve your

59:59.020 --> 01:00:01.187
country , protect the constitution and

01:00:01.187 --> 01:00:03.353
hand it off to the next generation and

01:00:03.353 --> 01:00:05.409
thanks for your service . Thanks and

01:00:05.409 --> 01:00:08.179
gentlemen , um thank you , Member of

01:00:08.189 --> 01:00:10.300
mccollum . Do you have any uh closing

01:00:10.300 --> 01:00:12.467
statement ? Thank you , Mr Chair . I'm

01:00:12.467 --> 01:00:14.522
gonna submit a few questions for the

01:00:14.522 --> 01:00:16.745
record on climate change and resilience

01:00:16.745 --> 01:00:18.745
and uh Arctic resources . Thank you

01:00:18.745 --> 01:00:20.911
both for your testimony and I think it

01:00:20.911 --> 01:00:23.989
was well said by uh uh Congressman

01:00:24.000 --> 01:00:26.278
Stewart to talk about family and , and ,

01:00:26.278 --> 01:00:28.709
and service . Uh My family goes back on

01:00:28.719 --> 01:00:30.830
both sides of the revolutionary war ,

01:00:31.189 --> 01:00:32.967
but now we've had a gap in this

01:00:32.967 --> 01:00:36.070
generation . Um So there , there is

01:00:36.080 --> 01:00:38.560
something that we need to do uh to make

01:00:38.570 --> 01:00:40.403
sure people embrace them , being

01:00:40.403 --> 01:00:42.626
welcome . So , thank you very much , Mr

01:00:42.626 --> 01:00:45.050
Chair for your courtesy and for um the

01:00:45.060 --> 01:00:47.227
way everybody got their questions in .

01:00:50.360 --> 01:00:52.810
Yeah , also want to uh to thank both of

01:00:52.820 --> 01:00:54.876
you for your service uh general . Uh

01:00:54.876 --> 01:00:56.987
We've known each other for many years

01:00:56.987 --> 01:00:59.098
and , and each other over the years ,

01:00:59.098 --> 01:01:01.310
I'm sure we'll continue to know each

01:01:01.320 --> 01:01:03.989
other . I respect your service and uh

01:01:04.000 --> 01:01:06.120
uh I'm sure we'll be working closely

01:01:06.129 --> 01:01:08.351
together until you run through the tape

01:01:08.351 --> 01:01:10.462
in September . So thank you again for

01:01:10.462 --> 01:01:12.240
your service . Uh Obviously I'm

01:01:12.240 --> 01:01:14.520
concerned uh about the , this budget .

01:01:14.530 --> 01:01:16.889
Um I made that clear , I think we're

01:01:16.899 --> 01:01:18.899
gonna work together to plus this up

01:01:18.899 --> 01:01:21.239
somewhat , um , to make sure we meet

01:01:21.250 --> 01:01:23.417
the requirements . Uh We'll be working

01:01:23.417 --> 01:01:25.472
with our colleagues both here on the

01:01:25.472 --> 01:01:27.417
other side of the aisle and in the

01:01:27.417 --> 01:01:29.694
Senate to see if we can come up with a ,

01:01:29.694 --> 01:01:32.028
a number that uh will meet the needs of ,

01:01:32.028 --> 01:01:34.194
uh , to protect this country and , and

01:01:34.194 --> 01:01:36.310
uh lead it into the future that thank

01:01:36.320 --> 01:01:38.350
you . And we are adjourned .