Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. Strategic Command Confirmation Hearing 20240713

Up next, the Senate Armed Services committee holds a confirmation hearing for Navy Vice Admiral Charles Richard to become commander of u. S. Strategic command, which oversees the u. S. Nuclear arsenal. This is just over 90 minutes. [inaudible conversations] our meeting will come to order. I think i do have an Opening Statement. Today we are meeting to consider nomination by Charles Richard were the greatest admirals to be commander of United States Strategic Command. I appreciate you being here. We enjoyed meeting your beautiful family i dont agree with a couple of things they are pursuing but thats all right. [laughter] we appreciate it very much and be sure to introduce them to the committee. And with those laws and regulations will you ensure your staff complies with deadlines with questions for the record. Will you cooperate to provide witnesses in response to congressional request quick. Yes mister chairman and those that are protected for reprisal from briefings quick. I will. We you affirm to appear if requested before the committee asked you agree to provide documents including communication by the duly constituted Committee Regarding the basis for any good faith denial quick. Have you undertaken any actions that would presume to be the outcome of your confirmation quick. I have not. This strategy that we have been using was put together by democrats and republicans and everybody was is in agreement with it with the defense of reauthorization process to prepare for the return to strategic competition and thats also in the review. If confirmed will be the most prominent advocate of those Nuclear Forces with the programs to modernize the Nuclear Triad. So we neglected to modernize for a long period of time and a lot of people even to this day look at the triad consider that to be redundant but i know you looking at your dedication as a member of the council we also expect to keep a watchful eye on the department of energy with full funding for the doe warhead and Infrastructure Program to survive the systems the Nuclear Posture review recommended a low yield force and the program was authorized in the department of energy completed for all units in less than one year. This was the excellent example that would be required to compete with the russians and the chinese. That was a great job that folks were able to get done in that period of time. And ayres track calm has been permission to modernize command and control. This is one of the most complex engineering the Department Faces and i look forward to hearing your thoughts on the best way to approach it. Also involved for missiledefense requirements and given recent setbacks in modernization of the Homeland Defense capability im interested in your thoughts if we can afford to wait another decade to modernize with the interceptors in alaska and im sure well get other comments and questions about that from senator sullivan. And the systems every day like those that support in space thank you for your willingness and to serve in this capacity. I would like to join you to thank vice admiral for your decades of service to our nation. Also to your family who are here your wife and your daughters perk i know they have served and sacrificed for many many years except for that one year you were in jamestown rhode island which was a vacation. Admiral richard you have an impressive record of service to our nation and i believe you are wellqualified with this nomination with your experience at us Strategic Command and the fleet of Ballistic Missile submarines. The commander Strategic Command is a principal officer advises the president and secretary defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staffs on the global missiledefense requirements. A Nuclear Deterrent must be safe, secure and reliable you will be responsible for articulating the requirement and managing the Nuclear Triad with command and control particle protocols that is existential to the nation with the ongoing modernization we are well into modernizing the scene of the ground base and at this time the programs appear to be on track to put all those on the industrial base. The chances of delay is high we need a clear plan of how we would respond im interested in your initial thinking on this issue watching the modernization process very closely. It is a number of organizational changes. With cyberoperations they have been shifted to other, and commands this is the gray area and those that arent to the Nuclear Command and control so not subject to any ambiguity. And that is too costly mistakes. And with those steps that you are taking over this increasingly complicated threat from you technology. Admiral richard thank you for your service i look forward to the hearing. Inc. And mister chairman. We will recognize you for an Opening Statement it will be made a part of the record you are recognized. Chairman in half and Ranking Member read and distinguish members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to come before you today it is an honor to be nominated by the president to lead Strategic Command thank you for the opportunity to introduce my family i would not be able to serve if not for the them. My wife of nearly 31 years was a Senate Staffer working on Senate Veteran Affairs Committee i imagine she is getting a kick from viewing the hearing from a new vantage point. Also here with me are our two daughters. Both graduated this summer one received her masters and physician assistant studies the other an undergraduate degree in biology perk our son jace moved to atlanta unfortunately is not with us today starting a new job so it is an exciting time. This will be our tenth move in the last 12 years and the 21st overall. Said a different way my son went to four high schools, daughters went to three each so i appreciate my familys patience and support that allows me to continue to serve. My mother and fatherinla fatherinlaw, sisterinlaw and her partner are also here and i appreciate that. Thank you to the president and secretary of defense for nominating me into the joint chiefs of staff for the confidence to service combatant commander. If confirmed i will work very closely with this committee in congress more generally to address the strategic challenges i firmly believe both and honest Timely Communications will be necessary to address these challenges. With a return to Great Power Competition as chairman and Ranking Member have noted, we must never lose sight of the fundamental nature and importance of the nation Strategic Forces. A powerful ready triad remains the most effective way to deter adversaries from attacks against the United States and allies we should be reminded that credibility backstops all us military operations around the globe regardless of how or where these tensions arise. Richardson it is foundational the Nuclear Deterrent forces should be safe and secure and reliable and effective. Adversaries began their capabilities it is now apparent if we modernize all elements of our triad to take Nuclear Command and control on the weapon infrastructure with the supplements called for in the 2018 Nuclear Posture review. We must also ensure plans are globally integrated with other combatant commands. Know your threats are not the only threats we face the cyberdomain we face a myriad of threats to have strategic implications. If confirmed i will work hard with usbased command to have make sure they can keep their significant responsibilities also cybercommand as well as all other Combatant Commanders looking at strategic threats globally and execute strategies in accordance with the National Defense strategy to do use all capabilities to deter adversaries and if necessary defend the nation. The Strategic Deterrence there are significant responsibilities Electronic Warfare global strikes just to name a few if confirmed i pledge my best efforts force track calm to implement the National Defense strategy in all areas of responsibility. I will live up to the expectation of the men and women of us Strategic Command perk i have served there twice but what is truly a special place. As one of the last officers on to interview for the Nuclear Propulsion program i think they would be proud of the legacy that carries on to this day in omaha. The commands motto is peace is our profession perk with confirmed i will live up to that motto. Also the standard set by the previous commanders i have server three of them in the current commander is truly a remarkable leader and commander in a large part in responsible for my development as an admiral. It is humbling to even be considered for a position that has such an amazing legacy. As he takes on his new responsibilities as vice chair chief of staff. Chairman and Ranking Member and others of the committee, thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you and i look forward to your questions. Thank you admiral i have a couple of things i want to be sure we get out of the way early. You hear about it now and then i havent recently or if anybody has any interest of a no first use policy. But its always bothered me because it seems like nobody talks about it but it always does appear so i would like to ask them questions about that. I would assume you would agree that limits our ability to deter a dangerous non Nuclear Attack whether chemical or biological or maybe cyber. Would you agree with that quick. Yes. My best military advice is to adopt a no first use policy. I appreciate that because i want to get that into the record. And wouldnt our allies be concerned if we have that capability and what we are doing for our allies if we had such a policy. Yes particular adoption of a no first use policy would have a significant negative effect on commitments to allies. See you have strong feelings about that. The other thing they talk about is alerting that whole idea of responding is to respond quickly and you dont have the luxury of time. But be alert i assume that you agree that something we should not be concerned about or should be. Again i would not recommend that. That would diminish one of the Key Attributes in a crisis situation it adds a potential race to be alert is destabilizing. I appreciate that. In my Opening Statement i mentioned we recently canceled the program for the interceptors in alaska im sure the senator from alaska will be bringing this up. According to the initial plans the next interceptor will likely not be fielded until 2030 for what will you do between now and 2030 in that field quick. So what abilities do we have . Those capabilities we have are quite effective against the threats we face today that a general dickinson commander recently discussed his confidence and i share that with the ability to build the system today to defend us. Any delay is concerned but i have great confidence a Missile Defense agency and the services will be able to work through those challenges represented. Im sure thats right. Leslie and mentioned in my Opening Statement this document i am impressed with. Do you support the recommendations of the Nuclear Posture review as well as this document including the submarine launched Ballistic Missile quick. I do. Very good. Admiral again thank you for your service and your dedication. Nuclear posture is also in the context of decades and decades of arms control agreements like the new start agreement that if nothing is done well expired january 2021. There is the option to renew it five years. It caps is there a significant value. I support any arms control agreement you are correct it has provided us with valuable insight with russian capabilities but doesnt address large categories that are not treaty constrained only with russia and those developing systems to provide by best military advice if confirmed with any future agreement including this one. There is a possibility we are hurry caring dirt disturbing comments coming out of erdogan he once capabilities that are nuclear. If the new start agreement is dispensed with you can find yourselves for the first time were nuclear arms are not in place at all then people like erdogan thinks they have a free ride. Senator any effort of proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is of concern so i would support any effort to maximize the nations longstanding goal. Thank you very much. One of those key issues a secretary matus Nuclear Posture was commandandcontrol Strategic Command is in the process can you give us the notion of the key issues of that you see in this process to hold up the center that you just described by bringing the sender responsible commander of complex enterprise with a focus on the acquisition the secretary of defense i think were on a good trajectory to understand the system that is verifiable and ready to go and the threats they will face in the future and then to conceive the system im very pleased with the direction were headed. I think the number one issue would be sufficient intellectual capital to achieve the same results of our predecessors and adequate resourcing adequate and predictable is the number one thing we can do. The point of intellectual resources we have discussed this in the office but in the good old days it was more government lead and think tank and approach and now cybertechny property is outside and that will have to come under the tent. I agree. I did indicate the potential for delay in the triad modernization this is the first time we tried to do everything at once. We already saw the submarine fields with problems with nuclear tubes this is the whole issue of the industrial base. I know you have to be very diligent watching the base of the submarines here and the icbms and hopefully you keep us informed with any trends you see developing. I absolutely agree. Thank you mister chairman welcome admiral. You touched on this but i would like a clear answer do you support the deployment of the supplemental systems for Nuclear Posture review do you believe these enhancements are truly necessary if we maintain deterrence quick. Absolutely senator. Nuclear posture review got it right with modest supplements added to the flexibility of the triad to deter the threats we face today. Thank you your predecessors have strongly recommended against any unilateral reductions in the Nuclear Force forces. You talked about that with senator reid so what impact do you believe any kind of unilateral reduction would have on our ability to deter threats quick. It would have a negative effect it would be harmful and im reminded this has led the world to unilateral reductions throughout our history and no one else has matched us with that. Theyve all gone in the other direction. In the past year those that argue the icbm force is not necessary for deterrence and many have sought to reduce funding for its replacement for the program so what are your views in terms of the icbm force and how important is it that with the recapitalization effort quick. The icbm is the essential component of the triad. It has special unique capabilities we have no other way. It is essential to achieve our deterrence objectives. We discussed a couple days ago the larger problem of our Nuclear Modernization schedule. And really there is no margin for delay. Can you talk more about that and how we simply cannot extend the life of the current systems. You and i focused on an area that you are truly an expert on of our submarines. Can you talk to us about what we are facing with the ohio class. Yes senator. We have delayed and life extended the current triad systems to the maximum extent possible. We are bumping into physics and engineering limits. I am a submariner so the ohio class was designed for 30 years it went 42 break a great credit to the people who put it together but there are only so many times you can take a highstrength piece of steel and subjected to the great pressures of submergence and cycle that by taking it off you just dont want to get in the tube anymore we just dont have confidence. Thats the type of thing we are bumping into with all the triad systems. Is just not feasible to life extend them anymore. Staying on schedule when is the first one quick. 2031. Still long ways away. You have my support and look forward to your confirmation. Thank you mister chairman represent the state thats home to the Columbia Class Program and we would be very happy to host you there i dont know the last time in the shipyard. That was the last time. We welcome you back. As you know then and now the major hurdles to that Shipbuilding Program is in fact Industrial Workforce Development of skills that are necessary to thousands of new employees and the supplychain that it is essential to build those submarines by the date that we need to do it. Would like your commitment you would continue to support the training of partnership and other programs that are necessary for that program. Senator absolutely. I applaud those for their effort to also contribute to the development of that force. We have no margin of area one air of the Columbia Class Program. China is rapidly developing its submarine capability. Russia has long been pacing our Nuclear Threat in the undersea environment. Last week october 15 through 17 russia conducted an exercise called 2019 they actually launched a Ballistic Missile from the submarine another failed. Give us your assessment of that threat in the north korean threat that country also recently launched a submarine launched Ballistic Missile. Thank you for reminding us of that. Both of those are graphic real world real illustrations that they possess i cannot think of a better way to demonstrate the threat to this nation from those countries and what we have to do to defend and deter against it. Are you confident we can track the russia and north korean and chinese submarines according to my understanding with that diesel electric charge cracks and no thats pretty noisy. Ims submarine force commander now i do have great confidence with our ability to address any threats including the ones that you mentioned and we are not static. It is a competition the u. S. Navy has made Great Strides and is poised to make some really Great Strides in the near future addressing the threat. Do you believe as i do that these recent test also highlight of the critical significance of the fast attack program nations military advantage under c is the last remaining place it is unquestioned we have the advantage continuing the Virginia Program is essential to make sure we maintained that advantage in the future. Are you familiar with the issues that have arisen with respect to the coding on this stealth adhesive that is used to attach that stealth coating to the submarines quickset enough you can address that in this setting but are you familiar with that quick. I am and i am confident the need one the Navy Engineer can work to that issue. It has been a longstanding issue. Correct. Are you confident we will develop technologies that it is the adhesion and prospered my process asking you and your staff. Thank you for your service. Looking at the threats of china russia and iran what is your biggest concern that we might not be doing or might not do in the future quick. I could give you a pretty long list of technologies in terms of threats to the United States but i would start both of those dont view the world the same way we do they dont agree with us on rule of law of free and open order. And attempt to resolve that. And then to defend ourselves of that gets to a number of capabilities of ai on top of those capabilities we have today to be ready to defend. Are we allocating enough resources to do that looking at the budgets we are passing quick. Specifically my areas of responsibility, yes for, but i would add that with that adequate and predictable fundamental assumption in the recapitalization of the triad with a continuing resolution. So what we go through now how much of that is affecting her ability to do your job quick. It results multiple tens of billions buying capability and then specifically with research and development and with those readiness accounts with those which gains we have achieved so acrosstheboard it keeps us from moving from a rapidly changing threat. With that nuclear ability will be enough to deter them quick. To reach the triad on schedule we can maintain sufficient capability but you are correct. She is modernizing and decreasing every aspect of Strategic Forces. Admiral richard congratulations on your nomination. I would certainly like to what to welcome you back so that initial requirement of these pits per year by 2026 how important is that milestone quick. It is critical to our ability to maintain a Strategic Plan so how confident are you and with that counsel that gives a Strategic Command and yes i recognize there are issues of the feasibility and looking very closely at that if confirmed. Without modernization of Nuclear Command from the air force. I am encouraged to see that the system used to send Emergency Action messages recently retired these. Some may recognize the cell may be too young. [laughter] so one of the things that concerns me it is the timeline for the rest of that architecture developed for the sixties and seventies and then to remain in service. I applied your interest inside this subject i think this retired in june. The first step is to make sure we reconceived the concept of operations we are operating on to make sure we put together a system not the way we used to do it but the way we ought to do it in the future. There are several nearterm decisions of the Nuclear Command and control system. The bottom line is we must move with urgency to redo the system. That modernization is largely handled by the individual military services. Is that the best arrangement and those are the changes we need to make in terms of authorities force. Com. I am encouraged and that secretary of defense to report back that is the mechanism to be effective that you mention. Talk to me a little bit about the situation with regard to the groundbased Strategic Deterrent program. And that they may only have one final bid. What do you foresee. We have great force of the ability of that supposition program i am responsible for the requirement and would be willing to engage against that technical ability to best benefit the nation. Getting back to productio production, you mention the weapons counsel if confirmed the chair is required to certify each year they are on track to meet the militarys requirements in april of this year are you confirmed will you commit to a review of the status and provide that feedback back to counsel in this committee . I will. Admiral richard thank you for your service and your family as well answering again. Talk about the open skies treaty that allows overflight surveillance the United States and russia in addition to other partners in 2017 United States government determined russia had violated the open skies treaty specifically limiting leningrad the final strategic enclave of Northern Europe as well as limiting flights in the republic of georgia. That was reiterated last year and by some of the predecessors and colleagues this is what admiral said it is a critical component of russias collection capability directed at the United States general stewart said that things you can see the data to allow russia to have credible foundational intelligence on the infrastructure basis so from my perspective it gives a significant advantage. Two years ago general dunford said we believe on balance its best if a treaty is in place we dont believe it should be if the russians are not compliant there is a decidedly aggressive diplomatic plan to bring them back into compliance and has continued on pace to no avail that russian remains in violation of this treaty while the United States adheres to it i will submit rather than call at the open skies treaty may be open skies over america close guys over russia treaty to see value in remaining a treaty where only one side follows the rules quick. I will support any arms control that enhances the security of this nation the analysis is correct we do derive some benefit with our allies we do need to make those commitments to use those full provisions if we were to remain i would offer my best military advice if the decision was reached. To be have the best satellite constellation in the world quick. We do. Superior to russia quick. Not directly my area of expertise but i think so. It would stand to reason the treaty they are violating they get the overhead imagery that they have inferior satellite constellation system. Again youre getting into an area i pledged to look closely at if confirmed itll have direct expertise but you are hitting on those factors that have to be considered if we stay in the treaty. Is at a signatory countries advantage if they have on the ground officers coordinating to collect intelligence quick. It is important any treaty or agreement that all parties comply. The air force has a long fiery the list to reach the growing force of the squadrons for additional tanker capacity we also propose to spend 250 million on open skies aircraft and operations. Perhaps if russia doesnt comply it might be better spent on urgent priorities. Again youre getting at the actual elements of a decision. I appreciate that its like the intermediate range Nuclear Forces everybody agrees russia is not complying and it would be great we have been spending years to get them into compliance and in the meantime russia continues to gain significant intelligent advantage over the United States a situation because of our superior satellite constellation would be advantaged if russia was not taking these advantages of the open skies treaty i look forward to your nomination. 2 00 a. M. Monday morning in july you receive credible evidence there are incoming missiles from russia. The gps is out satellite system is out the phone system is down can you communicate to the president and can he communicate to our triad quick. Yes. You are command confident of that command and control is the central part of the deterrent. I could not agree more that scenario that mission set is practiced every day at us Strategic Command to allow me to say that. Without satellites and the telephone network. Senator we have thought through all of that obviously satellites are critical component. That is reassuring but i want your commitment to keep on this issue and it seems to me it has to be public we dont want to advertise to our adversaries are techniques but we need them to know we have a credible deterrent that we can continue to communicate that deterrent effect goes away. We absolutely have that commitment and that responsibility in writing from the secretary of defense. Lets talk about deterrence that has worked as a strategy for 70 years but its based on the principle of a mutual rationale either side does not want to incinerate their countryman. But the theory of deterrence does not work of nonstate actors get a hold of Nuclear Weapons because what happens if its not a country or the people dont care about dying . We need deterrence 2. 0 two think of that eventuality not a probability but a possibility and its frightening. I agree deterrence is based in the eye of the opponent and that is unacceptable to you do you believe based on your value and how you judge things terrorism is very challenging the value system is different to deny the ability to have the weapons with their value system the efforts the nation has been after is essential that what you described doesnt happen. The key in that scenario is intelligence we have to know how to go at it a different way than the traditional deterrence because somebody is willing to give up their life instantaneously. Let me change the subject to go back to the beginning of your testimony. You talk about redeploying ten times in 20 years does that make sense with National Policy with wearandtear and your family and furniture . It worries me a person of expertise and knowledge get set in a job gains that expertise whether commander of a submarine present commander in afghanista afghanistan. I worry the churn undermines the continuity of information and experience that is beneficial if those tours were longer than what your personal reflection. I may not be the best example also earlier in my career i stayed longer. Did you not get along quick. I was appreciative of the opportunity based on to get my experience particularly after making rank the military values what you talk about the policy of the submarine force we dont turn them over every three years to make sure we have the continuity. Is three years the right number . What about five. We have moved that around three years is very demanding it has to be all in. It is about the right amount of endurance and stamina that is about the right time. I appreciate those comments but i do remain concerned about the general policy if two or three years is the right amount of time there is also an enormous cost to the taxpayers to retrain and move people that i appreciate your comments thank you for your commitment i understand the knowledge and experience you bring to this will bring a great benefit to the country. Thank you for being here today congratulations on your nomination it is a very compelling argument that is an overall cost. Thats only three and a half percent of the Defense Budget on top of maintaining the system that we have which is also a subset of the overall things they choose to use their resources. They choose to use thei. Nuclear integration and maybe get a sense of why its so important or strengthens conventional deterrence. Both of those are capabilities that we have in our ability to think through the use of both conventional non kinetic spaces either in an integrated way worldwide across combatant commands is the best way to address the threats we face in the 21st century which are global in nature. The director said earlier this year that like russia, china is working to field precision strike systems. Is it possible in your judgment that beijing would use limited strikes or at least threaten them to compile the United States to surrender if we felt ourselves losing a conventional war that they found themselves rather losing a conventional war over a taiwan feature complete scenario . Its very opaque in terms of the doctrine and strategy and she does that i believe intentionally. She derives benefit from that. They certainly possess capabilities that would allow them to adopt that strategy if they chose. For some time the community has argued that the u. S. Could maintain Nuclear Deterrence while dropping to a nuclear seabased nuclear platform. In your view can you tell us how the different Nuclear Triad reinforce one another and why are they so important flex the Nuclear Posture review i think wisely has the strategy that tailors the deterrent response to each individual adversary. This isnt the cold war. We face multiple threats from multiple actors and the complementary nature enable us to tailor th deliver strategies. We could go into a lot of detail about them Ballistic Missile life and the intercontinental has a promptness that isnt achieved by any other system. The bombers provide signaling and man in the loop opportunities the other systems dont have. It is a highlevel wave in the tremendous wisdom of the desires of the triad. If we ask since you mentioned how would you respond to the argument that we could cut the icbm and offset the capacity by offloading additional weapon . They provide unique attributes that cannot be provided by the other triad. Thank you very much mr. Chairman. I enjoyed our visit yesterday and have two topics i want to ask about. The values are very clear. The concerned about this is the risk of miscalculations. You are balancing off the deterrent value trying to minimize the risk of miscalculations, and i am along with many increasingly worried about the risk of miscalculations in the world from a varietfora variety of re. January of 2018 in the same week there were two kind of shocking instances of emergency alerts when being sent off in hawaii and one japan about the incoming missiles. The hawaii instance was sent out by the department countermanded about 40 minutes later after the call of the officials realized it was the incoming missile. The japanese missile alarm was sounded by a broadcaster and then was retracted. Offering some reassurance for the other nations to minimize the possibility of the calculation transparency as to strategic stability. The nation has a great capability to understand the threats it faces and the department of defense does and for other elements of the federal government of responsibility for the warning from jens described and we take those very seriously. In the aftermath we needed to grapple with here they did an investigation and imposed additional requirements with respect to the early Alert Systems that are often managed. They were involved in the after action analysis as well but this is something i think we will have to continue to focus on and give the public the confidence that there will not be an accidental use of these or other weapons. I was impressed with your thought about how the Space Command could pertain to our Strategic Deterrent strategy. You mentioned the importance of the work as a combatant command. Talk a little bit about why you think that structure is going to be important and how you would foresee the Space Command interacting going forward. You are referring to some of the best policies. Ive been asked in a concerned about the Space Command in the immediate steps to ensure a good Missile Defense awareness to optimize the nations ability to achieve all those missions and also do so in the resources. This is going to be a hard question to answer specifically but i want to get your general of it. Obviously, the triad that we have is more effective because we have been able to forward deploy some of our assets around the world. Should you be confirmed how would you approach the question of where we should deploy assets to continue to maximize the deterrent value of a eighthgrade confidence they maintain the security of the weapons or take steps if necessary to achieve that objective. Including the Forward Deployed van the policies and its example of why the United States is the Security Partner of choice and their advantages to allying with us. When they can produce those like you have families like yours and i want to thank you for stepping up again. You have my full support for the abomination and i hope you get it soon and get out there and do what you know how to do. When you and i visited, you may probably the greatest quote of any individual. I guarantee we will never say i surrender. Today secretary spencer has assured us of the procurement item in the u. S. Navy. We have a president and able to talk about the air command post. First of all, ive been aboard and they were gracious enough to take me up and demonstrate the capabilities and so forth. I understand that there is a neat program that we are looking to update several different aircraft including the state 32. They have the sender and if you arinto fewerconfirmed was how is is and what are your thoughts since it is very long in the two. In the vital segment i have over 160 hours in the Airborne Command post and this is our ability no matter what fred faces the nation so you are correct to determine how to recapitalize that and it needs to be adjusted based on the threat. Its a much larger aircraft. But i would also commit the goal is survivability. To provide that in the future i want to talk about the missile developed and the last 30 years and the fact many people in the navy say we are a state that is the term today a. We talked enough about that today but i want to talk about with china has been doing to now where they developed the foremost conventional force in the world with ranges from 55500 kilometers big he testified that he was the commander and i quote the largest Missile Force in the world with more than 200 listed missiles and 95 of those according to admiral harris violated the treaty and we dont have that since we complied. A what are your thoughts and what can we do to level the Playing Field . You are quite correct on the analysis and now to accelerate i would offer that the submarines have an ability to counter that and thats an important capability to make sure they have the ability to address the threat. I participated with a great crew out there. What are your thoughts on the efforts of their and the frequency in which we are doing those and is that a continuing necessary part of the strategy. Theyve been going on for many, many decades and its a part of the way the United States asserts freedom of the seas even more important today the actions that they are taking in the South China Sea. Thank you for your career and service. Thank you very much to you and your family for your service and congratulations on your nomination to be the commander and for taking the time to sit down with me yesterday to talk about some of the challenges. One of the things we discussed is the lawful and unlawful orders in the decision to make and use Nuclear Weapons. They said they would push back the president asked them to carry out an illegal order. When you have this responsibility how do you not think about it . If confirmed, you would be responsible for providing strike options if a Nuclear Launch was ordered. Have you talked about what he would do in that situation and if you believe in order to be unlawful and how you would respond to that and can you walk me through the process and what is determined to be the lawful versus unlawful order . There was a textbook order that he referred to back in halifax i will execute all of the orders that they receive and they will not execute any that are not. Can you describe the difference between lawful and unlawful . We have advocates that advise us on that but the bottom line is for me to say anything other than i will follow the ordering given starts to call into question civilian control in the military. This is an ideal that has long cherished the idea was that i strongly support that. Im sure everybody on the committee agrees with the fact that its a very important aspect of the democracy. Im still trying to understand the difference and that is not clear to the public. So maybe you could direct me on where to get further insight into that. I would be happy to do that. I would be happy to come back whichever one suits you best i will come back in the classified setting oa classifiedsetting why give you the definition of the lawful order, i would be happy to do both. I appreciate that and we will follow up with a question so we can get the definition of the order. I want to followup follow up t on what we do next now that we are no longer a part of the treaty. At least i know i understand we are looking into options to deploy our own groundbased system. Can you comment on the political realities and whether the allies would work with us on deploying such a system . I would pledge if confirmed to provide my best military advice. We have historical precedent where we were able to deploy the systems that there was a large amount of political effort that had to be thought through to enable that in a way that was acceptable to the nation. If we look at the future of disarmament and the effort to try to bring china under and im a lot that would include their limiting or getting rid of Nuclear Weapons, do you think there is a role for nato to play or is there an International Initiative that might hope that gets done as we think about how to make overtures to china to participate in any future negotiations . Again i would welcome any effort by any mechanism that would provide Greater Transparency to the capabilities and intentions. And you think that they have a potential role in not . They could. Thank you for the visit yesterday. I appreciated the conversation. To say that its been treated as a permissive environment i would like to talk about how we can grow the expertise that is necessary to operate in a contested environment and how we conduct the modeling and testing it without revealing our expertise and you and i spoke about this yesterday as we look at moving forward in the confirmation that we hope will be swift i would like for you to expand on that for just a few minutes. You are quite correct it is contested in a way we havent seen in a long time. Its no longer a permissive environment i can draw parallels to whats happening in the cyber domain and the space domain. I didnt give you this example just iyesterday that i just reorganized the submarine force to bring Electronic Warfare and free grow a series of specialists that will put that on par about dedicating their careers to expertise in the ar area. In the ability to do the modeling simulation will enable us to train better without revealing what the capabilities are. Did a. Quantify that a little bit if you can the amount of work that is necessary to bring us to par. There is a resource challenge. Models are not Accurate Enough to be high fidelity. There is a joint nature we need to bring together the services are giving individual things here just in the beginning of putting the joint interoperability pieces at a level that we need to do. Do we have a concept of Operations Plan or not . Would that aid us in being more intentional with our spectrum use because you and i talked yesterday and i think that inventory and analysis on the spectrum utilization and especially something that we probably should do so talk about that. You are quite correct it is correct for the military applications and ability to access. It is a scarce resource static allocation effective in the permissive environment and will not work in a there are competing commercial demands that need to be addressed. Without mr. Chairman i am going to yield. Thank you mr. Chairman and for your commitment to the country and families commitment we appreciate all of you. Theyve been developing an autonomous underwater vehicle now which some have described as a doomsday weapon. Newsweek published a story detailing the capability said vladimir putin. They are quiet and have hardly any vulnerabilities for the enemy to exploit. There is nothing in the world capable of withstanding them. Putin himself during the march state of the Union Address of the submersible vehicle that could move at great depths sometimes higher than the speed of submarines cutting edge torpedoes and all kind of surface vessels including some of the fastest. How would a strategic competitor within underwater vehicle that is capable of carrying Nuclear Weapons in alter your thinking in regards to deterrence is a threat the nation faces in a way that we havent seen in any decades. It comes back to the basic deterrence equation can i deny or impose a cost on you that is intolerable so that you do not take the action, so this nation certainly possesses the capability to impose the cost greater than what they seek to gain by the use of the weapon. When asked if they have leaders with the training you stated and im going to quote you are concerned about the ability to maintain the highest quality talent necessary to achieve the National Defense strategy. To that end we must compete with the public and private sector for the establishment as an employer of choice. The job outlook shows the career field has 50 plus growth over the next seven years compared to the other engineering fields into 3 less than other occupations and shifts away from Nuclear Power to the Renewable Energy to protect the nation from Threats Associated and climate change. We need to maintain. How should we work with universities to ensure that we are cultivating the talent in this sector lacks senator, i applaud your interest in the area. Its very important. Theres a number of things the department can do it one Strategic Command is cows and Academic Alliance with 70 universities and colleges designed to solicit, encourage and develop the talent we need and its not quite as focused as that you referred to this morning and the strategic difference. But they can use that to encourage us and develop the intellectual capital both capability and capacity in the nation to address the challenges. Do you have some specific proposals on how the department can work it itself to the limited number of engineers that are in the field as to why they would choose to come to work through the department of defense as opposed to other options that are out there . Is i was just in a meeting last week changing the instructor more to your direct point we shouldnt forget the other thing that happens if you are wearing the uniform that i am wearing it that you are giving them license to do organized violence you get the chance to defend in a way that no other occupation or no other person can do. We should remind people that is a unique attribute of being in the military, and i think that this thing that is worth some people coming to join us. Thank you mr. Chairman. I want to focus a little bit more on the Missile Defense. Its a really important element of what your job is going to be, and its actually then i think a good news story coming out of this committee. Theres been Bipartisan Legislation in the last three big. In march you may have seen they completed their firstever test certainly the adversaries took notice. I have a particular interest off than a lot of the position but has you probably know alaska is a cornerstone of the nations Missile Defense is a. Members of the committee were surprised in august and the undersecretarwhen theundersecren abruptly canceled the redesign tow vehicle and first of all very little notice. I wasnt given any notice and i focus on this issue as much as anyone in the congress so can i get your commitment any kind of major policy positions that the congress has been driving if theres going to be major abrupt changes i need your commitment to make sure you reach out to the chairman of the committee to seek our advice can i get your commitment on that . And the explanations we are all over the place. If we are not going to be testing how do we show deterring . Im aware of what you are referring to. Theres a lot of members on both sides of the aisle we are quite surprised by this announcement and i think it leaves us open and vulnerable to be perfectly honest. I will look closely at this issue but i have confidence today the system that we have fielded will defend us against the threats we face today. Something that we need to look at them there is a continuing threat it is not for the rogue states. I know you havent been fully briefed into this we are leaving ourselves a bit vulnerable defend the system that is beingg developed as was demonstrated in this march test we need to be careful about setting a high bar to develop any systems so that it delays us. We used to move faster in the history and being able to accept a family or learning along the way i would support our ability to get back to that place. One of the things we have in the legislation that passed was to encourage more testing even if we failed because as you know im sure youve seen that in your career. Do you think that, i would like to work with you on making sure the cancellation of the program doesnt undermine the ability for us to conduct the testing. Can i get your commitment on that . Do you have any views and this is a different topic and its an emerging threat to the chairman and certainly talked about it a lot but its not the threat that speaking addressed by our system. We need to accelerate our ability to address the threat and it starts with the ability to track. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you for your service to the nation and i couldnt agree with you more being able to serve in uniform is a privilege that not everyone gets to enjoy and i want to thank you for your dedicated service as well. I would like to examine how you would leverage your previous experience and i would like to get your background and experience how does this modernize the triad and i want to get more detail. I dont need to tell you how important avoiding this is on the ground based programs unlike most, they are guaranteed to result in a gap in the capabilities and like any procurement, there will be barriers and schedules, so how are you planning to mitigate the impact of such inevitable problems my responsibility is to follow these closely to be able to describe concisely what the impacts of the potential delays are. The way they will mitigate this is on the acquisition side of the house. At the threat environment we will address but if necessary. While i do support the modernization of the triad, i do want to note the National Defense strategy. What is your vision for how they can balance the need to advance to achieve the same effect as the low yield Nuclear Weapons . The i see them complementary. The less proliferation we have got easier the burden is to accomplish the Strategic Deterrence and i go back to the extent it returns integer instead and he is to lessen the threat that we face and therefore make it easier to accomplish Strategic Deterrence. To your second point about space and cyber, the posture review was wise in acknowledging the possibility that a strategic attacks could be other than nuclear and start to study policy to address those but to answer the question today, no, not today. There is no cyber or space attack that could have the same effect of a nuclear weapon. This goes back to my first question is if we stay on the modernization of the triad switching topics i would like to get your military advice. There have been said both the United States may refuse to renew the treaties and without commenting on the merits of the hypothetical policy action can you please expand on what you believe what the projected real world impact if we were to ask if both treaties. I will support any arms control or treaty that enhances the security of the nation. You have mentioned new start in terms of the character and composition of the Strategic Forces in extreme or the russians having that flexibility but there are a large number of capabilities that the russians have that are not covered and we were just discussing one earlier that its also not covered. If confirmed i will provide my best military advice in terms of the pros and cons of the position. With harpercollins of misleading the open . The primary to that i would put in a category of the assurance of our allies youre not the only signatory it provides valuable insight it does require us to make the Capital Resource investments to fully use the provisions in spite of the treaty and it comes with a counterintelligence cost to the United States. We are at the conclusion of your remarks we are going to not entertain any others in the hearing. I think we are aware that right now we are in the Senate Chamber we have the recruits that are going to be attending. Let me say thank you for your service and your family. I want you to know i have the utmost appreciation and respect for the submarine class. Next i know you are proud going down and give your best i know you are still rooting for him i was on the uss Abraham Lincoln and then went over i think the number is 11. How many are operational . I dont have the number right off the top of my head. I dont know the status of the other eight and how they will get back and with the retrofit is going on. We have more than the three that are operationally available. That is an earth that is currently deployed. What is concerning to me if i was told they cant get out because of electrical problems. The reason im saying this is my question very quickly is what is the greatest threat the United States of america faces. The greatest threat is we cant move fast enough to face the threats that face us whether they come from russia or china we have lost a level of agility needs to have that we need to get back. My observation was this. The South China Sea if we are the same i would be happy to provide. We would have a substantial undersea presence that is able in the pacific. Probably in a classified hearing i would have to get into this deeper and maybe you can help me to get the support that we need. On aircraft carriers i am really concerned about that because i talked with some of our captains and commanders and there were some concerns they were sharing with us. I was anxious to hear your answers it wasnt my intention i was only saying the other members wouldnt be recognized becauswould be recognizedbecausg place. For your willingness to meet with each one of us prior to this meeting there was a reason i wanted to pursue your thought because while we are starting the meeting there is a meeting where there was a meeting taking place with a group that is very supportive and i didnt know whether or not you were aware of that. Thanks for your patience we appreciate that and look forward to serving with you in this new capacity. [inaudible conversations] two candidates challenging President Trump for the republican nomination. Cspan host a conversation, they talk about their plans, strategies, and why they are running against the president. We will be taking your calls, tweets, and facebook comments. Live tonight at 8 00 eastern. Are usingrever you the free cspan radio app. Book tv has live weekend coverage of the texas book festival. With author discussions on the trump immigrations trump administrations immigration policy. The life and career of former u. S. Ambassador samantha bauer. Richardormation with stangl. Our coverage continues sunday at noon eastern with Johns Hopkins University Professor offering his thoughts on health care. As afox recounts her time cia operative. An american University Professor on race in america. Watch our live weekend coverage of the texas book festival starting at 11 00 a. M. Eastern saturday and at noon on sunday. Be sure to catch the Miami Book Fair next month on book tv on cspan two. This saturday on American History tv on lectures in of the, the 1981 trial woman accused of murdering hermann tarnour. She did well in high school. She went off to college. She did everything a wealthy woman of that era was supposed to do. It does in fact seem to be he hite, she testifies her in ways that he never hit her before. There is no evidence either way. At 10 00, president Richard Nixons november 3, 1969 silent majority speech. The greatnixon silent majority and my fellow americans, i ask for your support. Theedged for my campaign to presidency to end the war in ways that we could win the peace. I have issued action. Sunday at 6 00 p. M. Former u. S. Officer on his time in iran. What allows you to detain a guest against his will. Presidency,n the Ronald Reagans Political Affairs director, Frank Donatelli on reagans campaigns for the white house. Reagan cleans up in new hampshire. It was such momentum, it is a good thing we won by such big margin. We already spent most of our money. Our nations past every weekend on cspan3. If im a socialist im not caring too much about popular opinion. We socialize things like health care, they say everybody will get it. We will not worry about your bills. You will have to have rationing. Eastern, at 9 00 p. M. In his latest book the case against socialism Kentucky Republican senator rand paul talks about the history of socialism and argues there is a new threat of socialist thinking on the rise in america. He is interviewed by republican congressman matt of florida. Is morentry that socialist becomes more selfish. I think that is true. It is iranian away. Irony in a way. In the end it is driven by selfishness. Watch afterwards sunday night at 9 00 eastern on book tv on cspan two. Next, remarks from President Trump on criminal Justice Reform act. Ding the we also heard from comments from prisoners who told their stories including from a woman named Alice Johnson who had her sentence commuted