Accused him of Sexual Assault. This is 2. 5 hours. What were going do do is have our Opening Statements of senator reid and myself and then well recognize dr. Wilson for a very important introduction. All right . The Committee Meets today for the nomination of general john e. Hyten to be Vice President of the joint chiefs of staff. We thank him for being here today. We welcome your family who is here and your friends, dr. Hyten. They can be introduced at the time you are recognized for your Opening Statement. And we have our boring seven or eight questions you have to respond to first. Have you adhered to applicable laws, recognitions or any conflicts of interest . Show yes, sir. Do you agree if confirmed to appear and testify before request before this committee . Yes, sir. Do you agree to provide documents including copies of electronic forms of communications in a timely manner when requested by a duly constituted committee or to consult with the Committee Regarding the basis of any good faith denial or delay in such documents yes sir. Do you agree when asked to give your personal views even if those differ from the administration in power . I do, sir. Will you ensure that your staff complies with deadlines establish for requesting communications including questions for the record in hearings . We will, sir. Will you cooperate in providing witnesses and briefers and in response to congressional requests . Yes, sir. Will you will those witnesses be protected from reprisal for their testimony or briefings . Yes, sir. Have you assumed any duties or undertaken any actions which would appear to be resume the outcome of this confirmation process . I have not, sir. The world is more dangerous than its been in my lifetime. I honestly believe that. I talk to you about that. And after years of sustained Armed Conflict under funding and budgets uncertainty, our military has fallen behind. Competitors and readiness in key capabilities. Without adequate sustained and predictable funding, all the work we do on this committee to implement the National Defense strategy would be for nothing. Thats why i think President Trump and congressional leaders for reaching a bipartisan budget agreement, it is critical to support our military and veterans and their families. While i would have liked to see more funding for defense tend of the day this budgets agreement provides minimal growth to give our military what it needs and will allow the department of defense to plan strategically in the future. Allegations have been band ond about in the press with little regard to the truth. This committee has held five executive sessions studied over 1,000 pages of investigative records, and reviewed statements of more than 50 witnesses. The members of the committee have devoted countless hours reviewing general hytens service and nomination through a fair, thorough and methodical process. We have done this with respect for the privacy of all involved. Each senator was able to ask questions, receive answers, review documents and other material, listened to testimony, conducted analysis, and expressed their opinions. Todays hearing is the next logical step in the deliberation, disciplined in detailed process this committee uses to determine the suitable suitability of the nominating candidates. Addressing these allegations is critical, not just for you, general hyten but for every nominee Going Forward. We take allegations of Sexual Assault seriously. It is unacceptable this committee will not act on unproven allegations, allegation thats do not withstand the close scrutiny of the committees process. General hyten, you have been leading strike com with discipline and integrity for the last 2 1 2 years. And you served honorably in the top leadership positions in the air force Space Command in the four years before. That i kmenld thecommend the willingness of you and your family to continue your service to our military and country. As we form a new United States space force, we need your Strategic Insights and guidance to move the Key Initiative forward including how to improve space acquisition. British Army Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery said, if we lose the war in the air, we lose the war and we lose it quickly and we can say the same thing about space now. When i say the world is the most dangerous position it has been in my lifetime, one of the areas im talking about is the proliferation of Ballistic Missiles and cruise missiles capability. Russia, china, iran, north korea, use missiles as strategic leverage and we need strategic teeth imagination to count they are growth. As the former secretary of defense said, we need urgent change and significant scale to implement the National Defense strategy and i couldnt agree more. Senator reid . Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Let me join you and welcome general hyten his wife and his children to the hearings. The purpose of the hearings is to focus on the duties of vice chairman of the joint chief of staff and to extrudescrutinize whether he is qualified to serve as vice chairman. Over the past few weeks a number of Media Outlets including the New York Times and Washington Post reported allegations that you sexually assaulted a suborder nant under your command as the commander of u. S. Strategic command. These are serious allegations and, therefore, consistent with the committees long standing practices we have held five executive sessions related to your nomination, totalling over 15 hours of testimony and deliberation. During those sections, members received sworn testimony on extremely sensitive matters and able to ask questions and review documents and background material. Members have been afforded to the opportunity to request Additional Information from the department which we have done. These executive sessions with the appropriate form to consider this information which enabled them to use long standing procedures that served it and the senate well for decades. The sessions allowed each member to hear the viewpoint of our colleagues even if that per inspect sieve different from our own. That dialogue helped inform our committee and i appreciate the thoughtful consideration of every member during this process. Finally, i want to thank the chairman for ensuring the committee had sufficient time to conduct our review of these matters. Youve been extremely cooperative in this regard and i appreciate it. Nevertheless, we must recognize the public nalt ofture of the allegations will likely raise questions today that are appropriate to an open session of this committee. The imentnternational order is under threat. The new National Strategy or nds is help the United States compete with china or russia. As department per sues this new strategic direction, there are countries dangerous and the threat posed by organizations is not diminishing. Furthermore, the Department Must continue to recruit and retain high caliber individuals by restoring readiness and pursuing new high end capabilities for the force. General hyten, youll be working closely with general milich to address the issues and i hope you will share your views with this committee. Youll see a key role in the interagency process that requires working closely with senior policymakers within the department and National Security council on critical National Security issues. The committee looks forward to hearing from you on the effectiveness of the interagency process. The vice chairman assigned a number of responsibilities within the department. First, they oversee the council which is a critical process. Senior member of the Nuclear Weapons council, the vice chairman plays a role in ensuring the safety of our Nuclear Arsenal and finally, giving your recent services, if confirmed, i would expect that you play an intergral role in space. Show less text 00 09 36 we look forward to hearing your testimony and how you prioritize these duties if you are confirmed as the vice chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. James m. Inhofe thank you, senator reid. And thank you, dr. Wilson, for being here. Your service to our country has been exemplary. We hope you enjoy your next chapter. Youre recognized now for an introduction. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Im here to introduce general john hyten, nominee to be the next vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. I graduated from the air force academy in the third class to include women. And served for seven years as a junior officer. In the 1909s, i was a former member of the house afk services committee. I know well that Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault happen in the military. It must be con fronted, investigated, and punished. While i have now left the defense department, i was the secretary of the air force and directed the investigation of allegations made against general hyten by a former subordinate. That investigation was overseen by the air force Inspector General and was peer reviewed. The task was to conduct an exhaustive investigation and to find the truth. Ive come before with you Great Success stories. Ive been here with the air force missed the mark. Ive taken responsibility and been straight with you when we got it wrong. This investigation was thorough and the allegations were taken seriously and it was handled appropriately. The team investigated 63 people in three countries and 14 states. They reviewed over 196,000 emails and 4,000 pages of documents. They reviewed 152 travel records and portions of phone records dating back to 2015. They interviewed members of the general staff at Strategic Command as well as members of his staff when he was at Space Command. General hyten is one of the most closely guarded officers in the military because he commands the Nuclear Deterrent. Inspector general also interviewed his personal security team. The result is a final report of over 1400 pages. The military does not automatically suspend the peoples clearances or remove them from command when there is an allegation of impropriety. If the initial facts gathered justify it, we can and i have done so in other cases. This Committee Also has handled this matter with respect for the accuser and for general hyten with discretion and sensitivity. After all of this, i believe the senate will come to the same conclusion i did. General hyten was falsely accused and this matter should be set aside as you consider his nomination. I accept that it is entirely possible that his accuser is a wounded soldier who believes what she is saying is true. Even if its not. That possibility makes this whole situation very sad. We all know that Sexual Assault is a highly charged issue, more so today than at any time in our history. Difficult in any environment, it is even more so when your decisions as senators are public but not all of the information will be public. None of us want to appear as leaders to be breaking faith with victims of Sexual Assault. All of us want to encourage victims to come forward. But with very to do the right thing in this case with these facts, maintaining the credibility of this committee and this body. Aligned with the American Peoples deeply rooted sense of justice. I hope you will agree with me that general john hyten is worth all of the time that you have taken to consider his nomination. Hes the right leader to be the next vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. There is no other active duty officer today who combines the intellect and breadth of experience of john hyten when it comes to three areas of vital importance to our National Security. Space, cyber, and the nuclear deterent. John has the credibility and experience of a Combatant Commander yet he began his career in acquisition. He has experience setting requirements for complex Weapons Systems which is a process he will lead as the vice chairman. General hyten stewarded the requirements for command and control and has been a driving force behind the need to modernize the nuclear deterent. He is an exceptionally good compliment to general millys skills as the chairman. More than his expertise, john hyten has a well earned reputation for speaking truth to power. He gives frank military advice without much sugarcoating. I know that from personal experience. Like it or not, he will tell you what he thinks. And what you need to know. Not what you want to hear. He is passionate about the security of this country and i encourage you to support his confirmation. Thank you, mr. Chairman. James m. Inhofe thank you, dr. Wilson, very much for that excellent introduction. With that, general hyten, well recognize you for an Opening Statement. Chairman, members, distinguished Committee Members, it is a privilege to appear before you as the vezs nominee to become the 11th vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. I want to recognize secretary wilson for her long and devoted service to this nation. It means everything to laura and me she came all this way to speak on our behalf. I thank her for that introduction. To begin, id like to introduce my wife laura to the committee so thank you for that opportunity. Laura and i met when i was stationed in los angeles and weve been married now for almost 32 years. We met by long term aspirations did not include a lifetime of service to the United States air force. But over and over again, opportunities continued to come along to do what i love and laura always encouraged me. During this time, her own passion for the men and women of our nations military has grown. Today she is an advocate in our communities and works to empower and care for military families. She is an amazing woman. The best person i know. She is ready to fight for this country alongside me one more time. And together we also have the joy of raising two incredible children. Katie and chris. Both successful in their own right. Each with weddings this year. Katie is here with us to day from boston but chris couldnt make it from colorado on such short notice. But sitting next to them is my brother scott representing my mom, dad, and my sister in alabama and ive been lucky to have them by my side every step of the way. This last christmas i was asked to talk over with my family whether or not i would consider serving in another position if i was if it were offered. I wasnt sure what i would say but this was clearly family decision. Thats when katie made it quite simple asking me if you love this country and you love the people you work with and you still feel you can make a difference then why stop . Period. Simple. So thats why im here. I still love what i do. If confirmed, i look forward to continuing my advocacy for the civilians of the department of defense when the nation provides them the right tools they have proven time and time again theyre the greatest advantage over any adversary. But as i sit here today, as has been discussed, im intensely aware of the allegations made against me concerning one of the most Serious Problems we have in the military, Sexual Assault. It has been a painful time for me and my family. But i want to state to you and to the American People and the strongest possible terms that these allegations are false. There were there was a very extensive thorough investigation that dr. Wilson described which revealed the truth, nothing happened, ever. And im also thankful for all the time you took to study and understand the facts. I really think the integrity of both the investigation and the nomination process are critical, not only for everybody involved but for our nations citizens as well. So i stand by the truth. And i thank the committee for its unwaivering commitment and support to our National Defense as well as to the men and women who serve. If confirmed, i look forward to working across the department of defense with our friends and allies, interagency, members of congress to address an ever widening spectrum of challenges con fronting our nation. We have not seeded our advantage, were faces direct challenges across all the lands particularly in areas of space and cyberspace. Were in a position where we must address resurge enlt peers who have long term strategies to sur plant the global influence of the United States and our allies. The we cannot lose focus on this challenge in the challenge thats they represent. In order to address these challenges, the Department Must continue to field the best in the world force number son or daughter of ours should ever go into kboot with second best equipment. We so chairman, ranking remember reid, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to day. I thank the president and the secretary of defense for their confidence in me. I also wish chairman and mrs. Dunnford godspeed on the pending retirements. Theyll be missed. If confirmed, ill work hard every day to carry on their legacy. Maintain the highest standards of the joint staff of the department of defense and of our nation. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Thank you, general hyten. Were going to begin with five minute questions around and im going to do something a little differently in my case. There is one among us here who spent more time than anyone else looking into allegations against you, general hyten. And im going to use a small part of my time and then yield the rest of my time to that individual when her time is appropriate. So first of all, let me hold this up here. This is something we talked about a lot. Youre very familiar with this. Im sure you read it over many times. This is something that we have used as a blueprint for our actions. And i would like to get from you, number one, your do you agree with me in terms of the significance of this document and secondly, do you agree that you would use this also as a basis of blueprint for your activities . Just to make sure, senator, youre holding up the report of the commission on the review of the Defense Strategy . Thats correct. Yes, sir, ive looked at that and i think the National Defense strategy is an important document. I think that the commission did a great job in walking through exactly what our challenges are. Clearly our challenges are the reemergence of russia and china. We have to be prepared for. That it goes through all the other things we have to be worried about as well, emerging technologies, challenges we have. Thats a very good document. I think you used the word blueprint and we need to final. This is put together by equal number of democrats and republicans. But all of whom were experts in this field. And the second thing is really i dont need an answer for this. But i do need to make sure we get an answer for the record. And that is a little different what were doing now. We have china and we have russia in a situation. They actually have some things better than us. We have a gap that is out there. A credibility gap against these two countries. And for the record, id like to have you outline in detail where that gap is. All right . Show less text senator, id be glad to do that. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. And thank you, general. You stated in your you stated in your opening comments that you categorically deny all of these allegations. And you have done so under oath, is that correct . Yes, sir. Yes. There is regardless of the outcome of a proceedings that issues that surround you now that would not surround you months ago. And if you are confirmed and you assume the responsibilities of vice chairman, how will you deal with these issues correctly or incorrectly . But they will be there . Senator, i thought about that a lot i thought about that a lot with my family. Many i wife and i talked about that really for the last couple months. Laura actually says it best. She says this is the United States of america. The truth has to matter. And we believe that the truth will come out. And the truth will tell the story and well be able to then continue to serve and do the things we need to to continue to defend this country. So, senator, its been a difficult time. But we fundamentally hold to the truth. Mr. Reed one of the aspects of this case that has involved you has been problems within your headquarters, frankly. This is in your immediate headquarters. Some have described this as toxic. This raises the question which a leader must address. Why werent they identified sooner . Why werent they corrected more, i guess, quickly, but also more less disruptively might be the way to describe it . And do you think you took the appropriate action and responsibility for what happened in your headquarters . So, senator, as the commander, i assume responsibility for everything that happens in my command. Thats the nature of command. And we had a toxic leadership problem inside the command. And i did not recognize it for a significant period of time. The army has had that problem for a while and they published a regulation in 2017 to help train the Army Leadership to help identify toxic leadership. The problem with toxic leaders is they look absolutely brilliant to the leadership. But its no t that way below. And so it took me a long time to understand that. When i did identify it, i acted quickly, decisively, investigations were thorough. And we did the right thing through that entire process. As both my Opening Statement and the secretarys comments indicated that as the chairman of the jroc, you have a Critical Role particularly as we find ourselves with programs that grow in cost remarkably so and schedule slows down. Can you give us just a small idea of what youd like to do to accelerate the schedule and to decrease cost . Thats senator, thats 38 years of experience i got to cram into 30 seconds. Ill just say that ive thought a lot because ive watched it for a long time. And i think general has moved the ball forward. I think this committee and the congress as a whole moved the ball forward in terms of acquisition reform looking at the right things to do. I think what we have to do on the requirement side is always make sure were focused on the requirements and capability. Not the solution. In the past, the jroc got into very, very specific system of requirements. General sulva worked to pull that up, i think. The leadership worked to pull that up. If confirmed, ill continue to drive that forward and make sure that the jroc looks on capabilities and what capabilities we have to have and make sure that theyre real, achievable, rational but not specifying a solution. Thank you. Senator reid . Mr. Chairman, i yield i entire time to senator mcsally. I understand that i may be recognized for five minutes in her place later on in the hearing. You will be recognized for five minutes in her place as if she you are recognized, senator mcsally for your five minutes plus my four. Sen. Mcsally thank you, mr. Chairman and senator wicker. When i disclosed in a hearing earlier this year that i too was a survivor of military Sexual Assault, i never saw myself in this position. As a 26year veteran and member of this committee charged with confirmation of nominees for senior military positions, i do not take the allegations made against general hyten lightly. I take them extremely seriously and treated them as such. Over the past three weeks i focused nearly solely on this issue in an effort to seek the truth. Im grateful that the chairman, the Ranking Member and this committee took a methodical approach and conducted a thorough review. As a result of the exhaustive process and extreme due diligence, i have full confidence in general hytens ability to be the next Vice President of the joint chiefs of staff. Hes the right leader at the right time for this important position. And im confident he will continue to serve in uniform with honor, humility, and integrity. I look forward to working with general hyten on critical National Security issues. I will also value his partnership along with other military leaders on efforts to prevent and improve the response to military Sexual Assault. Including support to survivors and due process for the accused. I have and always will support the serious issues being worked out through thorough and due process and not in the court of public opinion. All the information, evidence, and testimony are not fully known. I am confident in the outcome. To be clear, this wasnt just a jump ball. Not a he said she said. Not a situation where we just couldnt prove what allegedly happened. I too believe that truth Still Matters in this country. And the full truth was revealed in this process. The truth is that general hyten is innocent of these charges. Sexual assault happens in the military. It just didnt happen in this case. I pray the accuser gets the help she needs and finds the peace she is searching for. But kitit cannot be by destroying general hyten with the false allegations. I didnt come to this conclusion lightly. I know the message kit send to those survivors that havent seen all the information to the case that i have. To them, im honored to be a voice for you. Dont take the wrong message for how this is played out publicly. The process i just witnessed was strong, fair, and investigators turned over every rock to seek justice. I will continue to fight to ensure the best possible outcomes and to fight for real victims. All Sexual Assault allegations should be treated seriously and investigated fully. All victims should be treated respectfully. All of that occurred in this case. False allegations like these are not without collateral damage. Male military leaders may avoid choosing females for key positions, ultimately hurting Service Womens opportunities for career enhancing jobs. Male commanders may think twice about disciplining female subordinates for fear of Sexual Assault allegations and retribution and this precedent could act like a cancer on our good order and discipline. Male senior military leaders may choose to retire instead of accepting higher positions. Finally, general hyten and his family were unfairly put through this terrible ordeal. Im sorry that you, laura and your family had to endure this trial. Im grateful you didnt back down. You continued to carry yourself with integrity, humility, and respect through this process. Something many of us would struggle to do. Sadly, its becoming increasingly common in washington for people to try to destroy each other for their own political benefit or some other selfish purpose with no regard for the truth or lives damaged in the process. This committee has traditionally tried to stay above that fray. Focusing on the National Good and our collective duty. And we each have a choice now. That choice will determine whether we further encourage and incentivize politics of destruction or whether we make a clear stand for the principles of justice, decency and truth. I implore each of my colleagues to rise above the pressure of the moment and do the right thing for the country, our military, Sexual Assault survivors, this institution, our values, and general hyten and his family. If it were you or a loved one falsely accused of these crimes, you would hope that those of us called to serve would find the strength and courage to do what is right and what is just. The decision that we make here hopefully this week will reverberate for a long time to come. General hyten, i look forward to supporting you and working with you as vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and i encourage all my colleagues to join me. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. Thank you, senator. Senator . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, general hyten for being here and to your family as well. Senator reid outlined the responsibilities of the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. If confirmed, you would be the second highest individual in the military. We heard from dr. Wilson who oversaw the investigation into the allegations of Sexual Assault. She reported that the investigation cleared you of any wrongdoing. But the allegations come at a time of increased instances of Sexual Assault in our military. 50 increase of assaults on women in the survey released in may by the department of defense. Despite the conclusion of the investigation, im sure and im sure you would agree with me that there will be those in the public and those in the military who will say that your clearance was just the department of defense and the top military brass coming together behind one of their own over the survivors of Sexual Assault. How do you reassure those who are concerned about Sexual Assault in the military, that youre committed to addressing this issue and doing everything you can if you show less text if you are confirmed to address this issue . So, senator, one of my fundamental precepts of my life and career, one of my lines i announce at every change of command ive ever taken, all the way back to 1996 when i was a Squadron Commander is that everybody that raises the right hand and swears to support and deaver the constitution of the United States of america deserves to be treated with respect. I will continue to push for that. I know we have a serious problem of Sexual Assault. It became, you know, emotionally powerful for me when the problems that basic military training at lackland happened about a decade ago. Thats when i knew that we had a real problem. And weve been trying to get after that of ever since. We have not done a good job. It is not gone the right direction. It is a scourge on our military. I did read the report. I fully support those. I think thats a good start. I think we have to Work Together to try to figure out how to do better with this. I think there is a role for the congress, a role for the department of defense, a role for the executive branch. We all have to get after this problem and i pledge that i will do that and i will do everything i can in my name to always everything in my power to always do the right thing so that Everybody Knows that we have were watching that issue closely and doing everything we can. Given that thats been a consistent response if the leadership of our military now for several decades, and we still see the numbers going in the wrong direction, should we be thinking about taking this issue outside of the chain of command, the military, and dealing with it in different way . So i dont believe that the chain of command can be removed from any problem in the military and solve it. I think there is other things that can be brought to bear. But ive seen big problems. When i came into the military, i came in from alabama, into alabama and racism was a huge problem in the military. Overt racism. It is still a problem in our society. But i watched commander after commander after commander take charge, own that, and any time they saw it and eliminated it from the formation. When that happens, huge improvement happens now. Now when im in uniform, i feel color blind which is amazing. That hasnt happened with Sexual Assault yet. It has not. The chain of command has to be involved for this problem to be fixed. Every commander has to embrace it f with support, from the congress, support from law, support from all the kind of pieces, we can get after this. But we have to do it together. Well, clearly we need to do a much better job of Holding People accountable . Yes, sir yes, maam. I want to switch topics to afghanistan. Because recent reports indicated that the taliban and the u. S. Have agreed to a road map for peace. And the statement calls for an end to civilian casualties and the protection of womens rights within an islamic framework. When i visited afghanistan in april, i met with afghan women who were very concerned about being left out. What do you think we should be doing to ensure that any peace in afghanistan continues to provide the human rights that all afghans were guaranteed under the constitution that was adopted after the fall of the taliban . So, senator, ive i havent been in afghanistan since i was deployed in 2006. So im not as current as i will be if confirmed as vice chairman. I certainly have watched that issue. I read the news of the meeting on 7 9. I know that military right now is in a very important position of establishing the conditions for diplomatic solution between the taliban and the government of afghanistan. That has to be the solution. I think we need to continue to support the process and understand and make sure that terrorism does not raise its head again where in afghanistan our country could be attacked again. So those are things we have to balance as we go through. I think we can. But were clearly now supporting the diplomatic process and trying to encourage a proper solution that will take care of all the rights you discussed. Sen. Shaheen thank you. Thank you. Senator fisher . Sen. Fisher thank you, mr. Chairman. Good morning, general hyten. Welcome to your wife and daughter and family here with you to day. Thank you. I think that you are especially well qualified for this role. And your experience as commander for the last three years will be particularly valuable since the vice chair of the joint chiefs sits on the Nuclear Weapons council and usually functions as the joint staff senior subject Matter Expert on nuclear deterence. We have spoken a lot about low yield, submarine launch warhead on several occasions. And as we prepare for the ndaa conference with the house, i think its important that we revisit this issue since a number of what i say are misleading arguments have been put out there. First, do you believe deploying the warhead or any of the potential employment scenarios would put snk. Put our submarines at greater risk. I do not. Do you think our second arsenal of low yield is sufficient and this additional capability is not needed . I strongly believe the capability is needed and particularly to deter russia. And third, can you give us a sense of the importance you attached to this program . So when you have an adversary, i think we have to look at russia as an adversary, general millie did yesterday in his hearing. You have to look at what they say and what they do and watch them very closely. You dont want them to become an enemy. When you look at what russia said, they say they will reserve the right to employ a low yield Nuclear Weapon on the battlefield some day if their National Security requires it. Right now we have low yield Nuclear Weapons in the air leg or our triad. That is the most flexible leg of the triad. Nonetheless, takes a while to get to the target. When we look at Nuclear Posture view, i made a recommendation. And the recommendation was discussed broadly among the National Security community and agreed that we should have a very small number of low yield Nuclear Weapons on our submarines that can respond quickly to that kind of scenario by russia. That will deter russia. I think it is doing that. Im confident in that because president putin doesnt like it. So i think thats its also important to note that well deploy that under the new start treaty. Russias low yield Nuclear Weapons are not inside the new start treaty. Were going to well still have 1550 deployed strategic weapons. Some of them are very small number will be low yield Nuclear Weapons. I think thats important to understand too. Turning to pet production. Somehow this notion is developed that we should focus solely on achieving a 30 pit per year production capability and not undertake any effort to develop additional capacity until that goal is accomplished. And its been my understanding that due to the scale and also the complexity of the projects, we need to reach that 80 pits per year production and we need to do it right now in order to meet that 2030 deadline. If we decide to defer action on any capacity until we achieved that 30 pits per year production level, do we have any hope of meeting that requirement of 80 . So it will be a challenge. Its something i work closely with the department of energy, the National Nuclear security administration. As a stratcom commander, thats been a high priority of mine. Ive been to Savannah River and los alamos in carnolina. I understand that the challenge thats are faced there. But i think the department of energy put together the best plan we have to get to 30 by 2026 at los alamos and 80 by 2030 across the entire enterprise. One thing i know is we have to get los alamos right. We have to get to 30 in 2026. If we cant do that, theres no chance we can get to 80. And the requirement is 80 by 2030. We have done that analysis. Weve seen renewed discussion on whether we need to have pit Production Capacity at all. And its my understanding that this long standing goal has been repeatedly validated. It was certainly the position of the Obama Administration as well as that of the current administration. Can you speak to that . One of the most sobering things ive done is hold a plutonium pit in my hands. That is the Nuclear Weapon. And you think of what that small sphere can do and what damage kit do. When you think we already have some of those pits that are 50, 60, and approach 70 years old. And we dont know exactly, exactly whats going to happen. We watch that closely. I look at it every year. I have to certify it. But when we look at those numbers, i dont want to get to the point where were counting on 100 year old plutonium pits as the backbone of our thats why we have gone through that Detailed Analysis as we have get to 30 by 2026. We have to get to 80 by 2030. Critically sporn for our critically important for our security as a nation. Thank you. Senator . Sen. Hirono thank you, mr. Chairman. As part of my responsibility as a member of this committee and to ensure the fitness of nominees, i ask all nominees the following two initial questions. First, since you became a legal adult, you have ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature . I have not, senator. Have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settle. Related to this kind of conduct . I have not faced any discipline or entered into any discipline or entered into any settlement. We discussed the issue that i have faced here. General, although your answers to my standard questions are no, you have been accused of serious Sexual Misconduct. And you have given your reactions already this morning and for me this has been as for so many of us, i would say everyone on this committee a difficult process. The allegations against you are serious. And while we have not been presented with any corroborating evidence, the lack of does it not necessarily mean that the accusations are not true. Women are assaulted all the time and dont tell anyone. Men assault women all the time and dont leave behind any evidence. Of course, you have denied the allegations and between the military and this committee it appears that a rigorous investigation has been done. Women do sometimes make false accusations although id say it is rare. Each of us has to weigh all of the evidence and testimony and make our own judgement about whether or not you should get this promotion. In light of all of this, is there anything else you would like to tell us that could help us make this decision regarding you . I think, senator, that the executive sessions or the executive sessions you had with me last week is a very important piece to continue to look at. I stand by my testimony in the executive session. Much of which was very difficult to talk about. But i spoke openly, candidly, and i shared all of the information that is applicable to this case. I would encourage the committee if you have questions to go back and look at that, to look at the evidence that is there to look at the information i provided to the committee and make your judgement based on the evidence that you see. The fear that men in command or men in positions of authority will be subjected to false accusations because of the fear that women are basically sitting around accusing men falsely is a dangerous view in my opinion. Because the fact is women who are sexually assaulted more often do not report. Now you testified this morning that it took you a significant amount of time to recognize that there was a toxic leadership issue in your command. Why did it take you socommand. Why did it take you so long to recognize this with regard to the lieutenant . To be clear, i take full responsibility for everything in my command, but the nature of a toxic leader is that they are brilliant to the boss. They absolutely are. Thats how many toxic leaders have made it all the way to the general officer ranks and flag officer ranks because the bosses dont see those kind of things. You have to have people that come to you. When people started coming me because she was so brilliant in her work, i thought that there was an issue with rough edges around an army officer. We talked about that. Rough issues about language. We talked about that. But it took me to do an inquiry, not into that specific behavior but into the entire climate of my headquarters before i actually saw the evidence that there wasix to toxic leadership there. And once i saw that, i took action. When you indicate it took you a significant amount of time to recognize there was a toxic leadership situation, it sounds as though you had gotten some indications that there were concerns and so its not as though everyone came to you and said this person is a toxic leader. So would you say that perhaps you had a blind spot with regard to the colonel because you considered her brilliant and you kept giving her good reviews, even in the course of the investigation . I had a small number of people come to me. And people that i trust, and i talked about those in detail in executive session so i wont share their names and what they told me in the open hearing. But i think that, again, toxic leadership is a very difficult thing to identify. And once i did identify it, i moved quickly in order to deal with that. But it still took me awhile to do that. I do not deny that. Sen. Hirono general, youve been asked questions regarding the scourge of sexual trauma in the military and most of the time everyone who comes before us says theyll do sbhg it. I something about it. I would be very interested to know what you would do to end the scourge of Sexual Assault in the military and in our service academies. Do you have something youd do . If im confirmed as vice chairman chairman, thats something ill have to look at very closingely. Weve only had a small number of those incidents in stratcom. Two incidents of Sexual Harassment. We dealt with those quickly. I talk about those up front. I published the my policies on how to deal with that, but clearly that hasnt been sufficient. Im going to have to get with people that know more about this than i do. I think thats actually one of the challenges is that i have had experiences with people close to me that have been victims, and theyre i mean, its just a horrible, horrible thing. But i really dont feel like im an expert in that area and i could tell you what i should do. We have to speak to the experts that know these issues, that know what to do, and then listen to them and implement improvements in order to make the process. And then all commanders have to be educated on that and then make changes. Thats when change will happen. Thank you, senator hirono. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator cotton . Sen. Cotton general hyten, thank you for your appearance today. Id associate myself with the comments about the threat we face that senator inhofe said or Nuclear Deterrent forces of senator fisher. But we know this hearing would not be so widely covered, in fact, it would have happened weeks ago if it wasnt for the nature of the allegations against you. So on those, i want to associate myself with secretary wilson, former secretary wilson, who has resigned from the administration and returned to the academy, who is under no compuncture to appear here today and senator mcsalley who recognized Sexual Misconduct any of kind have no place in our military. But the facts do matter, and we should judge every case on its facts. This committee has spent dozens of hours, weeks, really, reviewing your case. And as senator hirono said, there has been no corroborating evidence of the allegations against you. As secretary wilson said, you have been falsely accused. So i just want to touch on a few of these details that i know are in your personal knowledge. As the commander of Strategic Command you are in the Nuclear Chain of command, correct . Yes, senator, i am. Sen. Cotton if russia decided to go for the jugular and launch an allout Nuclear Strike on the United States, how long from the time you warn the president of the United States of that strike to his decision to launch or lose our missiles would the president have . In the worst case, its a small number of minutes. In most cases, though, the president has a significant period of time. However, because the worst case is only a small number of minutes, we have to be connected all the time. Minutes, not hours should be sure. Minutes. So at no time can you be off the grid . I cannot be off the grid. In fact, i bet that you are prepared at this very moment in this hearing to step out to advise the president on just such a contingency, is that right . If something happened, i would my Communications Team is right there with the communications i have to have, and id step out and get on the phone. So you are guarded and tended to by your security detail and Communications Detail 24 hours a day . Unless im on leave. In which case you assign that authority over to another person . I delegate that authority to my deputy commander. As secretary wilson said, your details were interviewed in the process of this investigation. Are you aware of them giving any corroborating testimony to your accusers allegations . No, i read all their testimony. I only got a copy of the investigation a week ago. Ive only had a chance to go through it once. But every member of the security detail that was interviewed saw nothing like that. Second, as the commander of Strategic Command, you are a juicy target for cyberattack and for hacking by countries like china and russia. Do you have a phone besides a government cell phone . I do not have anything besides a government cell phone. Was that cell phone searched as part of this investigation . It was searched. To your knowledge, did it include any corroborating evidence of the accusations against you . None. Third, there have been some who have claimed the air force mishandled this investigation, that you should have been temporarily removed from your job or had your security clearance temporarily revoked. Would you temporarily remove or revoke the security clearance of any subordinate who was accused of misconduct with no corroborating evidence in their interim . So a twopart answer to that question. Number one, i would not take any action unless the information was corroborated because i think that presumes guilt, but i would take action to remove an individual if they are in the same office space, temporarily, until we got to that point. The nature of the Sexual Misconduct allegations against you have been widely reported in the media. I wont rehearse them. Has your accuser ofever show less text accused you of other nonSexual Misconduct . Yes, sir. What was the nature of those accusations . Since she was relieved against my command and me before this investigation, i think there were 34 different accusations. 24 against my chief of staff. 6 against me. 2 against my deputy commander. Two against the investigating officer of the investigation. Were any of those accusations of a nonsexual nature against you or others in your command corroborated or substantiated. None were substantiated. I would say again, i want to commend in particular senator inhofe and senator reid for the way theyve conducted this review. Weve spent dozens of hours, weeks, reviewing the 1400page report, hearing for hours from your accuser and general hyten, yet there is zero. Zero corroborating evidence of these accusations as senator hirono acknowledged. Every bit of evidence, just some of which weve touched on today, more of which i hope will be released soon in a redacted fashion as appropriate. Tends to credit your denials. And i think its very important that we confirm you because i think youll be great for the job. But its also very important that we maintain the basic American Standard that the facts do matter. And when someone faces an accusation, whether its general hyten or the thousands of lieutenant and sergeant hytens out there watching this hearing today, they understand that the facts do matter. Thank you, senator cotton. Senator king. Sen. King thank you, mr. Chairman. Secretary wilson touched on this in her introduction. Youve got a lot of responsibilities or will, would have, were you to be confirmed, as vice chair. But theres no more solemn responsibility than when youre in the oval office with the chair talking about the military situation and the results of taking military action. Would you commit to this senator and to this committee and to this to the American People unequivocally that in that situation, you will give nothing but your unvarnished, truthful analysis based upon your 38 years of experience and based upon your wisdom and knowledge of the circumstances that would result from military action . I have the last 2 1 2 years with the president , and some uncomfortable discussions, and i commit that if im confirmed as the vice chairman, ill continue to provide best military advice as you describe. Thank you. I think thats the most important responsibility that you have aside from all those others. The oval office can be an intimidating place. And its human nature to tell the boss what he or she wants to hear. But your willingness to tell the truth, whatever the circumstances are, is at the heart of your responsibility to this president and to this country. Completely different topic. Do you believe it would be in the National Interest of the United States to acceed toe the u. N. Law of the sea treaty . Im not a legal expert on the law of the sea treaty. So i dont know the pros and cons, senator, of the benefits of that. I do know that the law of the sea is an appropriate standard that nations look at, including the United States when they consider freedom of navigation, when they consider borders. When they consider all those kind of pieces. But i dont have enough legal knowledge to talk about the issue about that treaty. Ive not looked at that, senator. Thank you. How do you define the National Security interests of the United States in the arctic, which is one of the most strategic areas in the world . I think the National Security interest of the arctic have always been critical to north america. I have been a member of norad, the north American Aerospace defense command. Ive watched general shaughnessy talk about it this year in particular and talks about it very well as the commander of northcom and norad. As the climate changes, and that part of the world does open up to navigation, the threats up there will be much more significant. But you go back to the 50s when we built the distant Early Warning line all the way up north. In order to watch the threats from the soviet union at the time to make sure we could see the threats in time to respond, that has always been a critical piece. Its going to become more critical as the sea lanes open up. I agree. I have friends in maine who say why are we spending all this money to upgrade the Nuclear Forces . We have missiles, we have submarines. Why are we spending money to talk about upgrading them . Give me the argument to take home. So in 2029, its going to become very have difficult to maintain the minuteman force in its current configuration. Just because of the nature of rockets. I wont go into the details there. Just because of their age . Just because of their age. The same the same is going to happen with the b2 because the characteristic of the b2. Its going to have to be replaced. At a certain date in the future, and i wont go into that here, the ohio class submarine that we currently operate will not be able to go into the water anymore. And, therefore, we have to have a new submarine to replace that. Whats behind all of that . Why do we need all those things . Because we have adversaries building a triad to challenge us. In order for us to effectively deter them because, remember, the primary use of our Nuclear Arsenal is to prevent the use from Nuclear Weapons on the United States of america. Exactly. The purpose of having the weapons is to never use them, isnt that correct . Its a dichotomy. Its also to have to be ready to use them. We have to have ready forces and our adversaries have to know that. If theyre not ready, not capable, then theyre not an effective deterrent. Thats exactly right. Thank you, chairman. Thank you, senator king. Senator rounds. Thank you, mr. Chairman. General hyten, first, i want to thank you and your family for 38 years of service to this nation. I know that the events of the last few months have been hard on you and on your family. But i also am certain that you understand the reason why you need to move forward. I just want to say, first of all, thank you to chairman inhofe and Ranking Member reid for conducting a very thorough and a very fair inquiry. And i have appreciated the hours which a lot of the members of this committee have put in. And i appreciated your testimony as well before us in executive session. Id like to focus right now on some issues that i think we dont talk enough about. And that is with regard to the readiness of the armed forces today and what needs to be done about it. Im just going to describe a couple of issues that im aware of that i think have to be resolved in the near future. Let me just give some examples. And we have b1b bombers. The workhorse of the air force today. Right now, of all of the b1 bombers, six are fully mission capable. One is a test aircraft. 15 b1s are in depot. The remaining 39 of 44 are down for a variety of discrepancies and inspections. Thats the workhorse of the air force. When it comes to the navy, we have fa18s which at one point only 40 of them were mission capable. 60 were not. Weve moved up from that. Were perhaps closing in on the 60 range now. Were making progress, but certainly sequestration was devastating. Within the navy itself, just on Nuclear Attack submarines, the uss boise is an example of what happens when you dont have the resources or capabilities. The boise a uss attack submarine, nuclearpowered submarine, paid for by taxpayers was at dry dock or at dock, not even in dry dock for a period of years. It will have been at dry dock or at dock not even capable of submerging for six years. Three other Nuclear Attack submarines we find in exactly the same predicament. It means our depots are not ready for them. When it comes to the f15s,weve had that have been held down because they havent met structural requirements. Weve got f22s right now that are the premiere Fighter Aircraft in the world today and yet their age is showing. Time and again its not just been sequesteration, but its a matter of depot and the capability to put equipment in the depot and get it out in a timely fashion. Were going to look at this year our committee is recommending or at least were prepared to vote on a 738 billion Defense Budget. Id like you to just very if you could in two different areas, number one, what do we got to do to get the depot systems so that they actually work the way theyre supposed to . And second of all, can you imagine a scenario in which we could do any justice at all to these men and women who wear the uniform and need absolutely good equipment if we end up with a 576 billion Defense Budget rather than a 738 billion Defense Budget as required by sequesteration if were not able to move the existing defense proposal forward found in the bba this year . So i think the big answer to your question, senator, is the same for both questions, and that is stable funding. When you look at the challenges with the depot and our readiness problems, many of the readiness problems date back to the first year of sequestration. Thats when we impacted readiness across the board. That combined with continuous atwar capabilities, you put those together and it puts a huge stress on the force. When i saw the agreement on the 738 billion in the bipartisan budget act, because my biggest fear was a return to continuing sequestration or a longterm continuing resolution. Both those scare me, first from a readiness perspective. Certainly from modernization. But were just now starting to come out. You raise the b1 issue. Thats in my portfolio. We took a hard look at that after the problems with the fitzgerald and mccain in thepacific to see if across our force we saw anything. We saw issues in the b1 because we were just beating the heck out of them deploying them, deploying them. We had to pull back a little and get after fixing those issues. The depots can do that if they have stable funding. This is a critical issue, senator. I appreciate you raising it. Thank you, general. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator rounds. Senator heinrich . Sen. Heinrich general hyten, as you know, i am concerned about the risk that nsa is taking by splitting the production of plutonium pits between los alamos and the mixed ox oxide fuel facility in south carolina. I wonder if youre concerned about that risk with meeting the timelines for our lep, which youve touched on. But also with respect to the potential for splitting the expertise and potentially creating a brain drain between the center for excellence at los alamos and a facility that has yet to be stood up at mox. So, its the stratcom position, my position, that we cant split the expertise from los alamos. We have to focus on los alamos. Get to 30 at los alamos. When you looked at the longterm plan, however, it was going to be difficult at los alamos to get to 80. It would still be difficult to get to 80 at los alamos. But the key to everything is getting to 30. What we cant do in order to get to 30 is pull people out of los alamos and send them to Savannah River in order to build up that capability. We cant do napt as a stratcom commander, ive had my staff continually go out there. Im sure that bugs the d. O. E. Folks a little bit, but i want to make sure were watching that and understand what that is. I have a great relationship with the administrator. A great relationship with the secretary of energy. Were not going to make that mistake, and were going to watch it closely. If im confirmed as vice chairman, ill still get to watch it from the Nuclear Weapons council perspective. I appreciate your bugging. I think thats my concern exactly. I appreciate your focus on that. Weve had some conversations in the past about the modernization of our space assets. And, in particular, on the importance of preserving our successful investments, the things that are working well and not reinventing the wheel as we stand up new capabilities. So as you well know, the Space Rapid Capabilities office, space vehicles director, advance system director all play a Critical Role in researching and developing our nations space systems. I just want to ask you if i have your commitment that youll push for the fuel utilization of those existing assets, even as we modernize our overall space capabilities. I commit to that, senator. Theyre an important piece of the answer. One of the things i was pleased with this year is the growing interest and investment in hypersonic r d. Over the last several months, the pentagon actually requested a transfer of 50 million to cover the cost of the design and development of a prototype mobile launcher for a can you talk a little bit from longrange hypersonic weapon. Can you talk a little bit from your perspective about this reprogramming and more broadly where you see the future of Hypersonic Development going for dod . As a combatant command ir, im not involved in the details of moving the money around, but im a huge advocate for pursuing hypersonic technology. Im also a huge advocate for looking at hypersonic defenses and sensing. Thats what i can do as the Combatant Commander. This is critical for our nations future. We have adversaries growing extremely rapidly in this area. Weve had fits and starts on the hypersonic technology, which i believe is a mistake. We should have been going after that technology consistently and rapidly. If im confirmed as vice chairman, well advocate inside, oversight counsel and other places in order to ensure we continue to focus on hypersonics. It seems to me there are a handful of these capabilities like hypersonics, like directed energy, that really are going to define the nature of the relationship between us and our near peer adversaries in the coming years. Another one of them is Artificial Intelligence. Secretary esper said explained his belief that Artificial Intelligence will likely change the character of warfare and whoever masters it first will dominate on the battlefield for many, many, many years. I tend to agree with that estimation, and would just like your thoughts on the importantance of ai. So ive got to speak on that a few times in the past in public. Once in halifax with eric schmidt of Alphabet Google talking about that impact. It is going to be significant. No doubt. I believe the United States has got to have a leadership position in that area. But we also have to have a leadership position, understanding how you integrate that capability into our concept of operations and we havent really done that yet. If we dont get that right, we could make some big mistakes in terms of giving command authority to a computer. We cant let that happen. Artificial intelligence has got to help us do the job better but cannot tell us what to do. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you, senator heinrich. Senator ernst . Sen. Ernst thank you, mr. Chair. General hyten, you have been nominated to be the second highest ranking military officer in the United States armed forces. This position demands the highest levels of trust and responsibility. Of course, sound judgment and an impeccable moral compass. You have been accused of Sexual Misconduct by a subordinate officer. I have reviewed the evidence, as well as your performance while serving as the stratcom commander. We have heard numerous times members of this committee have stated to focus on the facts and yet the facts have left me with concerns regarding your judgment, leadership and fitness to serve as the next vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. So i do have several questions for you if you would just answer yes or no or keep your answers very brief. A recent investigation revealed that several subordinates reported their concerns directly to you regarding the alleged toxic leadership style of the Commander Action Group director who is an officer under your command. Now you stated that a small number of people had brought concerns to you. About how many people brought concerns to you . I would say approximately less than half a dozen. Less than half a dozen. What were the ranks of those individuals . Civilian, major, navy captain would you say theyre fairly high ranking, experienced i would say pretty much the entire stratcom headquarters is is a fairly senior group of people. Absolutely. How many serve in the Commander Action Group . None. Just you only have one how many people serve . Im sorry. I misunderstood the question. Approximately sen. Ernst okay. So you said about half dozen folks brought forward concerns and you have eight people that serve. So it sounds like a large number of the cag brought concerns to you and these are leaders that are fairly experienced and have a good number of years of service . Nobody on the cag brought me those complaints. These are outside folks bringing concerns to you . Yes. Thank you for that clarification. Now if you just to clarify. If you go back to the executive session, youll see i described one individual who came to me to speak for people on the cag, and that was the one that was the instigator for me to take action. Okay. Despite the fact that you were cited numerous times throughout the investigation as enabling this alleged toxic leader within your command, you didnt take the inquiry outside of stratcom for an impartial commander to review or adjudicate, correct . No, maam, i did not. About a month before the start of this investigation on november 14th, 2017, you gave the cag director a phenomenal officer evaluation report, rating her number one of 71 colonels within your command and vault evaluated her as having multistar potential. Is that correct . Yes, it is. Yet about 90 days after the investigation was completed you approved a written reprimand. I was aware of the written reprimand that came from the army Element Commander, but i was aware of it. During the time that the cag director was under your command, did you ever formally counsel her in writing about the deficiencies in her leadership or performance . I only counseled her verbally about her language. Okay. Even though other members had brought forward allegations of a toxic leadership . I translated that to the language that she was using. Okay. But never for any other actions . No, maam. Sen. Ernst okay. After the 156 investigation initiated, you actively advocated for her by emailing and calling several other general officers to secure a followon position for her. Is it safe to assume at this time you still thought highly of her as an officer . So i had questions about her capabilities then, but when i when the army Element Commander and i sat her down to inform her of the 156 investigation and we walked through all of the events, and i talked about those in executive session significantly, i told her that i would allow the process to play out before i did anything else. And i asked her if these allegations were true. She told me clearly, specifically, concisely that they were false, that they were not true. She would be found innocent, and i committed to her i would not treat her any different until i had Firm Evidence to the contrary. Okay. I am very concerned that during the process of your time as the stratcom commander there had been this cag director within your command that other people, multiple times went to you, voiced their concerns about the toxic leadership, but you did not acknowledge that. You did not do written counseling statements. You did not advise her any differently. You serve in one of the most important positions within our United States military overseeing our Nuclear Arsenal. However, you could not bring yourself to admit or recognize toxic leadership within your command. You serve in one of the most important positions within our United States military overseeing our Nuclear Arsenal. However, you could not bring yourself to admit or recognize toxic leadership within your command. You did nothing to change that course until the 156 investigation was brought forward. And you continued to endorse her. You only did something about it when concerns were raised about your own leadership. And the investigation was not forwarded on to your higher echelon command, which i see as a clear conflict of interest. You need to make sure that those with a new command or following your directive and not so all of this suggests a conflict between your personal inclinations and your professional responsibilities. There are professional responsibilities associated with being such a highranking leader. And that is to make sure those within your command are following your directive and not engaging in toxic leadership. So this leaves me with concerns about your judgment and ability to lead in one of the highest positions in the u. S. Military. I will listen to the rest of the confirmation process, but i do want to share those concerns today. So thank you very much. Senator manchin. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you, general hyten and your family for the services youve given to our great country. If i could ask the first question. What do you consider the greatest threat the United States of america faces today and in the near future . From my perspective, the greatest longrange challenge is china, because they have the economic power and theyre building the military power to challenge us regionally and ultimately globally. Well, back in 2010, we had at that time general admiral mullen and asked him the question. We have around he said the debt of our nation is the greatest threat we face. Were going over a trillion again. They ask how were spending the money for the military and im going to use around 700 billion in another 860,000 reserves, china has twopoint to million active, 510 reserves, and russia has 1 million active and 200 halfmillion in reserves. But we use mcconnell tractors and a higher cost than any countries put together. I look at basically National Guard and reserves and think we have specially tian that we could use greater. Have you done for that and looked at ways that can be justified and have better control of the cost we are spending right now . Ill give you specific examples. The point raised is a really good one. We have to Work Together with the congress to balance the number of people in uniform. But in the next generation, twice in my career we have basically said we dont need engineers in the program anymore in the military, we will hire it out. Two things happen with that, you lose expertise inside the military, number two, you end up with the fox guard in the henhouse. Im very concerned about that. Im concerned about the way we had to put the program in place, where the structure because we did not have expertise. We need to continue to build that insider military and continue to work on forward because of his critical for our ability to do it. I saw twice my career where everything is fine, well get rid of engineers and do that. There are things we havent even scratched the surface of becaus that be a highpriority looking at basically how we utilize what we have the potential to use a butter. Absolutely. An overview, it seems like we are reluctant to support taiwan of f16s. We are afraid in my cause of rumble with china. But yet we have done nothing with chinas aggression itself. Aggression and moving further out, what are we concerned about if we dont show strength to them, i know russia and how sometimes how they react when they dont understand were going to be resolved. What is your evaluation the questioning. Im a big believer in president reagans structure. I believe we have to show strength. My command in the last years has had bombers deployed in the pacific from the United States and into the pacific from the cream peninsula in a number of our allies and prayed 50 continue to show strength because we want peace. The only way to guarantee the piece is to make sure our adversaries understand that we will not allow certain behavior. The other thing i want to talk about a space force, i think directly asking you, do you believe Space Force Commander in the general in charge should be elevated to the joint chief of staff questioning. I do believe that. I really appreciate the work the senate has done in terms of defining the future. I think im a little concerned about the level of responsibly and will get arrangement here shortly. If he becomes ahead of the space force in nuclear command, there is a good transition in the senate plane ethical have to Work Together and i hope the confirm of the vice chairman they reach out to me and help you work that. That will be a cop located arrangement. I think where the burger place across the legislation. And you believe its the right thing to do . I figure has to be under, i think the space force to be under their first previous topic and a. Thats exactly my point, i cannot get there. I cannot get there with the joint chief of staff, why cant we continue with that type of support command under the . The joint to. The marine corps is under the department of the navy. I think the head of the space force is going to be a member of the kelechi ubozoh. At some point but under the department of the air force. I think that is how you keep it small. How you keep the broker see from going crazy. Thats what you dont have all the recommendation across the board. I appreciate you being here. Thank you mr. And recommended for the process we have played out here and thank you for being here. Congratulations to your family and denominations. I want to get an idea of your headquarters staff, how big is it, how many direct reports you have . Headquarters staff is about 3500 people, direct reports is a fairly small number, i would say roughly 10 20. 10 20 reports, over the course of the day, how much time you spent with your direct reports and how much time would you spend with your group . Over the course of 50, i would spend more time with the directors and joint staff all my stuff, what will we do trouble, i spend more time with the directors and the joint staff. You responded to a prior question that you had five or six people come to you addressing the concern with the toxic environment and you said five of them, all of them were outside the cac, and one of them came to you and expressed their concerns on behalf of people who are reporting to the cac. Can you give me an idea of timely, when was out the last discussion that you had before you order the 156 . That was the last discussion had late fall of 2017 and when i ordered a preliminary inquiry into the overall climate of the office. Not just the commanders actions, but my office, the chief of staff office, the lawyer, public affairs, protocol, everybody in office. To be honest, i was still looking at the issue that this might be an Army Air Force navy issue because Army Officers tend to be a little more aggressive, a little more rough around the edges and you need to understand, she is brilliant. She was doing spectacular work. Is it true you gave a strong evaluation but based on your knowledge of the past history, has that been typically true of other assignments that the colonel had . She had up and down her back room. I dont know much about her time of the earlier officer, and i know there is upanddown times in her rocker. I want to fully associate myself with the comments, the work she has done here. Literally the public needs to understand the hours of research that has gone in ahead of this committee. Nearly 1300 page report that we have reviewed, every allegation has been studied and proven to not have any cooperating testimony. I think all the information will continue as we move forward and go under confirmation this week. I want to shift to some local issues and North Carolina and really the housing situation across the country. Are you aware of the military housing problems that we have and can you give me a quick brief on what we need to do about it. I am fully aware of those problems. I have seen those problems, we have a good housing at the air force base where i live now. But that is not the case in a large number of bases across the country. If we move into threemonth sort of scenario on funding and theyre into decadeslong scenarios on funding. What does that do to your ability to achieve any of the goals in the National Defense strategy . It impacts the National Defense strategy has an assumption of stable budgets. Would it be fair to say it would be devastating . It would be devastating. Even a cr that goes for a few months is going to be impactful. A yearlong cr would be devastating. Sequestration would be beyond that. I look forward to supporting your confirmation. Thank you, senator. Thank you, senator tillis. The next one to be recognized will be senator duckworth, however, we have three votes that are starting. Im going to go down to catch the first one, come back and senator reid will be following. So you are recognized, and senator fisher is presiding. Prn talking about the nuclear faith but i do think we have overlooked the logistics capa thank you, mr. Chairman. General hyten, id like to talk about the nds and looking at force projection. We have spent money on f35s, money on new capabilities. Talking about the nuclear fleet. E your opinion on that . s if you look across the entire portfolio i think you will find the Biggest Challenges we have in the military and its not just to see left side and airlift but the tinker piece as well. If you look at what we have to do in order to move her out of the world, we are tired from the logistics. If we cant effectively move quickly, reliably and effectively, we cannot do what they say we need to do and we are slowly coming on with tc 46. We have challenges if you look across their entire portfolio there are big issues. I guarantee we will look at the clothes. Looking to the indo pacific region, if confirmed as vice chair would you make sure the daytoday relationships with partners are allies are Strong Enough to . When i went to the summit recently, many of our friends in the region feel very much that they are unable to stand up to china because we are not there and having our presence in the region allowed him to say we can do everything you want us to do because the americans are here. Really just being a presence would you agree that we need to improve the presence in the region . When you read the National Defense strategy it is clear that china is a priority and we have to treat it as a priority which means we have to be present in the right places and partner with the right of nations and th build partnershis over the years and you cant build partnerships if you are not there. I do want to touch on allegations against you. Is it true that your official cell phone that was reviewed for Text Messages that are turned over very willingly was wiped in an upgrade process for i read that in the investigation. I was not aware that it was wiped. I guess it was part of a moral update. I use the official phon phone io its softwarand itgets software s all the time. What i learned from the investigation, the report was indeed they were both wiped and they were only able to review a couple months. There were quite a few that they were not able to review. In your answer previously about what he would do to demonstrate leadership in the area of Sexual Assault of the military and solving the problem, your answer was vague. I wanted to hear so much more and hear you say i dont know enough. Im going to wait and watch the experttalk tothe experts becauso precise answers and this is a cancer within our own ranks and youve said youve been concerned about this so weve had over ten plus years while youve been in leadership to talk about this and you cant tell us when you become vice chairman of the first things you are going to do is appoint someone to do thi the personal f whose job it is to do this and create a panel to look at this and go out to the air force academy and personally figure out whats going on . You cant come up with any ideas after ten years of concerned wax i worry about your leadership on this issue. As the vicechairman i need to work with the chairman of the services. Most have to be handled in the services but the vice chair of the significant role of reaching out to work on those issues, there is no doubt. In the United States air force, weve gone through multiple programs from a number of different programs and they have not worked, so clearly from my background and perspective thatt reason i said what i did earlier as i thought about a lot. Ive worked with people close to me asking what should we do. It is a very vexing problem for me because every time i see the numbers, they seem to be worse, they dont seem to be better if we are taking all these actions and i think those are all good programs. I think they are effective and ive got good feedback from them. Its a vexing problem and i can connect to you i will do everything if confirmed theyve implemented them and the numbers say they dont work. Thank you. I will yield. Senator cramer. Let me add my voice to the chorus for you and a chairman and a half for conducting an incredible process for all of us. I have prayed god would give you both wisdom and i think him that he has. Thank you, general hyten, for your service to the family can endure incredible sacrifice for all these years and your willingness to continue to do it. I want to followup on a couple of things that have been brought up here quickly with regards to the senators question about Text Messages. That same technology of wiping the foam queen doesnt apply to emails in other words of the emails that were referenced were available. I think we looked at 195,000. With regards to the issue of judgment and the toxic leadership issue im going to bring up a few things and let you respond to that. I dont believe you have time to respond, but the distinction that it was an army channel inspection or investigation maybe you can clarify that and then if you could also tell me if there did anyone else provide these glowing reviews of the kernel that you are now being somehow chastised for i want to make sure that its not just with you and the then a thd to round it all off is it unusual for the toxic leadership to be more easily identified by subordinates them by superiors, in other words maybe that clarifies what i will throw those out and what you respond and then maybe have a question. In terms a white house fellow very few people make it to be a white house fellow. Thats one of the highest accolades. She had fourstar commanders in the past that pushed her to be a white house fellow. My predecessor when i took command had nothing but great things to say about her. When i look at a white house fellow and my predecessor is one of the finest gentleme finest gt ive met this nothing but glowing things to say i assume that this is a spectacular officer. I saw that and then i saw the continuing great work and all those pieces coming forward and thats how the situation started and how we walk down the path. I assume the army had sent me this spectacular officer and i saw that in her performance. Is it unusual for a boss to be a subordinate through different perspective than this was difficult for me to understand as a commander because i let that happen in my organizations of the Army Regulation that became a part of the investigation it became important for me to understand and i read it in detail that was published in 2017 because commanders were having problems identifying toxic leaders. I had never read that before but when i went through the documentation, i saw what was happening in my organization that i didnt recognize it at first. Just shifting gears to the one issue that ive raised the last couple of weeks theres been a new development and that relates to the timeline and importance of the timeline of the groundbased Strategic Deterrent which is of course what we have in the layout as you know and some think we are going to to fast but now with te help from the process, does that raise concerns for you and is there any reason that should be true to us, excuse the expression, for continuing on the path that we are on . I always get concerned when competition disappears from america. Anytime youre in a competitive environment that puts pressure on schedule and cost and we have a higher likelihood of getting the delivery of the capability. I that is why i was disappointed whesodisappointed when they decd not to compete. Im not in the acquisition and i havent talked to the leadership about the impact of that. I know that we have many programs that are well run at this point and the competition i think that the remaining competitor could be that person but i havent looked at it yet. If i can provide will look at that in detail. Thank you for your willingness to continue in this process and i look forward to continuing to support your confirmation. Senator jones. General, thank you for being here and thank you for your service and your family for the service and all that you have been going through, and i especially want to thank the chairman and senator reid also for the way that this has been handlehandled with the investign but i also want to thank doctor wilson for being here. I will tell you doctor wilsons opening introduction pretty much encapsulated my feelings about all that we have heard and seen. I dont think that there is a better summary in reaching the same conclusions, and i especially talk about the investigation a little bit because for 38 years, i practiced law when i was both a prosecutor in isaf with victims and witnesses and tried to assess not only credibility but also to build investigations around what they said because that is really where you lead. In terms of future Sexual Assault cases you have to think about that and thats exactly what happened here but ive also sat with people that have been accused and have done the same thing for my own investigations of the fact that this has been such an exhaustive extensive professional investigation speaks volumes to where we are today and what weve got to assess so i think doctor wilson forgetting the summary and the chairman and Ranking Member for allowing us whatever time was needed as members of the committee. So, having said that, lets talk, lets move on to some of the things that are crossing that you will find in this child should you be confirmed. The general of china, north korea, iran, they are all becoming more and more confident in challenging the United States just below the level of military conflict with many refer to as the gray zone an gray zone and g it with various tools enforce labor, information operations, support, political coercion and just other means. My question is do you believe the United States has a clear and comprehensive strategy for the competition and i dont just mean reacting when something in the world happens id been anticipating and deterring that gray zone competition as well. Senator, i dont believe that the nation has a Clear Strategy for the declaration of competition right now. I think its a very completed issue because it is a whole of government issue. Its not just a military issue or something that the military can sit down and say how do we deal with this because it impacts commerce and homeland security, almost every element of our society have so we have to figure out how to do that together as a whole of government. And its a different world that we live in. The way the country is structurestructured it becomes e more problematic whereas adversaries can move quickly because theres a single there e decisionmaker that is down the path so we have to sit down and figure this out. I know that we have team doing that right now. Ive asked a team to look at what the role of the conflict should be because it is a learning experience right out of thright nowthe department is lot that, but it is that is a wholf government issue. I take it from your answer that is being done as a priority that you think we need to do for the future. It is a priority because it will be a part as far as i can see for the future. I saw where the secretary announced this week the president said we need to draw down troops in afghanistan which i find a little bit disturbing that it is base was based on ann as opposed to some military positions. I was there with senator reid, senator shaheen recently, and do you see a drawdown that will completely remove all troops out of afghanistan and the reason i say that is because i ask the question because it seems pretty clear to me that isis is still a serious threat over their and we cant take our foot off their neck while at the same time dealing with china and russia and their influence. How do you see the troop drawdown that the president want played out in the last few months . Again, senator, ive talked about that a lot inside of the Senior Leadership of the department. Ive been in those discussions, and i think that the challenge there will be a drawdown of troops in the future. I dont think theres any doubt about but it has to be conditions based not necessarily just a specific come up the conditions are right on that specific data and we can get there from here talking to the president from the secretary, but the conditions have to be set in afghanistan before we can fully meet because otherwise the challenge will be they can raise themselves up again a again andt let that happen. That is precisely the answer i was hoping to get so thank you for your testimony. Thank you mr. Chairman and general, thank you so much and secretary wilson, we appreciate that you are here. We like having you back in dc so thank you for being here. And to your family, i want to say welcome. We appreciate that you all are here and we are thankful for your time and your willingness to work this. I want to stay right where senator joe was looking at i call it the new axis of evil which is russia and china and iran and north korea and when we talk about russia and china they are putting quite an emphasis on their strategic and nonNuclear Weapons one of which is cyber, and i want to encourage you as you take on the new role to help and this perception that they are going to have the opportunity to be a player in this great power competition, and i think you are right to say this is a strategy that is in need of talking the south and developing a strategy and having a game plan for how to move forward, so i thank you for your emphasis on that and i want to talk for just a moment about the republic of korea and have you comment for the record a little bit about the value of this relationship and the importance of our joint exercises as we look at tha the region and reads of the u. S. Forces and also just a little bit about the negotiation of the new special measures agreement for 2020 and the importance that has to us. When i look at the republic of korea, i see one of the most important allies that we have in the region. We have a had an officer from te republic of korea because of the unique nature in terms of readiness, general abrams has stated recently that with the level of exercises hes been able to do this fully ready to handle any support and i think you should also know handling any kind of threat that might come from north korea as well. I think when you look of korea a you have to make sure that we are always fully ready. 2017 was kind of a scary time with what was going on in north korea so many missiles flying, nuclear test, we were not sure whether they were going to peer Nuclear Weapons on top of that and we had to foster the forces that they have not done that in a long time. When the Political Leadership started having talks, its got a whole lot better. 2018 as a whole lot bette wholef 2019 has been good. And so, as it is in the military hopes the diplomatic process actually works but we also understand under general abrams they all have to be ready to respond that we are here in support of diplomacy right now. I look forward to supporting your nomination and see you in a leadership role and i will yield back. I want to applaud as others have the full process of the kennedy undertaken to explore the Sexual Assault allegations that have been leveled against you, and i believe the hearing last week i also applaud your thorough answers to followup questions and i especially want to applaud your demeanor which we asked Committee Members got to see. You firmly denied the allegations against you but you didnt speak in any way disrespectfully towards your accuser. That wasnt easy nor did you speak disrespectfully to the committee. You didnt say we were engaging in a witch hunt or criticize us for asking you questions we need to ask you and your demeanor today continues the pattern of recognizing this is important and you are here to answer all the questions we ask and that goes a long way with me. I would ask one more question before moving on. You would agree with me that if the allegations of Sexual Assault leveled against you were true, they would be disqualifi disqualified. Yes sir absolutely. With the move and ask another question. Did you advance policy questions or submit to you the answers to the questions delivered to the committee on saturday the 27th did you review the answers to those questions . That was a significant effort for me and my staff because of the timing that was involved in the hearing. But he made one of the questions and answers do you support the United States succession to the United Nations convention and heres your answer, yes, like my predecessors by support joining the convention. Being a party to the convention enhances the United States Security Posture by reinforcing freedom of the seas and the rights of vital to ensuring the posture the convention provides Legal Certainty in the largest space. My colleague asked you the question about whether you supported the United States joining the convention on the wall of the sea and you said im not a lawyer and i dont have an opinion about that. Has anyon anyone other departmer the administration encouraged you to soften your support for the convention between the time you reviewed and submitted that answer on saturday and your testimony today . How do you explain to me the difference between your unequivocal support for the convention in new york but in answer in your statements today that if somebody thats not a legal expert he wouldnt have an opinion about the question . All i can say is we were going too fast over the weekend. We were going too fast and i blew right by that one. I read through them all and what to makworked to make sure i undd what they were. My belief is that answer has sort of a boilerplate position that every current and past a secretary defense and the secretary of state has said that they support the convention on the law of the sea and the only time ive ever heard anyone sort of suggest maybe backing away from it is viewed today and i just want to make sure that we are not seeing either an administration or department that is changing the position. Thats not true, senator. Like i said in my answer i by support all the elements that are there. We should practically abide by whether or not featuring the convention. I agree with everything thats in there. I just went to cast. Its relevant because i was worried if somebody had suggested he might take a different position it would be relevant to another question which is are you going to give your advice whether or not they are going to agree with you. I will always give my unvarnished advice and when i screw up they will tell you i did, to back. I hope i will follow that same standard with the ask a question about china and you talked about this a little bit when the general was here he said for his confirmation hearing that the most important relationship in the world and the 21st century is going to be the relationship between the United States and china and when it is written, that relationship is going to be critical to helping us go do you agree with the . And would you agree because of the need to focus on china not only the military capacity but also competitors and will miss the economically, humanitarian aid and otherwise that it is if we engage in questionable the necessary military activities were focus our attention elsewhere we could do so at the risk of allowing china to catch up and exceed us in their capacities military and otherwise . We have to always watch closely exactly where they are and i hope that we continue to have a closer military relationship so we can understand each other i think transparency in those areas is very important in the billing stability in the future. We try to do that in the soviet union and with russia. I think china is a big part of that. Thank you mr. Chair. General, thank you for being here today. I have been part of all five of the executive session this committee has held related to the nomination an and they hurtu testify at quite some length in executive session i heard the kernel and the accuser testify in the executive session and ive reviewed the very extensive report on these allegations and also reviewed some of the transcripts of your testimony and from the executive sessions just to make sure that i understood exactly what your answers were i want to give you an opportunity to respond now to some of the allegations specifically that have been made in public and in particular i understand by the way that you deny all these but let me give you the opportunity to respond specifically. The New York Times reported on july 26 the kernel alleges that on december 2, 2017, the evening on that day you came to her room and this is while you are at the forum you came to her room and sexually as did her. On that specific allegation did that incident happened, general . Thats never happened. Did you go to her room that might . Ive never been to her room. Your testimony is that you have never been to her room not only on december 2 ever, period on any trip that you ever took. The times reports that the military itinerary says they reviewed said that during the relevant time your movement was accounted for as an executive time. How would we verify you say i didnt go to her room that night ive never been to her room. How might we know that true and verified that . I think you have to look at the evidence submitted with personal security detail and interviews with the communication team. The only location of people when im traveling that i know about is my personal security details which is always right next to me and the communication suite because as we talked about earlier i have to be able to get desertion communications at a moments notice so i know where those people are and i have no idea where anybody else on the team is at any time. They could be close by or spread across the hotel were in a different hotel. But Everybody Knows where you are. And by security detail their job is to advise on me at all times. Theyve gone through procedures and theyve done that with laura and myself from the beginning weve always have a key to your room and always be able to access you and your room. We will do the followin followis to advise on new alltime. It will be a little bit overwhelming, but that is just our job. Let me ask about one other thing because its been reported that article also alleges there may have been some physical evidence that could subject to dna testing related to that incident on december 2. Do you know was there any dna testing done that you are aware of . Pic thats in the investigation, i know that there was nothing found. Your understanding is that dna tests found was nothing related to you, is that your understanding . That is perfect. When i was interrogated by the investigators i had to give a dna sample so i know they have the corinthian example and there was nothing there. Let me ask you finally a different subject on th if you u testify today the need for new operational con depths may be the commission wrote the u. S. Is urgently requiring new operational concepts that expand the options to constrain those of china, russia and other actors of course many of our existing joint war fighting concepts were developed before it was written and issued. If confirmed will you update those concepts and brief us about your progress there so that we can appropriately budget . Absolutely, senator. The thing to realize the joint staff, the chairman and vice chairman today, the Combatant Commanders weve already recognized as an issue and one of the things we were building that was what we called globally integrated base plans because when you look at the challenges, it is just my plan, the indo pacific plan, the key is how do they come together in unity and how do we fight in multiple domains at the same time with different authorities and integrate the timing of the operations . So this is going to be a challenge Going Forward that wee have started down the process. Im glad that you have begun this and what you felt like i think is important. We will have questions on the record on this and other important matters but thank you for being here today and for your willingness to serve. Senator, you do have three and a half minutes remaining if you so desire. I said my piece. I appreciate it. Very good. Senator blumenthal is supposedly one minute away. We will vote and senator blumenthal gets here. [inaudible] thank you for your patience in d service to the nation. To answer the questions you have a. I know you will be responding we need to make them public as much as possible. I am hopeful that you will support how to make it public as much as we can. The men and women who serve the country in the military as well as the public will be watching the committee closely. I know youve been asked what you think should be done if you have declined to give specifics. I understand its not your direct area of expertise if youve been at a high level of the military for a substantial period of time id like to ask you now in the responses you get to those written questions to be more specific about what can and should be done. We have asked the general about it and i know hes very attentive to this issue, but i would like your commitment that they will be more specific in response to the questions what can be done by way of programs to take action promptly and fairly in response and what can be done throughout the military because you will now have a position of trust and if you want to be more specific now, i welcome it as a hoping your questions for the record that he will be. They will respond in detail in the followup questions. Let me just say a couple things, senator. First of all the most important thing i can do is to always hold people accountable. I think that has to be the fundamental precept that we have issues we have to hold people accountable, and i strongly, strongly believe that. It is unacceptable behavior and everybody has to know that, and it is and i have to make sure that victims understand they can come forward and will be treated with respect and dignity. They will have advocates to help them through the process and their accusations will be treated seriously. I can tell you having lived through the last few months that any victim should be confident in coming forward with their accusations that they will be treated seriously by the investigators because these were very serious allegationarevery d treated very seriously. For specific programs i do not have plans for specifics as i sit here today. I know we need t the need to dee programs. I think theres people in this building that actually know more about this issue than i do. I understand the structure and strengths and weaknesses but i have to find those people and a pledge to you that i will do that. I hope that we see the answers to the questions and others im sure will as well. My time is expired, thank you. Senator scott will be here shortly. I want to thank you for being here and for your testimony. I want to make clear that this aspect can never be tolerated not in the military or anywhere else in this country and im glad to be working and i want to thank you for all of the efforts during all of the hearings we have had to make sure the truth comes out. The claims made are very serious. I cannot understate that and its so important that we listen and hear every side. We have a process in place to thoroughly investigate and review any misconduct and im glad we follow the process. The air force investigation concluded there was no effort to put these claim. The air force left no stone unturned in the investigation into the senate has been thorough as well. We have to focus on the nominees that come before us and focus on evidence when accusations are made and the surface and lack of evidence to support accusations are compelling. I hope we can find a way to Work Together to reject the partisanship of the current political environment. Now i want to focus on areas that infects the state. Why is russia doing what they are doing in cuba and venezuela and what do you think the end result is going to be and what should we be doing that we are not doing right now . Its not just a regional strategy, this is a global strategy to influence and russia honestly doesnt have many friends in the world and the friends they do have tended to be trouble but they tend to reach out to try to influence the nation that can counter the United States and nato and the influence of the global structuron the globalstructure e world war ii. If you look at what they are doing in europe it is in line te with that so it is a natural part of the strategy that they are pursuing. With regards to this hemisphere is especially cuba and venezuela, what should we be doing to counteract we have to work with our partners and its a question of u. S. Southern command weve certainly looked at it as all the combatant command what we have to do is reach out to our partners and build a partnership we have to point ou out venezuela as a disaster. Cuba because of the partnership is struggling nation. We understand this is an area where the military is in a support role of the structure. We dont want conflict in our backyard that we have a role to play to make sure we are always there. I went to panel and argentina and clearly china is making investments down there, Big Investments in camelot and argentina. Does that concern you ask they announced that strategy in the 1990s and theyve been going down that path for a while. They are changing the structure of the way the world has been for a long time and we have to be cognizant of that and aware of that again there are strategic adversaries but they dont have to be an enemie enems Network Without the military is a huge role to play and be ready and be present. I want to thank you for your service and your family as well. I know that this hasnt been an easy process for you. Can you say publicly do you categorically deny the allegations that have been all the allegations were completely false. As you know my state is the cornerstone of the nations Missile Defense and an increasingly important testing ground for the nations missile defensdefense and those of our s a very successful test, very important from the Missile Defense perspective in general any test is good because you learn from testing with v. Is for the Defense Force the structure Missile Defense needs to be an international capability. We need to be able to partner. It requires interceptors and new technologies in the last three or four years the bipartisan advancements in the country is Missile Defense both as reflected into the trumpet ministrations focus on this you might recall the president unveiled the Missile Defense review a couple of months ago if confirmed will you commit to continuing and continuing to advance Missile Defense whether it is more capability as we have at fort greeley in the deals were the radar radar sites. Let me ask another issue with the secretary i want to get a commitment for you to come back to alaska and to her what Billy Mitchell referred to as a strategic place in the world. Icy secretary nicholson smiling. There will be generation fighters, f22s and 35. We are looking at the air force is looking at deployment so we have a very old tanker. I want to ask the secretary tearing his confirmation hearing with the potential adversaries in north korea, russia and china to have over 105th gem fighters into th would show extreme strategic reach. In air force is confirmed on the deploymendeployment of the tc 4i think with the 105th gem fighters in the most strategic place in the world would be an important signal can you comment on that and get your th the presence is unbelievably important and i will commit to work with you on that as we continue to go forward if we have to have some of those capabilities where alaska can be an interesting game changer in how people look at the posture because of the unique location on the planet both to the west of alaska and the north of alaska inorth ofalaska it is a c location so we have to figure out how to effectively do that. Theres always going to be forced to balance we have to look through but theres no doubt. Thank you, general and your whole family. We are churned. Heres a look at our primetime schedule. Campaign 2020 coverage with acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney speaking at the annual silver elven elephant gala. At 8 00 eastern on cspan3 it is American History tv with programs examining u. S. Foreign policy. Cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up saturday morning, we will discuss the latest data breach and what protections are in place for consumers. With the Consumer Program director with the u. S. Public research group. A look at the federal reserves recent Interest Rate cut. O editor on whether people are still turning to historical sites to learn more about American History. Be certain to watch washington journal. Saturday morning. On monday, we will talk with larry oconnor, host of the washington examiners examining politics. Tuesday, the producer of the New York Times, the daily. On wednesday, it is marked leon goldberg. Thursday chris stirewalt. Briney,riday, jennifer host of congressional dish. This weekend on book tv. Andrday at 7 45 eastern, author, former policy director for Elizabeth Warren talks about the effectiveness of government involvement in promoting opportunity and equality. The public option for broadband would go a long way in addressing the challenge for access. This isnt a pie in the sky idea. 180,000 people has had one gigabyte a good net internet since 2010. More than 20,000 of their people and businesses take advantage of the public option. Sunday, indepth is live with author and historian lee edwards. Talkserwards, and author about his firsthand account of the far right movement and its origin in his latest book the new right. Agreement across the subculture other than who the enemy is. Are those who are complete whochists, there are those are internationalists in the sense of i will be a citizen of the world. I dont own allegiance to a particular nation. There are those who are america first. You will have very little agreement other than who you are. Watch book tv every weekend. This weekend on American History tv, saturday at 8 00 p. M. On lectures in history, comparisons between Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson on the constitution. Take a look at the cartoon. Very different impression of what people thought. He did not understand the constitution. And he was acting in unconstitutional ways. Sunday at 6 00 on american artifacts, the preview of the 19th amendment exhibit on the national archives. Beginningn new jersey in 1776 when new jersey became a state. The state constitution made no mention of discussing voting qualifications. Own enough property, primarily widows and single women could and did vote in elections at the local, state, and national level. John farrell talks about nixons early life and career. In 1947 and 1948 he campaigned for the marshall plan. He went to the rotary club, chamber of commerce, vfw. Any crowd who would take him. He told them his best judgment, not his opinions. He convinced them. When they were held in california Richard Nixon did not just win the republican nomination. He won the democratic nomination. He ran unopposed in his first reelection campaign. Americane the past on history tv, every weekend on cspan3. In a country where there is no probably public a woman to leave the house and do anything, she needs a car. To function and guide this car. Sunday night, saudi arabia and womens rights activist alsharief talks about challenging the saudi government s ban on women drivers. Show that we are able and capable of driving and being in the driver seat of our own destiny by doing this. Cspan has live coverage of the 2020 president ial candidates at the iowa state fair starting thursday at 1 45 p. M. Eastern with montana governor steve bullock. Followed by former Vice President joe biden. Castrolive with julian and former congressman beddoe orourke. On sunday we are live at 10 00 a. M. Eastern with gov. Jay inslee, sender kamala harris, senator amy klobuchar, senator kitchen gillibrand, senator kristen gillibrand
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