Transcripts For CSPAN2 Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy At The National Press Club 20240713

Adding this modernization and reform. This is an hour. Good afternoon, and welcome to the National Press club. Worlds leading organization for journalists. My name is Michael Friedman and i am the 113th president of the National Press club. Im a journalist in residence at university of maryland grover. An executive producer of the public broadcasting series the report. The an Excellent Program ahead. We invite you to listen watch or follow along on twitter using the mpc life. For cspan and public radio viewers andd listeners, pleasee aware that in the audience today, members of the general public so any clause or reaction you mean here, is not necessarily from the working press. Lets begin by introducing our head table. We ask thatuc you please hold yr applause until all the head table guess have been announced. Beginning to my far left, john oshea, col. U. S. Army retired, and number of American Legion post 20 which is based here at the National Press club. Kevin, captain u. S. Navy, retired member of the National Press club Headliners Team. National security reporter for the associated press. And stephanie, Strategic Initiatives advisor for the secretary of the army. John donnelly, Senior Writer essie q roll call and president of the military reporters and editors association. To my immediate right, donna, president of dc media strategi strategies, former National Press Club President and cochair of the him pete steve Headliners Team. We will meet our speaker, the honorable ryan mccarthy, secretary of the United States army in just a moment. Then we have jen justin, land warfare reporter at the defense news and chair of the National Press club board of governors. Anthony, pentagon reporter at bloomberg news. Lt. Col. Harris, Communications Advisor for the secretary of the United States army. Yasmin, Senior Editor at National Defense magazine. In luke kennedy, senior director of communications and partnerships at the mccain institute. I would also like to acknowledge the members of our Headliners Team responsible for organizing todays luncheon, coleaders of Stanton Communications and once again, of Dc Media Strategies as well as National Press clubs staff liaison lindsay underwood, chef susan dubberly, an executive director bill mccarron, i thanks to our head table, and thee team that put todays lunch together. [applause]. U. S. Army faces many challenges here and abroad. In addition to ongoing operations, and afghanistan, and the security and stability around the world,un keeping pace with adversaries including russia and china, the army is confronting domestic issues including highis rated suicide. Of our military help under the Defense Health agency, and quality of life for our military families. President trumps fiscal 2021 budget request submitteded to congress on february 10th, lifted his fist spending essentially flat compared with the previous year. Charged with these challenges is secretary of the United States army, ryan mccarthy. Who comes to the job with a distinguished military Service Background and the pentagon duty and private sector experience. Secretary mccarthy assumes his current post in september of 2019. U. S. Army combat veteran has been the previous two years as a 33rd undersecretary of the army. He has served at the pentagon for both republican and democratic administrations. As a special assistant to then defense secretary robert gates. Before his return to the pentagon in 2017, secretary mccarthy worked for martin on Global Security and the defense contractors act 35 joint Strike Fighter program. In recent weeks, secretary mccarthy has spoken about the need to bolster the u. S. Military presence in the Indo Pacific Region in keeping with the National Defense strategy. As a counter to the chinese presence through its initiative and the importance of continuing to test militaries multi Domain Operations a system for countering and defeating an adversary with similar m capabilities in lan see space and cyberspace now in his third year. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming to the National Press club, u. S. Army secretary, ryan mccarthy. [applause]. [background sounds]. Good afternoon and is going to be here. Thank you for inviting me to lunch. Its really great to get out of the pentagon. Its healthy for the mind and spirit. I appreciate the intense pressure, the tight timelines and the kind of information that journal slid by. No doubt the dc is profession. A busy city in fact is a busy country. Innovation americans dna. Americans are extremely busy people. Therefore each d day, time becae a math problem. Your work ensures that the army story becomes part of that daily equation. Your Work Services for the touch point between the military and the public. Highlighting the opportunity to that the army also americans youth. Courage continues conveying the important work of our deployed forces. Engaging violent extremist on a daily basis. In places like iraqq and afghanistan in particular. Totaling two decades of continued operations in each. Works preserver army animations legacy. Conflict and the subsequent assumed peace. Tsur work helps us preserve the accounts of our heroes, and more are fallen. Our face them by name and ultimately all those accountab accountable. It is because of the free press, the nation knows thats the last line of defense for the freedoms they enjoy. Finally, i can commiserate with only being as good as your last story. With that in mind lets getet started. Some people resist change because they focus on what theyre going to lose instead of what they are going to gain. So today, i would like to highlight with the army is in the transformational change structurally, and what we are going to gain from artist modernization been messes. When the National Defense strategy was published in 2018, if at the Defense Department on a new path. Pulling us out of a singular focus on encounter in terrorism. In the middle east, and expanding our priorities towards a near peer competitors such as russia and china. In the world, such as north korea and iran. What we quickly realizes that the major changes were needed. Ff we do not rapidly monitors, we would lose our match and deterrence within the next ten years. Ultimately, we can risk losing the next work. So, we changed. We change our priorities to treat clear distinct categories. Readiness, modernization and reform. Readiness focus to include deployment any army unit rapidly. Where needed across the globe. We are calling strategic readiness. And change the metrics to that. We change the way in which we align and manage our budget. Putting every dollar against our priorities. Wewe make clear that the peoplen the foundation of these. 3 priorities and all that we do. The army has and always will be a people organization. The fy 21 budget of 178 billion, will ensure that the army remains the most lethal round fighting force in the world. Now, and in the future. We treat expired dollars like we treat our ammunition. Every vote counts. And its aimed at a target. Today i would like to find an update on two main w topics. As of the armys approach to strategic competition. Our investment portfolio. First, and competition. The army plays a key role in building relationships with allies and partners worldwide. Which has direct impact on near peer competitors. We are operating in europe, and africa and in the middle east and in the pacific regions. Where persistent presence with formations in the strategic regions killing over 180,000 soldiers committed number 140 countries. With our allies and partners in order to achieve our national objectives. Where 60 percent of Combatant Commanders requirements worldwide. In her budget has remained flat for the past three years. Army operations are providing thear huge dividend from our portion of the budget. Making the army Dynamic Force and sound investment in the arsenal. There is no other service is more relevant than u. S. Army. In the indo pacific, and anywhere else, we are partnered within where it matters most. On planned, where people live. There is no one else that has to staying power consistency for deterrence in the u. S. Army. No one on earth. The sun never sets on the u. S. Army. Having the army routine in the region, partnered with militaries and fences conditions the ground. And ultimately, this serves as a deterrent by creating dilemmas for potential adversaries. Our presence and influence in the region, strengthens americas position to conduct local commerce. Build confidence with investors. And enables america to compete economically. The armys persistent presence, Standing Shoulder to shoulder with her allies and partners changes the calculus in her adversary decisionmaking process. Our Security Cooperation compares with otherde armies. Most prestigious institutions in our foundational our country dynamically. Pivotal professional relations. In leaders with significant influence. For example, in the Indo Pacific Region, over 70 percent of jobs, are army officers. This is why the u. S. Army engages with the army every day. As a people business, build relationships from the ground up. Efforts span from training partner forces, to military student exchanges. For military sales and security collaborations. In dedicated at the United States colleges. When the army sells equipment, countries dont just get a box of goods, symbols and a bill. Country gets a program and strong relationship, and a steadfast partner they can rely on. Countries receive training from experts, liable in modern weapons. S. Assistance developing their doctrine. In previous supply chain of support. For example, the army has close partnerships with poland. When we habitually train together every year multiple weeks. And in defense of their sovereign nations. Another example. Purchase 60 strikers, the army is helping the entire army to set up the first units for the first wave of strikers featured in the kings coronation paradee and were so wellliked that another hundred have been ordered. Armies are helping the philippines, train 72 battalions as they upgrade their equipment and evolve the doctrine. This is a force of choice. And committed to remaining self. We build our partners up rather than manipulate them. To be able to compete in todays environment, we have to be a presence and show our commitment. This is why were emphasizing strategic readiness. And adjusting our force process so that we can deploy trying to ready forces into the right place at the right time. The armys ability to rapidly mobilize, deploy and sustain comment forces. Or strategic readiness gives us the advantage of the threats, and potential adversaries. Strategic readiness was elevate our new concepts. Exercise our new formations. And provide an understanding of the logistical framework needed to sustain our forces. We will remain operationally dynamic, fast and legal. Take for example, this on new years eve, we deployed soldiers from the 82nd airborne division. Cold start, no notice, to conduct an emergency deployment. The soldiers were literally at with their families gatherings and within hours they were on an airplane. Within days, 500 soldiers were on the ground, nine time zones away. Weapons ready to go in the middle east. The speed in which we can project power, is unprecedented. We were using exercises such as emergency deployed readiness exercises, and getting more repetitions and therefore increasing our speed. We deployed 1300 soldiers on the division. Injury and were alongside their polish counterparts. In terms of leveraging exercises to hone our gills, and fy 20, the armys allocating funding for the defender exercises in europe. We will push and division sized unit of 20000 troops. In john 13000 pieces of equipment. To be ready with a Contingency Operation and to respond in any crisis. Additionally, exercises in the indo pacific, will further test and demonstrate our power digestion. To the pacific pathways. With her allies and partners, the fy 21 exercises is expanding indo pacific will deliver three or million dollars. Divided towards the strategic exercises. Our truth operating countries like thailand and philippines, indonesia, below just to name a few. Originally lowlight security brigades, but their advisory capability continued to prevail worth is in the common new offorce. They send messages like boots on the ground, standing sidebyside with partner forces. The army 21, that they have six regionally aligned fully meant trying. Another element of competition and deterrence, is having the highly lethal combat credible course. This is why we established six modernization Investment Priorities. And they restructured the Army Enterprise with future command. Which brought all of this to modernization continual together and reduce the spent time in decisionmaking. If this changes taken years off of the acquisitions process and give us a laser focus on modernizing for the future. The complexity of the battlefield, of the future referred that we transform our 45 yearold fleet and two new equipment portfolios in the formations today. So we can stay relevant and deep team over match, and allow us to win decisively our next war. Our skills modernization takes time and patience. When continue to prioritize the army budget, towards her six priorities and 31 signature systems. These ranging from new squad level weapons and aircraft and hypersonic missiles. Prototypes and began in 18 and 19 are maturing. Their real capability leading fy 21 and 22. In the fiscal year though be an increase of test shots capability demonstrations, and validations of the prototypes. This will all be tied together with cloud technology. And the club will be the foundation of the entire modernization enterprise. Because of the clouds importance, investing 800 million of the next five fiscal years. And to cloud architecture and migrate other forms of data. By increasing our investment across of modernization portfolios. Increasing by 2. 2 million in fy 21, and 21, which is 26 percent increase yearoveryear. With stable budgets and prioritized requirements, weth have signal an industry that we are committed to our modernization efforts. The demand for army forces, parenting is a flat budget, as forced decisions. So, why to finance this and implement reform. To build and maintain readiness and modernization and support realworld operations, the army conducted this program. Now known as night ports. Two years wrote. B21 weve identified an additional 80 programs for elimination. And generated 7. 4 billion in savings for investment. In priorities for the army. I would like to highlight some of our investments out of the 31 systems. Longrange precision is our number one modernization. We are investing over 800 million and hypersonic alone. To support accelerated development, flight testing, and Field Training in order to lower our first hypersonic capable unit. Ready to deploy on fy 23. With regards to future political lives, our future longrange aircraft, the blackhawk replacements. Demonstrations have multiple competitors. With numerous flight hours logged already. 160 hours and over 70 hours respectively. Industry is meeting us at the table and in this case the companies are investing 41. Short for future attack. My teammate, two step of the army, the most senior aviator in the army, general james. He likes to say the working flight before we buy it. We will select the two competitors on both florida next month. Again, pretty exciting time in a disciplined approach to these investments are moving towards real capability. We can see it, we touch it and we can test it. Soldiers individual kit, we are developing visual augmentation systems. The microsoft corporations. Is our headsup displaces, that will serve as the center for the integrated squad combat system. Simply put, making multiple shooters with multiple sensors and multiple notes. This allows the soldier to understand in realtime, during day and nighttime operations. Reduces competition time for minutes down the seconds. Speed and quality decisionmaking increases our soldiers survivability. And mortality. In the army transfer modernization efforts continue to build on consistent priorities and ruthlessly aligned budget. We are committed to our moderate position priorities and 31 signature systems. No be the next of weaponry for the u. S. Army to win decisively the future fights. When pairing an industry setbacks, prototype shortcuts coming to failure are inevitable part of innovation. However, when failure occurs, were committed to making critical decisions early in the process and use the knowledge gained fourth capabilities it says. This is the case with our optionally man fighting vehicle. As the bradley replacement vehicle. Its a capability the army requires rated when taking hard Lessons Learned in terms of requirements, costsharing and industry informed timelines. And therefore the acquisition strategy. Mary is incredibly busy and responding to a wide range of contingencies. We will respond to natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes. And humanitarian crises. This is in addition to her current operations. At 27500 soldiers deployed in the middle east. 10000 of our men and women are in afghanistan alone. This would increase for demand forces, the army will stay on trajectory to 492,000 fy 26 the activeduty component. In closing, the army will remain steadfast in his priorities. And we align our budgets against the same. People are the foundation across all of her efforts. I would like to wrap up the formant remarks here, and take questions from the audience. I know better than to filibuster journalists because you buy ink by the barrel. So again, thank you for having me and i look forward to our discussion. [applause]. Thank you very much. We have a number of questions as youu indicated. When we get to them. Lets begin with some breaking news. A senior u. S. Official announced today that the United States and the taliban average of truce agreement. What you expect will happen in the coming days, what can you tell us about the terms of the trust and its impact on the army and what can you tell us about plans for foreign troop withdrawal including the u. S. Troops from that region. Is a first step in the process to reach a political solution. It will take several weeks for this to unfold. It is very encouraging that were heading down the path of a political solution. The president of the philippines has said is decided to end u. S. Military access to his country. How will that affect your operation. I was actually in the philippines about two weeks ago. The long history that we have worked very hard to get. Very strong relation. In discussions we have about hundred 35 days to work through this diplomatically. We can drive towards this that will drive or work out for all of this politically. The procurement accounts focus in several areas from vehicles to aircraft. The blackhawk as did several Vehicle Programs. Some are due to manufacturing issues and other are not explained. This is a sign that the money will be moved away from this plate and anticipate have your pendulum swing in the budget. For another year and transforming particularly in the modernization account worry if you go back to the fy 1819, we move the s and t dollars about 80 percent of those dollars awning against the 31 signature systems. The first major was fy 21 and this is our second year of that. Starting to shift the dollars towards the new capabilities that were investing in a yes of course so with respect to the blackhawk redo, multi years, the abrams work over a million dollars. That is her third year in a row, you would put over 6 billion in the investment of the agents the last four years. So were still maintaining upgrades with the current fleet. But over time they were starting to see us make a progression towards new capabilities. As you get further into this, you seeing about 55 to 60 percent of the modernization accounts being investing is these new capabilities. With all of the technological advances in the modernization systems and weapons, what skill sets do not want both enlisted and officers to have pretty. The leadership is really been remarkable. The Energy Behind the management. This is everything from how we are selecting officers to our recruiting them. Hes putting a major push in bringing some talent, to enforce at all levels whether that is enlisted or on the officer side. You will see more and more energy against this. Not only how we select and promote, but the recruitment of stem talent in particular. Normal cancellations, cuts and delays to not relevant to the strategies or modernization of the force made to the armies or process. You mentioned earlier. What were the toughest decisions that had to be made this year. This year was much more tepid than last year. We had over 30000 and it was about north of 12 this year that this time. This is a program, most of them were not as big or complex as last year. We are focusing on the f2123 timeframe. As we were talking about the day the army a very real test cycle. Whats different than where we were ten years ago. When prototypes are out there flying, exporting, driving, this is happening. And a lot of them are willing to be what we are looking for. In the prioritization how to scale them across an institution is largely the army. This was the real challenges are going to be. We did find this year, focus your attention, fy 22 budget, thats where it really gets tough. Legacy platforms will have to pick up again at a much higher gear. Testified in the impeachment testimony lost his position. President trump reporters they could enter him in any way they want. How will the army lt. Col. Lindemann, will he be investigated or disciplined. It. He was scheduled to come back to the army. He was detailed for National Security council by may june timeframe so we brought him back and hes basically got an assignment for a couple of months weve been hda assignment and then will be heading on to another place in summer and there is no investigation then. Interview what went wrong with the optionally man fighting Vehicle Program and you spoke oh that cost you to take a recent setback to requirement strategies and schedule. Wasnt too much of an emphasis on schedule was the relationship between Acquisition Community and the modern decision problematic and were they asking for a physical sample just to become and ask. So it is taking the authorities that were granted through congress of the last three years largely the leadership of john mccain andy jack reed, that from other transactional authorities on the way that change the acquisition process. But these otas do is that you can get a company very quickly to get on contract. But you can with the Weapon System and say, these are the characteristics that we are looking for as opposed to getting super precise out in front,ns with deep specificatio. Youre not able to unleash the engine talent ofng the mentor is actually doing business with you predict so contractually its a little bit more latitude to work with the contractor, to studies through prototyping types of characteristics you want. They might have ate better way f getting to the outcome than we want. We were doing this with this program and were doing this on the next generation squad weapon. The moving very quickly through the process. Because we have unleash the power of the engineering talent of these Great Companies that were doing business with. So a change in how we approach the contract and the request for proposal, and changes the behavior of how we interact with these companies rated when developing the Weapon System so we tried but the only element. Pretty big. But we learned a lot and we spent a lot of money instead of 2. 3 billion like we wouldve done a decade ago. The Leadership Team has a very to step back from the table and say this is not what we want. So we changed the approach and we stepped out with establishing an ota contracting mechanism. They come back with sophisticated drawings can drawings. More details set of drawings and then we will work for companies to build the prototype. One of the highlighted Investment Priorities forins development is in a low earth constellation. Voice is so important for the army and where is a fit among the armys top six priorities. Is there a home for this effort and could fall under one Cross Functional Team or the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies office to ensure it moves along and is successful. It. We have six Investment Priorities. And we kind of have six plus two. The reason is not adas because the others cut across. Of the six priorities. Back and forth about that for weeks but ultimately we decided that addition navigation and timing would be one off the plus two and synthetic training environment. That is why we organized them that way but there is an investment portfolio led byrt remarkably talented Civil Servant willie nelson. That is driven this process and why the Satellite Technology is so important incredibly resilient, incredibly enforceable, speed to delivery is unprecedented. And when you look at where combat is pending. Anybody that has been in a firefight, speed matters and to be able to detect the threat quickly and acute capability of the prosecuted target is very important. It is hypersonic as i mentioned my speech before. If you are into hypersonic, is coming at you, youve got about a couple of minutes. So are you going to do that from a soda straw, or a wider array from a lower constellation. So that is why were obviously very interested. We made a lot of investment. His critical component to modernization strategy. Thank you. When the differences into touring russiaes and china. Cant have two different armies at once to counter each. Great question. Part of that can rink or competition, is the presence, the title for ginny. You obviously have to have a legal one to the Technological Capabilities that we are aggressing against. What would be of the best in the world and gives all of these capabilities. We gotta make sure that we can beat everybody. Whatever that will be they tried to challenges. In my will. You have to make this technological investment so that there absolutely the best in the world. It is highly, ready force. Individually that has the strong politically mentally emotionally and taking care of the soldiers. And those technological investments and we have to have the right posture globally. Whether that is permanent or the ability to be able to employ like i mentioned in my former remarks. The ability to project quickly into the ground shoulder to shoulder with our allies. Because we never fight alone. Are you concerned that more construction progress will come to the portable and what you doing to restore the money to projects that will cut us your credit. There is potential of that and that military construction and we worked very hard to look at the prioritization with between funniness and quality of life related investment programs so theres still a lot of work g do there. But were getting closer to a solution. The service has revealed what is going 1. 13 billion out of lower Priority Programs to inject into the modernization priorities. But its not accounted for over 1. 2 billion in program changes, and it intends to make it a. 21. While the army make it entire list of cancellations and delays and reductions available toys te press and subsequently the public. There were congress. So we will get them today. Along one here. Longer than that one okay. [laughter]. The joint tactical vehicle is seen as a bill payer and at 121 for future modernization efforts, and the service will resulting in the slower procurement schedule without affecting the armys objective requirement. Surface oref so, sin while servg as Army Secretary last year, the vehicle was designed and procured in the context of iraq and afghanistan and was not as relevant when applied to the fresh National Defense strategy guiding army investments is that the army would most likely that the total number of vehicles ultimately procured. I know the army isrm looking at competing for its production inu a few years and he is signaling that it will be procured likely at abu slow sore rated timing. What is your view about the objective requirement. Isnt too high high, will need to come down. So when you look at our vehicle portfolio, with god about 40 and 49000 humvees. The record for the it is about 9000 jill and then we have infantry and have over a thousand of those. This a lot of vehicles. You need it for an organization is because us. Live it actually done a study know what is the appropriate mix and hemming do we need. That is been underway. Trying to get to the end date there because again, making the mess sound investments. You have to buy only what you need. Because were trying to bring in new helicopters, hypersonic missiles. Very sophisticated Weapon Systems. Things are getting tough. So we pinpoint this type of rigor gets every decision and obviously when youre buying about 850 million for the geo tvs every year, weve got to take a hard look at that. Too much into some army announced that it was counseling and re soliciting a and manufacture hundreds of robotic meals through program known as the squad multipurpose equipment transport. It utilized other Transaction Authority agreements. Can you please discuss with the army is right now in the resolicitation of this program. I think you got me finally. E. [laughter]. I would differ back to doctor in themy acquisition. I dont know where we are exactly on the solicitation. The army is awarding other Transaction Authority contracts to connecticut north america and exxon to build for light and medium robotic combat vehicle prototypes respectively. Li if the prototypes demonstrate the capability that the army is looking for, is the service considering using follow on otas, two of the systems into production or will its use the more traditional acquisition process. An unrelated note, is the army considering moving his timetabld to the left for fielding these vehicles. How they perform, within the prototype test regime, it goes through, lta or general mcclellan i have as we want to use them early and often, is a mechanism is really really good for american business. Because it reduces that time to getting something on order and improves their cash flow positions. It is the speed of business. So for sit philosophically we are energized behind it. Watching it very closely because it is changing the way we do business in our army acquisition. So if a close eye on all of it. But we definitely put the latitude place for doctor jenny, to utilize this is much as possible. You been talking about this army acquisition. Sometimes is been criticized. How will the army how are they working to avoid these acquisition layers. A lot of that, thats what a lot of them from osb. The requirements leadership were not at the table. The war fighters. What do you want, when youre trying to achieve with this Weapon System. We are blessed with an amazing Engineering Organization and we have great people in industry but its a leap, it really does come down to the chief of staff of the army, the vice chief, the commander, theyve got to get down and say what is it going to take to win in a combat engagement. And they have to drive this process. And they have to say it all of the way into the barn and finish. So thats why we went to this restructuring, creating the command to have an organization that brings all of the stakeholders together. Because what you saw for a very long time was all of the stakeholders are out all of the army. And it would take five to six years to get a requirement done because its going back and forth between different desks. And it would take three or four years to test and then you fight all of these things and then in the end, is forced. So was like a 19 yearold, they can throw a hundred mile an hour fastball in the ways to lease 390 of the majors. [laughter]. So thank you ultimately, its about speed. You have to get the stuff into the field when it is relevant. And then upgraded over time. Like an iphone. So we had to get faster and taking decisions. So thats why we brought all of the stakeholders together. When you have a requirement spokes, laser focus on it shoulder to shoulder on with the acquisition team. This power getting better. Why do i think youre better now. Things are flying and exploding in you can smell gasoline. It is not powerpoint. Ten years ago we were buying millions of dollars with a powerpoint. You may not reach her ambition but is going to be better than what we have today. I encourage because you see prototypes and you see all the leaders all across the continuum showmanship to shoulder working on the problem. How will filipino present call to end the agreement affect the infantry training you mentioned and how does it affect our pacific presence. How do you plan to reposition as a result. Conversations are underway. Take a hundred and 80 days to get through the diplomatic process. Ultimately, would be the determination. Is about a hundred or 74 days, about that with time. Please dont quote me. We can work to this diplomatically. No conversations underway from the white house to the state department in particular. The bfa by changing that which change the basically, the freedoms that you have to do the training and is a very close ally. We were through that is basically the protocol and the value of the working together. If it actually goes through. Social student sides continued to be alarming. What is the armys approach to reducing these tragedies. Sorry. Incredibly difficult problem. And one that baffles brightest Scientific Minds that we have in this country. Weve invested and will respond money to try to better understand it. Can you see this right in front of you. Ninety i can note i can tell you people that i know personally and is and i was stunned. Understanding what is going on in the human brain. What are we trying to do. It is the simple things. In our behaviors, senior leaders, talking about it. Telling those young men and women that tomorrow will not be the same without you. Being a better teammate. It is what we call this is my squad. It is much about reaching your maximum potential as it is is taking care of a fellow teammates. Its so i think that when you get to know each other better, that you are there for them. The most about suicide or people are very lonely. We try to do is eat breakfast and lunch together all the time. It smudges the relations as much is he is my teammate. I cant get through one day without him we talk five or six times a day. We travel together and is dealing with your teammates as much as possible. Sending the message. Thats how you get through our day. What is incredibly hard problem. And the guy, it resonates me every single day. We are best we are doing our best to get after it. As a followup, do you have an indication that this approach is working and to the army take a look at some different approaches to d it. I dont have enough data to defend at this point whether or not is working. The behaviors of the team the performance of the team become quickly noticeable. In the way in which you treat each other. And if my term ends this fall or not, but if i want to wear this fall, the thing i would probably be the most product is the relationship that we have in our hallway. I love my teammates. The behaviors are different because of that. You see better teamwork. Results will be what they will. That is how you know. Sort of thing that you can just feel it. Were trying to try the best way of to quantify it. People want to see results. Are they going down or not. Are any of the soldiers injured in the iranian counterattack proceeding the purple heart. Receiving. Getting, action, go through a review and the justification for award. And there in the midst of that right now. Other than the army corps of, engineers, illegally the portable, how about latin American Security efforts. Women joint task force. Bravo, soldiers deployed in south america. Advise and assist capacity. We have soldiers than in the american embassies and all across the continent. The army is implementing new physical fitness test. Have you had to change it or purse postpone the limitation because trips including National Guards are having problems implementing and passing it. Rolls out over time. The most closely there we are looking at is do you have the right trainers. To help youou learn the exercis. So were looking at it very closely with another would require any change in the timeline that we laid out and i know, we have someone leading the process for us. But early in spring, hes coming back to see where we sit. To the previous question. The u. S. Went back to combat traumatic brain injuries were considered the most considering concerning injury is that still the case pretty. Obviously very concerned about that. In cases any and all types of injuries. Safety is everything for our people. National Defense Strategy focuses on china and russia. What is the armys role in a possible conflict in the pacific. The air force and navy, on the more important in that region. Will there are three roundworms in the last century. Cost hundreds thousands of american soldiers that fought in all three of those conflicts. So if you were to look and how these conflicts will begin oriented, it will always be in the press. Seventyfifth anniversary end of world war ii. Do you have a sense of what will be done to commemorate those days into honor those who served. I dont but i hope it is big and exciting and i intend to be that as many of them as i can get to. Its pretty exciting. Is the generation that really exposed me to life of service in the army. The kid that grew up in the north of strict chicago, my grandfather all of his brothers, Tim Gunderson marson you just hearing the stories about world war ii is how i wanted to grow up and work in the army. Ive wanted to be a soldier and i look forward to that. National press club will help commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the world war ii. Recreating a series of saturday afternoon entities that were conducted here during world war ii in which the gis were given hotdogs and beer. And if you are at the press club produced during one of those saturday afternoon canteens on vice president. Truman sat at the piano and Lauren Bacall joined him at the piano to create things. [laughter]. I will come back if you invite me. [applause]. Deeply is National Security emergency on american southern border as a result of refugees. And it will all must be built to do with that influx, should mexico pay for it or at least the department of Homeland Security not the Defense Department. I do believe there is National Security issue at the border. And that we are at the department of defense, or carrying our share of the load. It is a problem there a lot of partners in progress that is been made. Im incredibly proud of the army corps of engineers. As well as a lot of others who are part of that. Housing, have turned into a challenge dear plan to address ithis issue or are you going to change course. Housing is incredibly challenging. Its kind of like all questions you asked. [laughter]. With housing, we have about almost a third of her homeless, the need to be replaced. And this is been incredibly sensitive issue and it is because it is just so important. Nothings more important than home for the soldier in the families. This is a challenge that is been baking for a long time. But if you look at when we went to primers of tatian, about about 13 million of external financing, and we have been able to build thousands of homes over the last 25 years. In what used to happen in the process is because we outsourced it, and became an abdication of responsibility from the department of the army overtime. Its a private housing guys problem. The chain of command that out that business. A lot has happened and he and point fingers both ways. Were not going to be able to get another ten or 15 billion to rebuild all of these homes. So would that work with these corporations. You have to manage the relationship. Youve got to get out of bed and tackle problems and stand top of things. It may require some legislation to give authorities to our commanders. And then you will drive this responsibility. But it may require more external financing to continue building the homes. Were going to have a lengthy discussion about this during the spring. Will bring forward a series of ideas to try to improve our positions. Stars stripes, the military newspaper read by troops around the world. Its basically in the presence budget. What will that mean on military issues. I dont know the particulars. As weve been talking about ndroughout lunch today, a lot of fighting within the department because demands continue to grow on us. I read stars and stripes everyday. I hope they can get out. Army recruiting has struggled and turned to eat getting and other social media to find recruits. How me successful reports have you gotten through thesey new programs and to bring in good recruits. Other new innovations or novel approaches in the pipeline. It. Here is the hundred 50 things Different Things you can do in the kinds of people you can meet in being part of something that is special. This institution. But like the e sports and these other, when we went to these events we sent mark a millie when he was chief of staff and hes our chairman now. He said youre going to make me do what . And when he went, he learned a lot. He got to engage with young men and women and what we found was there were millions of leads of 17 to 204 yearolds to feed into the command toting engage young men and women to see if they would be interested in a life of service. So we changed our recruiting strategy and we focused on 202 cities around the country. Its having a comprehensive approach to improve our performance in a variety of demographics, whether thats male too female ratio or ethnicities, we improved yearoveryear and hit target we are headed pace right now its been a major turn around because its been lazy. We started losing touch with young they are growing up in this country its a big transformation a lot of great leadership in their running Army Recruiting commands. We are off to a good start, but we have to sustain this. We have a war for talent in this country 3. 5 unemployment. They have a lot of opportunities you see the journal and i have a lot of others traveled to a lot of communities and we tried to educate those influence like the mayor and other Civic Leaders to help us in recruiting. Its yielded a tremendous rybenefit. Senator mccarthy, i would like to share with our audience today the greeting that you put in our guestbook which is signed by all guests to the National Press club. To the National Press club, thank you for the honor to address the club today and to share the army story. A free press and a Strong Military are necessary to protect the values we hold dear. Thank you for all of the work you do and what you do for our country, and the world. We thank you, for joining us today, we thank you for that greeting, and we would like to present you if i could just reach over, as a token of our appreciation with our National Press club coffee mug. [laughter] we hope youll enjoy it in the coming days, weeks, and months, and years ahead because you may need a few cups of coffee. [applause] [laughter] [applause] this will get a lot of use, trust me. [laughter] i wrote that in there really from the heart. Im a student of robert gates, when i worked for him in the pentagon, it started before that when i asked for my wifes hand in marriage to my fatherinlaw who is a leeway in the athenian immigrant. He said there are two reasons why he is still live and it was because of the u. S. Army and the free press. As a Young Refugee who came over on a vote and came straight to ellis island. So i was like alright i love the media. [applause] thank you secretary mick carthy, thanks to all of you for joining us. Have a good night. [background noises] they believed in what they it was but they were never enemies, they were friends. And they would walk off the floor how many times to be see them slap each others back and go laughing all the way off the floor. Its a different time and im sad about that. Vicki heidi remember . John himself said he didnt like teddy very much when he first met him. He said you know i really, maybe saw a lot of myself in him. He grew to respect him. They were both on the Armed Services committee and he saw in teddy and teddy saw and john real patriotism. Love of this country. And even though they came at her from a different place, they both knew that they cared about the country and they loved it. They just developed a bond. And they found these little negative Common Ground where they could work together. Tonight on cspan cindy mccain, the widow of senator john mccain and vicki kennedy, the widow of senator Edward Kennedy discussed their husbands careers and legacies. In a conversation about Public Service at the Kennedy School of government at harvard university. This week we feature book tv program showcasing whats available every weekend on cspan2. Tonight, starting at 8 00 p. M. Journalists recall their coverage of the 1972 president ial campaign documented in timothy crouses book the boys on the bus. Then World Magazine editorinchief Marvin Olasky examines journalism followed by Jerome Hudson and his book on the media title 50 things they dont want you to know. Enjoy book tv this week and every weekend at cspan2. Coming up wins and moaning former chair and president of the u. S. Export import bank. Hoffenberg on his new book, traded not a four letter word. And Jeremy Butler navy veteran and ceo of the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. Talks about issues facing veterans of those wars. Part of the week we are live from the Smithsonian Museum of National History as we discussed the 19th amendment centennial. Watch cspans washington journal live at seven eastern what wednesday morning. And be sure to watch washington journal all this week for museum a week. Thursday morning we will explore the Smithsonian National museum of the american indian. Earlier