Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to the brookings institution. Before i begin my remarks, i would just like to say on behalf of the institution that we are thinking every moment about the challenges that australia is facing, with the wildfires that are impacting australia in such a dramatic and negative way, and they are in our thoughts and in our prayers. As well, we also are focused on the passenger list of the aircraft that was lost in iran two days ago. All of those souls are in our thoughts and in our prayers today. Im john allen, president of the brookings institution. We are very honored to have you with us. Happy new year. We are very pleased this morning to welcome the secretary of the army, ryan mccarthy. He is our distinguished guest and our great ally in helping to study the future of the United States army, the Defense Department and the challenges that we face in the security environment. Secretary mccarthy was confirmed last year by the u. S. Senate and after having served in that capacity as an acting secretary for a number of months, he has now assumed the full responsibilities on all the matters relating to our great United States army, to include the recruitment, the organization, training and equipment and the care of 1. 4 million personnel, those of our active duty force, our guard and reserve and of course, our important civilian counterparts as well within the department. Hes one of the most important his is one of the most important jobs in the United States government, ladies and gentlemen. And pivotal to keeping our nation safe and our people safe as well. He has been for me a dear friend for a long period of time, and its always wonderful to welcome you, mr. Secretary, to brookings. Hes a battlehardened veteran of the department of defense and you would be hardpressed to find a more dedicated public servant, a better professional and a more loyal friend to the United States army than our institution. I say that of course notwithstanding the outcome of the Army Navy Game this year, for which i think he would argue about responsibility. But his promotion to being the secretary of the army is a great plus for our country and for the army. Now with so many real and potential challenges on the horizon, our u. S. Army has no choice but to adapt to an increasingly uncertain future, a future of complex and evolving threats and an environment of increasingly technological sophistication, rapid change and lethality and that is especially true of todays topic which is the indopacific region. Although i know the secretary is focused with laserlike clarity not just on the indopacific but the middle east, north africa and europe and elsewhere, because the army is of course, a global force. But today, we will talk about the indopacific region. So to our program shortly, the secretary will offer us some of his own remarks and then we will be joined on the stage by brookings senior fellow mike ohanlon. They will cover a wide array of topics, but primarily oriented on the indopacific region. Once we have wrapped up that discussion, we will go to q a and of course, we are very much on the record this morning. So again, sir, we are really honored by your presence here at brookings and let me cede the floor to you now for your remarks. Thank you for joining us this morning. [ applause ] thank you, general allen, for those overly gracious remarks but its great to see my old teammate, a mentor and dear friend. Good to see you. Thank you. Dr. Michael ohanlon, thank you for extending the invite and welcoming me today. Obviously among the best in the business. Its great to be here at brookings. Washington is a war of ideas. Im especially looking forward to the discussion portion later in this session. The u. S. Must maintain overmatch against our adversaries and the army is foundational to joint forces success in the indocom area of responsibility. Our modernization focus, how we fight, what we fight with, and who we are, is in part driven by our new challenges and potential adversaries. We remain ironclad to the Army Priorities of readiness, modernization and reform. Our budget and investments remain aligned to our priorities. This alignment will increase lethality and the ability to operationally be dynamic. In this area of Great Power Competition, china will emerge as americas strategic threat. Over 60 of the worlds gdp flows through the straits of malaca and china is militarizing the Global Commons. In order to commoditize life for its one billion people, china is increasingly relying on its belt and Road Initiative. Having the u. S. Army in the region with modernized weaponry, alongside our counterparts, changes the calculus and creates dilemmas for potential adversaries. Furthermore, having the u. S. Army in the region strengthens americas position to conduct global commerce, build confidence with veinvestors and compete economically. The army has traditionally focused its efforts towards europe, given that russia is a landbased threat. Seven decades of partnership in europe have set the conditions for strong militaries and strong partners that are capable of countering threats from abroad. We will continue to provide deterrence in shaping operations in concert with our allies and partners in europe. While many people think of the army as primarily having a role in europe, and we are doing many great things to bolster our capabilities in europe, the army is much more than tanks and bradleys. We served as the Operational Command and control, advise and assist, longrange precision fires and effects, and logistical backbone of our current and future military operations. The u. S. Army in essence is engaging in warfare by other means. As we learned during world war ii, the adversarys goals and tyranee of geography will require the army to operate on two fronts, both in europe and pacific. At first blush, it is easy to assume based on land mass the waterways in the indopacific would be predominantly a Sister Service endeavor. However, it will be the army on the ground partnered with militaries, influencing the people and serving as the ultimate deterrence. Pairing with our allies and partners, continuous presence and shared equipment will enable military strength to overcome economic strangleholds, promote good Global Commons and offer an alternative to the adversarys narrative. People dont live on water, air or in space. Long before conditions escalate to war, there will be a battle of ideas. This is warfare by other means, and decisions will occur in the heart of the people. We must be present to offer an alternative. Churchill once remarked quote, there is only one thing worse than fighting with our allies, and that is fighting without them. In this competition space, our forces will require a change in behavior and patience. We must be engaged in constant competition versus the episodic engagement strategy. We are playing, as simon cynic would argue, an infinite game across several areas of responsibility. To especialngage with a finite , one of the army measuring the wrong metrics, playing a different set of rules for a different game. The military has had a boxers mentality to conflict. Go in, fast hands and deliver devastating punch in the first round, fast, lethal and gone. Our approach to competition with potential adversaries, however, such as russia, china, will feel more like a soccer match instead of a one round in the ring. Endurance, strong partnerships, and patience will be the necessary mix. Presence does not have to lead the conflict. If we wait until theres a conflict, we are already too late. Right now during the compete phase, the army is refining our approach to improve our strategic readiness. We will accomplish readiness through strengthening our partnerships and advise and assisting with our regionally aligned Security Force persistence brigades which will deploy in fiscal year 21. Our Multidomain Task force with deployments in fiscal year 21 and fiscal year 22 will build partnerships. We seek to increase Foreign Military sales, International Military education and training, and more repetitions from multinational exercises. Shared equipment, shared training and shared understanding is the end state. The army is reinvigorating our presence and disposition in the pacific. History has shown the army has always had a role in the pacific. Just a quick glance back to mcarthur and world war ii demonstrate the propensity for an adversarial land and resource grab in the region and the subsequent challenges presented. The indopacific is strategically important to the United States for many reasons. We are an indopacific country. The worlds foremost popu lou u countries are located in the region. Six of the ten largest armies in the world are located there. The u. S. Maintains five bilateral treaties all critical for our National Security and prosperity. Forces in the region reinforce the american narrative alternative to the belt and Road Initiative. In order to be competitive and gain an advantage, we must have continuous presence. In order to maintain overmatch to avoid conflict in the region, the u. S. Army must be postured in the region for the intensifying competition and if required, to win in conflict. There is an ongoing fight for influence in the region, for which access and presence are critical. Partners matter. But the type of partner is paramount. China uses course of economics and many partner with them out of necessity. In this lies a great deal of vulnerability. The Army Partnerships comes with its modern and inoperable equipment, training on a continuous basis and a commitment should deterrence fail, a present partner and the worlds best fighting force. China may be the partner of coercion but the u. S. Army is the partner of choice. The army is uniquely suited to provide persistent presence and show commitment. Ships sail through shared waters and planes fly overhead. These are integral parts of the fight. But nothing comes close to the effects of boots on the ground, Standing Shoulder to shoulder with our counterparts, huddled over plans or walking through jungles together. This presence reinforces the United States enduring commitment to our allies and partners in the indopacific. For example, in 2020, the army is sending forces on five month long extended rotations to thailand, philippines and even papua, new guinea. We are not only providing persistent presence and coordination with our allies and partners, we are also expanding the scope, duration, scale and locations of our training and exercises with partners to push into new areas. The armys National Guard state Partnership Program tied states to 78 Different Countries around the world that have routine and consistent touch points with each other. U. S. Forces engage with 22 countries in europe and 12 in the indopacific on a habitual basis. In many countries throughout the regions, armies are the largest and most influential military service, making the u. S. Army the logical partner of the services. Our Army Partnerships build valuable relationships for the dod at large. These are more than simply steadfast partners. These are key Decision Makers and influencers in their respective countries. Furthermore, shared equipment builds interoperability and makes operating together easier while creating strategic depth. Our operations in the indopacific include training with army forces, helping thailand stand up their new striker units that their striker units, 15 in fact, are arriving right now. The philippines has asked for more help in training 72 infantry battalions as they upgrade their equipment and evolve their doctrine. While we continue to do traditional security cooperation, we are also employing new capabilities and using the indopacific as grounds to test our new concept known as multidomain operations or mdo. If conflict with a great power competitor occurred, the United States would be able to easily bomb strategic locations and safely flow in forces, seeking to regain overmatch and a solution for converging all domains, mdo creates an asymmetrical advantage. Mdo sets the conditions in theater, while opening a window for the joint force. In fy 18 months after the Defense Strategy was published, with our focus toward the Great Power Competition with china, russia, north korea and iran, we conducted our first experiments with the Multidomain Task force. Intelligence information, cyber, Electronic Warfare and space units known as the i2qs. In fy 19 we tested the concepts, leveraging exercises such as exercise orient shield with Japanese Ground selfdefense forces operating in the east china sea. With its headquarters in japan, the task force elements were distributed across the senkaku islands. Pacific pathways tested our ability to use a hub and spoke model, deploying task forces to single locations for a longer period of time, and executing Dynamic Force deployment to spoke locations. We deployed a company from a hub location in the philippines to palau, returning after 37 years. We are invigorating historic partnerships through our partner forces. In fy 20 we plan to conduct defender 2020, incorporating long range precision fires and long range precision effects. By fy 21 the army will position a Multi Domain Task force in the indopacific theater and deploy a second one in fy 22. This is inspiring our closest allies and partners to invest more in building similar capabilities, japan, thailand, singapore, all are developing mdolike concepts in concert with us. It also provides the opportunity to stretch the limits of logistics and learn how to employ new capabilities in different operational environments. Exercise in new locations to experiment with distributed logistic concepts and develop methodology for employing long range precision fires or hypersonics in the region. The u. S. Army on contentious ground creates a continuous dilemma for potential adversaries and changes the calculus in their decisionmaking cycle. We remain steadfast in our commitment to the Army Priorities and our budget and investments are aligned against the same. Forces such as regionally aligned mdtfs range from influence to direct contact. Furthermore, mdo creates strong and integrated partners in the region. The u. S. Must maintain overmatch against our adversaries and the army is foundational to joint forces success in the indopacific area of responsibility. General allen, thank you for having me. As you know, im a big fan of all your work. I look forward to our discussion. Thank you. [ applause ] mr. Secretary, thank you for those fantastic remarks, for joining us again at brookings. I want to give miy own little shoutout, i was recently at a conference with our good friend who was recounting a lot of the accomplishments you and the other members of the big four, and your presentdecessorspredecy esper, the socalled concept of night court where to back up all the beautiful words you just heard, these folks got into the trenches and went through program by program the armys budget for modernization and many other things, and actually modified or canceled i believe somewhere in the range of 180 programs, saving 5 billion to 10 billion a year. I know there are a lot of people who are worried the Defense Budget is going up too much and we can debate that, probably not today so much, but thats a national question. There are people who worry that we are too focused on this or that priority. What i want you to know is the big four rolled up their sleeves with a title thats fitting of almost a netflix tv show, night court, and went through pound by pound, dollar by dollar, 10 million was not too small of a program to reexamine and as a result, the army has 5 billion a year or more to back up these priorities you have been talking about, hypersonics, a. I. , cyber, weapons, directed energy weapons. Congratulations on all that as well and on your new position. I wanted to begin really by asking you to explain two big concepts about the indopacific before we get into sort of more nittygritty country by country, program by program. One is to just define the indopacific for cspan audiences and others who may not know just how the department of defense uses that term. Then second, to explain to what extent the u. S. Army has the same view as the department of defense writ large, because in the dod indopacific strategy of last year, you talk about, you collectively talk about the asia pacific or indopacific region as the most important in the entire world for American Defense policy, and yet as you said in your remarks, historically we worry a lot about russia, the soviet union, the threat to europe, and it looks to me as if for the army, europe remains a comparably important priority and of course, the middle east remains the area of greatest activity. So how do we understand the role of the army in the indopacific and to what extent is it really your priority theater compared to these other two . If you could just maybe give us some broad context about those two questions, then we can move on, please. Sure. I guess start from the broader indopacific. Secretary mattis when he assumed the role was looking more comprehensively at how to look at that problem set and recognizing that you got to go all the way through southwest asia and have a comprehensive view of allies and partners and how it influences the region, so thats where historically, the paycom is what we call it, pacific command, would basically end roughly, just shy of going west of the south china sea. Its where secretary mattis extended that and had a much broader view to looking at all of the relationships within the area of responsibility so he extended it because if you kind of looked at the gray area where centcom and paycom meet, we didnt have enough energy and focus against the purity of southwest asia, especially east of pakistan, per se. So from a military standpoint, so thats where we extended the indopacific and have a much broader view. With respect to im sorry, the second question . For the army, is it really fair to say that this is the priority region, for dod writ large, the air force, the navy, one can understand the argument but for the army it looks like you have more forces in europe than in asia and more kinetic activity in the middle east. This is where i guess i would call it the accounting within for Combatant Commanders, there are more assigned forces to indopaycom for the u. S. Army than any other theater. The challenges, a lot of them are in Washington State and the west coast of the United States. So with challenges the indo paycom commander is the disposition of capabilities. Back in the spring, general mcconnell, my wing man and i, went to see admiral davidson, spent two, three days with him, took a look at our investments, our emergency deployment rate, exercise program, defender program, to look at how the disposition of the capability would better serve his needs to get the effects within the region, so we expanded the program, put more money in there, put more money in the Defender Series Program and i highlighted that in my remarks before. Thats basically a division size element thats not assigned to the theater, so say the First Cavalry Division or somebody will send to the pacific, and you can drop them in, they can start in thailand, bounce to the philippines, go to palau and we will do Dynamic Force deployment hub spoke model to put more funding in there so we can do more of these exercises, have more of a capability for him to move the forces around dynamically and work with partners within the region. So when you look from that standpoint, there was a lot of capability there but the rigid nature of the systems the way they were counted and allocated, providing more flexibility for the indo paycom commander. We did highlight the stress of the job. We are 182,000 people and rising in over 140 countries. We are everywhere. And comes with that is the tenuous balance to make sure that we can support all of these comb Combatant Commanders. You mentioned the night court exercise. Thats what happens when middleaged men get to brainstorm something. Its a Television Show from the 80s. We did something, the army staff has a sense of humor because the four of us sat at the end of the table and you had to go and try to get your program funded and we riddled them with questions like the supreme court, you can either get one of these, but we had to find the funding. You mentioned the challenges with increases in defense spending and the countrys in debt. We need to be better Public Servants with every penny that they give us and thats what we tried to do. So 180,000 people deployed, over 60 of your Balance Sheet is fixed, operations, maintenance, military personnel, paying people. So you have 40 of your budget for research, development, acquisition, you had to make hard choices within there for your present and your future. And we did that. We made some really big bets and you know, we are going to see how we did here in the next 18 months. So fantastic, because i think what youre driving at, please, you know, embellish or correct me if im wrong, if we look at the u. S. Army, foreign basing in the indopacific, its really only large in south korea. Theres no other place where we have many thousands of forces all the time. But what youre talking about is exercising more Southeast Asia and south asia all the way over to the indiapakistan border where Central Command takes over, then having enough flexibility, capability, available funding to move forces around on more temporary deployments, partnerships, exercises, the full range of activities and youre thinking as you said, thailand, many of the South Pacific island nations, vietnam. We will come to all these in a second but thats really where your emphasis has been, is that fair to say in broad terms . We have a much more comprehensive disposition in the region. Wai want to ask about milita readiness in a broad sense. I know that with your responsibilities as secretary of the army, you are focused first and foremost on making sure the force is fully equipped with proper weaponry, proper training, good maintenance, the right people, and then you apply that and Combatant Commanders and forward commanders exercise and use the capabilities that you have provided them. But you have to keep an eye on the way in which deployments to afghanistan, deployments to iraq, deployments to europe and korea and all these others might provide too much wear and tear on the force, and we have heard concerns over the years, the armys fraying at the seams, its being asked to do too much. Are you concerned that the army, in all its efforts to maintain previous commitments and now add these new sorts of things, is undergoing readiness strain of a serious and concerning nature, or do you feel like youve got the balance in pretty good shape these days . Great question. Its among those that make you wake up at night. In the last three years, we have gone from two brigades to 26 at their highest levels of readiness and thats as much funding as it is extraordinary leadership of people like mark milli of just laser focus on the training plans and ed abrams, who is now in korea, but the laser focus on training plans and leadership. If you were to talk to jim mckonville, they know what they have to do and are laser focused on those plans and getting repetitions and getting soldiers ready to go. Very proud about that. The aspects of tactical readiness, you got to shoot, got to move, got to communicate. Its the simple fundamentals whether its an individual or a squad. So one of the things that were looking really hard at is you just really focus on the fundamentals, you know, you are bear bryant, you got to block and tackle in football. We got to block and tackle in the army. So a lot of focus on the simple fundamentals. But this year, like i highlighted in my remarks, it will be a lot about strategic readiness, force projection. Can you call people on new years eve and have them boots on the ground the next day in the middle east. U. S. Army can, because we did it a week ago. Very proud of that. Very proud of first brigade, the 82nd. But we got to do that with everybody. So we looked very hard at investments for Strategic Force projection and we are going to continue to make those adjustments with readiness over time. We have been at war for over 18 years and the strains are there. People are tired but were extraordinarily resilient bunch and we are trying to make some tweaks within the training model so they can get more nights on the pillow. So it takes a lot of effort but its going to be tough right now. Demand is as high as it could be. I want to get back to the main focus of more southern parts of the region and more western parts of the region in a second, but one readiness question about korea, if i could, just because i think its so important for us to keep our eye on this. I know you agree with me. Last spring when general dunford, who was still then chairman, came to brookings, i asked him are you concerned about readiness in korea, for army and other forces, because we have stopped doing the big exercises in an effort to try to facilitate a dialogue with kim jongun and potentially a nuclear deal. By the way, i have supported the suspension of [ inaudible ] but thats neither here nor there. The question is, in an objective sense from your point of view, i realize its a better question perhaps for general abrams, but weve got you here so i would like, as secretary of the army, how do you feel about the readiness of u. S. Forces in korea and those that would go to korea early in a conflict from the United States or elsewhere, given that we have stopped for the moment doing these big exercises as we traditionally had done with the republic of korea armed forces . So im heading to south korea at the end of the month. I will get a great chance to sit down with general abrams and get much greater perspective, but he had said he has managed the risk. The units are ready to roll. We have done a remarkable job there as i highlighted before, 26 brigades at the highest levels of readiness but for efforts on the ground, general abrams is making adjustments and he thinks he can manage the risk. You see it as a risk, but a risk that at the moment, if its causing any degradation in capability its a very modest level . Yes. Let me get more now towards the regions you were focused on in your remarks, the broader part of this whole, i think its more than half of the worlds surface in the indopacific command, if im not mistaken. If we count the entire Pacific Ocean much of asia, all the way over to the india pakistani border. Can we start with the philippines. I would love to ask about your overall sense that that relationship, the most important things the army is doing and where some of your plans are headed with the philippines going forward. Very strong historic relationship, obviously dating back to the 40s. Im actually traveling there at the end of the month and we are looking very we have about five different locations that were in partnership, enhanced Defense Corporation building out those locations so we can do advise and assist work together. We had a striker brigade go through there back in the spring and train together. We are looking at some other additional investments in the philippines. Our relationships are very strong and something we work very hard at. Would you describe that relationship as its been i think primarily, you know, of course it was the early 90s when we left the big military bases and they closed down and we changed the nature of the relationship with the philippines, then after 9 11, we started doing training for their own problem with jihadists on their own territory. Is that still the main focus of the relationship or do you see this from an Army Perspective as focused largely on china and broader changes in the region . No, i think its definitely expanded for us. We have a great relationship, our Army Special Forces have been training with them for a very long time. They have great relationships with all the leaders in their government but it is expanding to the conventional side and thats part of my agenda when i head there at the end of the month. Let me ask, talk about indonesia and maybe thailand and a couple others as well, before we go to the audience pretty quickly here, but let me ask about more generally about how armies in the region are thinking about china and how they therefore think about working with you, working with the United States. Theres a lot of concern that china is sort of eating our lunch in asia, that they have the biggest economic relationships with everybody now, biggest trade relationships, that they have the belt and Road Initiative as you pointed out that sort of helps them buy friends, and that sometimes our popularity, you know, wone place or another undr one president or another suffers from the perception we are too unilateralist or whathave you, but what do you see when you are talking to the armies in the philippines or indonesia or thailand or vietnam, for that matter, whats their view, how do they think about the u. S. Versus china . Are they trying to balance one against the other . They want to have good relations with both . Are they afraid of china, even if they dont say so publicly . Whats your takeaway . In many cases its very bilateral, trilateral and multilateral relationships, but its an insatiable appetite to partner with the United States. Whether its for military or advise and assist, they want us there. More so than anything, its to see the consistency and to stay in the continuous presence, so its something that we have to make sure that can transcend across administrations, no matter whos president. One thing i noticed, you know, the tone of the indopacific strategy and of your remarks, and i say this with admiration, its not very focused on warmaking. Obviously you are worried about that, you are always thinking about the possibility of conflict, but theres a lot of talk that even an old peace corps volunteer like me could applaud in diplospeak. You are trying to build relationships, trying to build partnerships, trying to find ways to collaborate on humanitarian assistance and Relief Missions and peacekeeping operations. Do you see the army as sort of doing in many ways, the more softer side of security while the air force and the navy focus on the potential big fight against china as they sometimes emphasize these days, whereas the army is sort of more in the Relationship Building business . I mean, i know im oversimplifying but that sort of comes out, if you read the indopacific strategy, most of the big modernization and lethality investments are air force and navy. Most of the Partnership Investments are more on the army side. How should i think of that . Well, its hard to partner from 500 feet under the water and 30,000 feet in a supersonic fighter airplane. I was a dignified transfer at 3 30 in the morning so we are not the peace corps. But the army is a people business. We bring the advantage of being shoulder to shoulder with an al ally, where you can eat a slice of pizza, you can get to know their kids and yes, you train together and ultimately, if you have to, you are going to fight together. But thats the nature and extraordinary value that the army brings to a partnership. You get to know each other, you get to help each other. Iron sharpens iron so the value of that is its hard to evaluate but thats why its so unique about putting american boots on the ground anywhere in the world. Let me ask, im going to go to the audience pretty quickly but let me ask about, if theres any country of the ones we already mentioned or india also needs to be part of this conversation, that you are particularly excited about some of the new dynamics that you see happening, that the new opportunities for closer collaboration, the new capabilities that are being built bilaterally or in some other way, maybe there are one or two countries that you think need to get a little more of a shoutout or need more attention because there are just dynamic things happening that hadnt been before. Well, its like i highlighted in the remarks. Immediately when the average, you know, observer looks at the indopacific region, they just view us as in korea. We have thousands of people, thailand, philippines, we are everywhere, and its them understanding, having the appreciation for just how much we are doing, how much more we are going to do in that part of the world. So it is a challenge and you have to get out and highlight the fact. One last question, then we will go to others, who i know have a lot to ask you about as well. We talked i threw out the peace corps metaphor a minute ago. Let me now switch over to the more longterm dire scenario of a worsening relationship with china that heaven forbid could come to pass but if we end up in a more rivalry state, are you thinking longterm about ways in which the u. S. Army might more permanently establish combat power throughout the broader region . Im thinking of bases that perhaps are primarily air force or navy but where the army has a huge role in providing Missile Defense, longrange fires, now that we are out of the imf treaty, perhaps surfacetosurface missile batteries. You alluded to hypersonics in your remark as well. This could be in the philippines archepelago or it could be in other South Pacific nation archepelagoes, it could be in vietnam some day. Im wondering to what extent the army is thinking about these kind of possibilities. In the abstract, i realize you dont want to get ahead of the game and start asking countries to base forces where those countries are trying to balance their own relationship with china, but in a more abstract general sense, are you thinking about, you know, whats called archepelago defense, are you thinking about new kinds of combat formations throughout this broader region that if necessary, we could establish and sustain . So i highlighted the Multidomain Task force concept and to do it justice, you would need far more time to sit here and discuss, but and ultimately bring experts like general mccambry out but Multidomain Task force brings long range precision fires and effects. So hypersonic battery, the precision strike missile, Electronic Warfare cybercapabilities and the disposition of the capability, senkakus, you could put it down somewhere in the south china sea, and those have the effects to change any axis aerial denial capability. It basically has the inverse effect. Then what it can do is become a ground seed element, suppressing defenses so that then can flow in ships or airplanes or other along with being a deterrent, which is the ultimate goal. We dont need any more gun fights. We dont want any more. But if they come, we will be ready. Thank you. Lets go to you. Please wait for a microphone and identify yourself, if you could, and we will start here in the fifth row, this gentleman here. Thank you. Thank you. John harper with National Defense magazine. Thanks for being here, mr. Secretary. You mentioned fms sales in your remarks. Can you talk about some types of specific capabilities or systems that you want to encourage u. S. Allies in the pacific to invest in and buy u. S. Equipment . Well, any and all, to start with. But the thailand has purchased 60 strikers, theyve got the first 15, we are going to flow the rest here shortly. Chinook helicopter sales, of course small arms capabilities, communications. As you look at major platforms, communications also very important as well. Thats where the interoperability comes and we can be able to communicate with each other and coordinate large entities to conduct exercises. So every time i meet with an ally, fms sales is on the agenda. I do everything i can to help push American Business all over the world. Sidney freedberg, breaking defense. Just before we started here, i googled an old article of mine entitled pivot to asia not so fast about the lingering gravity of the middle east. That was from 2012. So people have been trying very hard across two administrations in both parties to focus all of dod, all of the army, on the asiapacific and the middle east, you know, keeps on sucking us back in. Obviously youre not the guy who allocates forces, thats a joint staff function, but as you look at the Army Modernization program, as you do the night courts and the budget plusups and the 31 programs, how can you make sure that the things were investing in have applicability to across the theaters were working in, that the big six and so forth, have a role in the mideast and in the pacific and in the european theater, rather than being, you know, custom niche for one theater the way a lot of the big five were back in the 80s . You need a couple things. Number one, you need the will to do it. And we do have the will. The second was to what michael talked about earlier, the Balance Sheet engineering called night court. We freed up billions of dollars. Now, the preponderance of it went towards modernizing our force but we also freed up hundreds of millions of dollars so we could have a defender exercise, so we could have a more Robust Program and now we are in a position to put thousands of people in the region, and we did that. We started, i mean, we started over two years ago so we have been doing that and its really starting to scale here in 21. So you have to be able to balance all of the worldwide demand. Thats a very hard thing to do, that the secretary of defense esper is doing a great job on, but hes got to be relying upon the services to make hard choices and create that trade space in their Balance Sheet so they can do it all. In the armys case, weve done that and we are going to have thousands of people in indo paycom training this year. Let me take the prerogative to follow up on sidneys point, just put this question to you directly. Is there any area, any activity where the recent need to put more forces in the middle east has deprived you of the opportunity or the resources to focus more on Great Power Competition the way the national Defense Strategy says we must, or are you able so far at least to manage all of that simultaneously . So it is undoubtedly forced me to take a harder look, make some adjustments but right now, we are still on track with all of our commitments to our allies and partners from both of those aors. Over here on the side. We will come back here to the second row in a second. Thank you. Thank you, secretary. The army does make a big difference on the ground. I would like to come back to the vietnam war and wonder how you compare to deal with the Public Relations in Southeast Asia, especially now in the philippin philippines . What if their efforts to somehow create conflict between our American Army and the people there in the philippines by causing a lot of chaotic situations like what happened in vietn vietnam, and also, in the long term, do you think we have the will, but will the will of the people of america be what, you know, going down if were not under the support of congress. The second question is what do you think about the role of congress in supporting your role . Thank you. The role of congress is critical for everything that we do in the u. S. Army, because the American People send them there. They are elected, im appointed. So they are my board of directors and they are the pulse for where the country is. So its incredibly important for us to work with congress. I talk to congressional members and staff i think just about every day, so with respect to the vietnam conflict, as the son of a vietnam veteran, im intimately aware of the aspects of that conflict of going to the Kitchen Table and hearing about it. So it is as important to have everything right here at home as it is to work with the partners and like i mentioned in my remarks, the types of things were doing with allies is as much training and assisting as it is investing in those countries to strengthen the partnership economically, militarily, so its all the things we can do to prevent conflict. Im going to again intercede and just ask one quick question, because the question also touched on president duterte. It makes me wonder, some of the countries you are working with in this region are of, you know, mixed democratic credentials, to put it politely and thats an ageold problem, not new to this region or to you and the trump administration, but i wondered, are there anyplaces particularly where you really have to keep your eye on the countrys human rights record or, you know, recent proclivity for military takeover, or anything elsewhere thats been a big constraint and concern on your partnership and engagement activities . It makes a big challenge for us. Im not going to highlight anybody specifically. We are not going to allow our values as a service or as a country be dragged down by instances like that, but we do want to stay close to the institutions that we partnered with for decades. Countries have challenges politically. They go up and they go down. You know, when you look at relationships that withstand the test of time, in the best relationship that the u. S. Government has with a country like egypt or others, its the u. S. Army. We train together, they buy our equipment, they come back and forth, some of them send their kids to go to circle herschool college and others so you got to hang in there with them. You can dial up the relationship and bring it down while those challenges are in place and i have seen many instances like that serving in the last three administrations, and you just have to be conscious of it at all times. Here in the second row, please. Brian mccullough from lockheed martin. Thank you very much for your time. Attacks in iraq this week show the importance of Missile Defense. Vladimir putin this week in crimea with units that have hypersonic missiles. The chinese last october showing the df17, at their great military parade. How do you see the army taking on hypersonic defense requirements and approaches moving forward as part of your indopacific approach . Thank you. We have a joint partnership across the entire department of defense between navy, air force and the defense agency, on the hypersonic effort, investing billions of dollars across the strategic defense plan, we are actually looking at even increasing the profile over the next couple budgets so this has been basically a National Priority since secretary mattis was in the seat. The president has vested a lot of attention against this as well in particular. So the resources there, theres Tremendous Energy there, what we need to see is industry to step up and invest. Theyve got to come forward first and foremost invest the time to work with our National Network to understand how we come forward with this technology, but they are going to have to make investments to be able to produce these at scale. Im going to do it again. Because people keep asking such Great Questions and raising topics that i think invite followon questions. We talk a lot about hypersonics these days. I wondered, mr. Secretary, if you could explain a little bit more what specific problem they are trying to solve at an offensive level, so theres the Missile Defense question but theres also the question, i sometimes think that its important as these weapons are, as happy as i am that you are investing more in them, they are always going to be somewhat exquisite weapons. They are complex and expensive and what they do is reduce the time from launch to detonation or impact, but often, we are pretty fast already at shooting weapons, once we know what were shooting at, once we have the target, so what specific set of problems do hypersonics allow you to solve at an offensive level that you couldnt address with other kinds of levels . Just how important is this level of military innovation . What i have done repeatedly, hypersonics is like Pershing Missiles in the 21st century. If you look at what the Pershing Missile did in europe, three battalions were arrayed around europe and it was a tremendous deterrent for conflict. Thats obviously the optimal use for that capability. But its because of the extraordinary speed and lethality of that capability. The dilemma is that if you dont have essentially the type of almost Artificial Intelligence like capabilities because of the speed at which the munition can travel, you cant find it, sense it or shoot it because it will be there within a couple of minutes. And thats what has got so much attention from National Leaders like the ones mentioned, because of its extraordinary capability, and it could send a very strong message or it can confuse people, too, and you could end up in an escalatory type situation. So from an offensive standpoint, it creates dilemmas that would disrupt any decision cycle. From a Missile Defense standpoint, it is as much of the hardware as it is the sensing capability of just how fast can you cue, find it, then cue something to kill it. So this is an extraordinary capability that a lot of countries are investing enormous National Resources against, and its going to change warfare. Thank you. The woman here in the red jacket, fourth row. Thank you. Mr. Secretary, hello. Im president of a consultancy, dont let the name worry you. Its china channel limited. We are a risk and Strategic Advisory consultancy originating out of beijing originally in 1996 and then out of the states since 2001. My question is this. You talked a few minutes ago about partner armies, the u. S. Army getting to know each other by eating slices of pizza, getting to know each others kids names, being together. How such as people like us, some also from the commercial world, who have spent decades in china, we got to know by working and listening and socializing side by side with active and retired pla officers and their families, we got to know these people and we had slices of pizza and chicken wings and other things. So we got to know them, in a way that for the commercial world was appropriate. How does the army get to know the chinese pla in a similar intimate way . That is exactly the type of behaviors weve got to have. Frank, candid conversations. I dont think it obviously from the political point anytime we should as well. But the mil to mil relationships are so unique because the continuity that transcends administrations. I agree with you. We have done that with certain frequency on and off for the last couple of decades at least. There needs to be more of it. I encourage it as well. I remember when i was working for robert gates, he and admiral mullen had a a weeklong event whether brought in all of the leaders from the pla. It was extremely beneficial. We just need to be more consistent with that. Because you have an understanding with each other. I absolutely agree with you, we should do more. Go to the gentleman on the same side about seventh roback, adam. Regarding the stationing of forces in the pacific, is there any effort to increase the permanent residence of forces that are legacy bases, or will you primarily focus on kite is expeditionary specific pathways type presence . Thank you. I very much are in line with secretary mattis started this and secretary esper is right there as well, Dynamic Force employment. Its expeditionary in nature. We can be much more comprehensive in the touch point in the region. As well as economical. As you know, speed counts. It will be dynamic expeditionary nature for the foreseeable future. Ill even give a brief shadow to secretary rumsfeld. He gets beaten up a lot over iraq but you can go back to him, its been an idea thats been in the works, you were able to make it happen more than some of your predecessors. The woman here on this site in the sixth row. Im from radio free asia. About north korea, do you think these current conflict between u. S. And iran affect directly or indirectly affect to north korea . Some prospects that north korea might take advantage of this time when u. S. Is more focused on middle east area and they might take more provocative action towards u. S. And the following question is, is there any new effort by u. S. Army in Korean Peninsula to step up defense or offense capability against north korea . Thank you. With respect to your first question, theres always risk with that. Ill see a direct correlation right now, and on the operational side im not going to comment about operational moves on the peninsula. So we will go to tom and an afternoon the gentleman right next to tom. As a recent Aviation Brigade command in the end up a can, i can attest to the strategic to the tactical through Strategic Benefits of the mission set. As you are looking to expand this mission set is this something you consider doing in cooperation come for example, with the marine corps just as were looking to manage the commitments we have in the army . Thank you, sir. We all participate in the pacific pathways exercise, and that this is where the indopacom commander and our Army Pacific Command to bring all the collected use capabilities together with our partners out in the region. Its a large multinational effort. The marine corps participates, has a substantial presence during that exercise. Some of the things that marine corps are looking at is the disposition within the region as well. I dont think they have made any decisions yet at this point. Changes, its usually. Christopher from business insider. Regarding logistics, the army in europe has been working with its partners, nato and eu to rebuild, reforce. How satisfied are you of the ability resupply and reforce across indopacom and what you need to do with sister branches and with partners in the region to improve that . You know, like image before, purity and distance, just whats it about, nine of miles from vietnam to the bradleys . Its a hall to get anywhere. The logistical points in the region, youll have to rely largely on your allies and the expeditionary nature. So where do you put the position equipment, expedition or type locations that have runways or access to harbors . Weve had a great relationships for decades. And to michaels point earlier, it reenergized some of those muscles. It will require investment and require work with allies and how do we partnered together to do that. Weve got some work to do. By the way come on the north great question if you dont mind my asking or follow up, he mentioned twice that we now have 26 brigades in the top two ridges, presumably that is part of it, even though you are needing to send a few hundred or a few thousand forces here and there to the broader middle east, you still got more combat capable brigade punch at high level readiest and weve had in many decades in the United States. Its extraordinary, considering that the vans we face the world, truly a testament to the leadership of those men i mentioned before. Thats 26 an active force or cost the entire of all of our brigade combat teams, weve got over almost 60 brigades on that, between the active guard and reserves. So about half art toptier readiness and most of the rest are maybe a nazi death was still pretty good. And the things that make you the most proud is with even within the last 18 18 months, e had, we took an armored brigade that was not the highest level of readiness just hey, you, they show to be and they delivered in the european theater. So to train and largescale exercise. You can never underestimate just how good our people are. And even when theyre just shy of going through the wickets, ive been on that every day and twice since i. You have to have adequate numbers of people with the right technical specialties, the right training, the right equipment and recent Training Experience and exercise experience come all those things have to be met to reached the top tier. They go through all those wickets and if they dont eurojust ali at the risk in her performance. But more often than not they would deliver more than that. Here in the second row and one round in the back where we wrap up. How to see the armys role in the region different from that of the marines but then also how do you see Army Supporting the role of the marines in the region . In many cases we support the marine corps logistically with air assets and longrange precision fire. Its a sustainable nature. Marine corps can show up, hit hard, but then having the duration with the net the political thats with a challenge, logistical backbone that highlighted. Actually would do a lot of that together. They can do some other more offensive titrating together as well. So we had a couple of hands in the back before we wrap up your in about five minutes. The gentleman standing right there and then we will work up. Thank you, secretary. Agency of hong kong. You talk a lot about the competition between the u. S. And china. Im wondering if theres any deal, any cooperation with the pra and the u. S. Army. I know last year there was a joint community and rescue between u. S. Army and pra . Anything else . Secondly, how do you feel of taiwan in the u. S. Army indopacific strategy . Is there any effort between u. S. Army and taiwan to step up cooperation when the pentagon is now supporting taiwan . Thank you. Like i mentioned before, we have what we call our chief talks between the chiefs of our services with our counterparts in the chinese government. We dont have any joint exercises or anything of that nature. With respect to relationship with taiwan, they are an interoperability partner. They by u. S. Capability. We do advise and assist type of training with them and consistently work that relationship to the indopacom commander and the u. S. State department. Two utilizing five to be a panel with general brooks on the armys of the pacific symposium. I think years army had spearheaded ever voted come i think you still did that annually, that kind of thing with is a multilateral gathering with the chinese are part of the conversation. You talk about humidity relief and things like that. Thank you, sir. Im from voice of america. You talk about hub and spoke in the flexibility of sending troops in the region. For this obvious the United States create one of the largest component in the region. I was just wondering do you look into any situation of north korea part of it being deployed in others, situation in the region . And also do you see to point off the peninsula to go into brigades resemble, or and also to see any role of United States north korea, traditional and was focus on deterrence but you see much more expandable for now to states north korea on competing against emerging threats like china . No. They are focused on the peninsula. We have other formations and organizations throughout the region the work of the relationships. And then there was one more hand over here and then we will wrap up. Please. Defensive daily. You mentioned a longrange precision fires in lake applied in the indopacom but i was, how his army thing about future vertical lift, nextgen combat vehicle with regards to the region . Thanks. So obviously range is incredibly important for our aviation fleet. We were just in texas yesterday, and the day before was looking at a potential suitor to replace the black hawk helicopter, for example. And if you look at the types of requirements were putting on our systems, range is incumbent board, whether its a grand vehicle or if its a helicopter. Because the nature of combat, it has continually progressed, weapon systems are becoming more capable, more lethal, they have greater range. Sulfites are getting more expanded ever in the world and thats where warfare will hit in the foreseeable future so fights. You cover to much credit thank you for all you been doing for the last three years for you new responsibilities ever coming to visit us today at brookings. Thank you for having me. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] coming up, secretary of state mike pompeo and treasury secretary stephen region will be briefing reporters about the ongoing tensions with iran. Live coverage gets underway at 10 45 a. M. Eastern here in cspan2. Also online at cspan. Org and online at cspan. Org and with the free cspan radio app. Are camping 2020 live coverage continues sunday at 3 p. M. Eastern with senator Michael Bennet in bedford, new hampshire. Watch live on cspan, on demand at cspan. Org, or listen on the go with the free cspan radio app. We have the votes. Once the impeachment trial has begun, to pass a resolution essentially the same, very similar to the 100 to nothing vote in the clinton trial. Under the rules for the clinton impeachment trial, house managers and the president s lawyers each had 24 hours to present their cases. Senators were also able to ask questions for up to 60 hours before debating and voting on whether to dismiss the case altogether or call witnesses. Once all of the evidence was presented, senators deliberated behind closed doors leading to a final vote on each article of impeachment. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer responded to senator mcconnell. Right now the republican leader and i have very different visions about what it means to conduct a fair trial. Democrats believe that a fair trial means that all the relevant facts come out and witnesses and documents are part of that trial. Whoever heard of a trial without witnesses and documents . Its unprecedented. But if youre afraid of the facts, if youre afraid of what would come out, if you want to cover it up even in something as weighty and serious as impeachment, you say no witnesses and no documents. We say, witnesses and documents, fair trial. No witnesses and no documents, cover up. The impeachment of President Trump continue to follow the process on cspan leading to a senate trial live unfiltered coverage on cspan, ondemand at cspan. Org impeachment and listen on the free cspan radio app. Michael walt is on the Armed Service committee, serves the state of florida for the six district or news on washington journal to talk amongst other things the president s war partner good morning. Particularly vote yesterday. First going into what you think of the effort by democrats . So to pieces. One, if we want to have this kind of constitutional debate, the United States has undeclared war since world war ii, theres been obviously a series of