Public service activeduty after graduation from west point for ten years and then the reserve for 11 years. We look forward to a good conversation. I thank you have met our moderator before as a mutual friend of ours. From Bridgewater Associates he also has a distinguished Career Public Service as under secretary of treasury and even i Work Together while we were in these two roles also a graduate of west point not the same year of secretary esper but at the same time. I will turn this over to you. Thank you. Secretary esper thank you for joining us today growing up in western pennsylvania and carry throughout your great career. I dressed appropriately so were glad to have you here. Will turn it over to and then have a conversation. Thank you for that. Im glad to see you and that youre both doing well. So to say a few things up front to set the stage when i was confirmed over one year ago with the National Defense strategy. We are now in the era of great competition our chief competitors are china and russia in that order. s of those threat of violent extremist organizations. So we have three lines of effort i free up time and money and manpower. And what we been doing over the past 12 months i will list some goals. Review and update and approve all russia and china plans. Implement the Immediate Response force and dynamic first employment readiness. Number three. Reallocate and achieve a higher level of sustainable readiness. And to focus the department of defense on china. With a Game Changing technologies and number ten and the doctrine. We are moving up these objectives making progress to complete many of them by the end of the year. What we have faced over the previous seven months with the impact of covid my been tracking this since midjanuary. Receiving the first us citizens from china and to implement the defense plan on for very first. With over 60000 servicemembers on the streets of america whether medical professionals or hospitals disturbing supplies you name it and often putting themselves at risk i outlined three priorities to take care of our people and never to ensure we can maintain the National Security mission and the number three is to support government ever and we continue to carry on still have medical professionals in texas and california weve also had to deal with civil unrest with the tragic murder george floyd servicemembers did extremely well to serve the state governors and to make sure americans have a chance to exercise their First Amendment right to freedom of speech and assembly and to do that peaceably. So in the wake of that to address Racial Discrimination and inclusion we can talk about that but while the United States military has been a leader to make sure its not part and parcel we are not immune from whats happening and broader society. And to retain the best and brightest and to have all of those opportunities. With sex and gender and sexual orientation. So they give it a chance to talk about what were doing today and talk about broader issues and while america is focused inward on issues at the same time we are focused to maintain our National Security capability to defend the country and we see that is our top priority and we continue to do so as we move forward. So with that thinking i look forward to a good discussion today. Theres so much we could talk about. With rising china with the National Security perspective. With the challenges and then to talk about reorienting to the strategic competition. What are the specific things that are underway . For many decades in the war fighter and then to focus and i have seen this over time whether on capitol hill with Us Commission on Economic Security review commission. With the economic and military. So they recognize we are in this era of competition so we take the whole government approach. And i will pause i dont know if you can see me that now i cannot see you. We may have a technical thing on my side. We updated the plans to be consistent with that. What i have done is ask them to focus 50 percent of curriculum on china so the most Senior Officers have a good understanding how china operates politically economically and militarily. How the parties organize and whatnot. And then to expand language programs. I dont see china right now as the inevitable threat in all domains and to you give a major speech at the annual think tank event earlier this year and to share same values so just to play the regional hegemon. Its a particular challenge we also need to recognize were in a new era to make you have spoken a lot about it. And as a former defense planner to allocate those resources. And while investing those future capabilities to be more aligned with the asymmetric threats and with the efforts on the resources with the latenight session. How you make that reform effort day reality. We have a Defense Budget thats pretty generous from the american people. We need to maintain 335 percent annual growth to make sure we are as ready as we need to be but for future threats. And that is the tradeoff. The president versus the future. And we have serious challenges so to make those tradeoffs on a day in and day out basis. With the Fourth Estate with the defense agencies with five. 7,000,000. 2. Into the National Defense priorities with combatant command reviews and six underway with those resources or troops or simply time so to have the capability to compete with china first of all and then to pull things from other leaders if you will and the china competition is not limited. And with those touched on tough decisions the best we can. Part of that that you talked about is innovation. And with the former transformation Reform Efforts so what are the impediments with that about the department of defense. We are add Pivotal Moment with the inflection point. And you would recall this as well. So we just reached a point across all services and the armies moving in new directions to the upgrade but the underlying technologies are very clear to put a lot of dollars into this with biotechnologies and those areas that is a Game Changing in the future. Is doing those types of reform is the spending Legacy Program curtailing activities that have the low roi to put into the modernization with those capabilities or technologies. And to dominate the future and then to preserving the way it is so everybody can live and security and prosper. One of the things that we talked about a couple times over the years is culture. So think about that pace of change and the emerging technology the question comes to mind if that is appropriately entrepreneurial to adapt i know you spoken about the riskaverse culture or the fear that you have seen. How do you see that play out or how do you imagine if it is a real issue . This gets to the second part of the last question i did not answer. Culture is dominant its part of our behavior so what are the obstacles to modernize and enforce success. The culture of dod which is heavily bureaucratic and riskaverse. People protecting activities and staff and on top of that is risk aversion and taking risks and those things to put in place and with that willingness and ability to overcome bureaucracy and something we can talk and great detail about. Usually its good but that diversity of culture. And when it comes to war fighting i dont see a risk aversion that they want to take and manage risk. The understand the mission to ask one to act boldly and from the war fighting perspective with the right type of leaders to give to grow and learn. And then to have a different culture. And to take appropriate action. And to change the culture as well. And there was a very clear path to be promoted the choices that individuals make to play into the decisionmaking process . We have the civilian system on one hand and the military on the other. And the chief of the staff to develop that with that is less structured and less rigidity with a Talent Management process and then to pursue their interest as long as it is consistent with needs and requirements. With their experiences to have far greater value if you allow them that room and then do things like schooling or to take the time in another department or service we need to encourage that broadening. Something that you made a priority. And i was struck by some videos they came out in the spring with their experiences in the military. It has been one of the greatest institutions to have room for improvement. Give us your assessment of the military and how you deal with whatever gaps there are but the murder of george floyd with the discrimination what is happening a broader secure on society. With urban and suburban and black and white and Asian Americans and all types. That the death the sentiment from servicemembers of color with black americans. How much the killing of george floyd and those that preceded it and what they were experiencing in the ranks as well. So going on the road to check out training. I did as part of the covid and how that was holding up. And it turned into a listening session as well. And very diverse groups and you get a chance was story after story and its all consistent regardless of service or location the same type of experience. We took it upon ourselves as a Leadership Team to do better. To must do better. To have a history its time to step up again. I laid out the initiatives. One is a quick action item to get things moving and signing on july 14. With a defense board for diversity and inclusion to be joined a very diverse team. Not just persons of color and ethnicity but different in rank with young officers , because we knew they would on the future they had to help lead us on this and we wanted to be a part of that. So to bring back those recommendations in december. The longer piece with diversity and exclusion which took up the same charge of women in the military. And that will be the longterm that will look over time with diversity and inclusion its critical because first of all its the right thing to do but second the readiness of are going to deploy the ready capable force to be part of the team. But covid is the awareness with those operation all trainings and how that plays out over time. We can see it coming and it took the time to see the full effect by april. And with those guidance letters and so the rates of infection are greater than the population that we serve and weve only lost one activeduty member to covid. So those measures will help us. And with the National Security missions inside the country as well. The areas i am concerned is twofold and then to bring young recruits in to the young environment to make adjustments to do that we can talk about that. And then we can manage that pretty well and then our and strength the marines may fall short otherwise we could create a hold in the system to work its way through. The other one that is more challenging as the Defense Industrial base. Unlike the military with a population the Defense Industrial base is a less that population that im more concerned about and the important resources your people without hardware and technology and i have been concerned and remained concerned with credit to the team to handle acquisition and sustainment with the defense base a floating Cash Payments him everything we can do to keep those industries healthy. When you get into the third and fourth tier they cannot afford to take a month off without going completely out of business. So that remains my principal concern looking at the impact of covid. There are Silver Linings as well and we can talk about that if you want. What are the Silver Linings . And they brought in a man for two weeks they would socially distance him in a separate area we were very successful with limiting the spread of covid. But we eventually found to reduce the covid cases dramatically we saw fewer cases of respiratory illnesses and other things that afflict young people. We saw an entire race of young recruits showing up on a daily basis. In between basic training and extended training but they came prepared because they didnt take a week off and more ready for the training and the army said its a different type of training to allow recruits for the first 14 days while they Restricted Movement but on day one. What they found as a result and once they hit that drill sergeant high stress in your face situation we are seeing lower rates of attrition because they know they can lean on one another and they have bonded which is a much improved impact to get larger numbers of folks through the pipeline. And those that are related to covid if you think to undermine our National Security as a result to have significantly increased our deficits even under the most optimistic scenarios and the reality of a moment and the tradeoff. With a 3 trilliondollar plus. To help americans. We are also cognizant of the fact and add to the death and that want us to death and the deficit. To put on the federal government and dod in particular. So president drop your after years to see increases in the budget with increase of readiness and investment accounts. And with the generosity from the american taxpayer with the mandatory spending rise we have to be much more aware of what is happening over time as well. Just yesterday how do you grow the force. Thats why i beat the drum to be much more costefficient we have to get rid of legacy systems. So many programs some are more important than others. We say you just have to get rid of it because its hard to sustain that level of spending. So to go out there and fight for it. Its important but the one thing i can control is how we spend our dollars. I will continue to emphasize that with Combatant Commanders. Great. Now i will pay that to a new set of questions. And then to turn to alliances and allies. But the travel schedule is indicative of the priority placed on that. And then the background with the troops in germany with the reaction of nato with the National Defense strategy that we describe. But the allies and partners. It is consistent with a strategy we have to grow new partners. Well over 200 meetings with foreign partners just in the past week alone ive spoken to my partners to brunei and indonesia, uk uk and to build those not just through diplomacy that arms sale sales, exercises that make us capable force. So on the other hand to free up time and resources so we have these reviews underway presently one of those is at the re up on european we command. Had we reposition and how do you give me a more strategic flexibility. In june the president issued his directive that accelerated that with regard to me are here to meet the president s objective. And then to reassure allies and to strengthen the alliance. Number four to give greater strategic flexibility with your own Operational Flexibility to take care of servicemembers and families in the process. They did a really good job. To paul 9000 out of germany nearly 24000 troops, still the largest country hosting us forces. And then to make it more capable. So with regard to russia moving forces further east with the newest members of the alliance moving those into the black sea and romania in particular but to put more forces into the northeastern plank as well. And if you saw in the past week a deal was made with poland with 1000 troops there. But some of the things we came up with was for example nobody can deny the fact that by aligning headquarters in belgium to have greater interoperability between our staff for those that have been separated for years and with that combat brigade and that makes obvious sense with other headquarters as well 6000 will come back to the United States with the stryker units that give strategic flexibility we want to put them back on the road so to train one battalion in the future and the presence of a brigade as a said you general walters a leading canadian Armored Brigade Combat Team we can do that whatever it takes to have those five principles and the air force rejoining squadrons. One of the thing that was talked about for years was keeping the airmen and our refueling squad obviously in england that made strategic obvious sense we are keeping 2500 airmen there so it makes a lot of sense in the context of those principles that a been laid out i know thats a long answer but i will say this much the feedback i have gotten from my team that i have personally heard from the allies generally has been positive mostly and germany to its credit i spoke to my counterpart a week and a half ago the obviously disappointed with regards to losing forces for recognize the important thing is to strengthen the alliance. So again at the end of the day if we make adjustments we will move as quickly as possible and we will see these things pan ou out. It just as you have suggested to notice historically there have been ebbs and flows over the years of people in your position in military leaders with the Clinton Administration was significant forces of production to some degree. The other thing that deserves mentioning is the issue of allies paying their fair share either reading my a predecessors book the Obama Administration to their credit everybody agreed to meet the 2 percent target this has been a historical issue getting European Partners to pay more and their fair share we set its 2 percent. It should be more than that. So ive come to a point where i put that standard out there whether asia or elsewhere if we all Work Together to push back against countries to infringe upon individual rights or another country sovereignty we have to Work Together and understand what that means that we have a certain minimum level of commitment to get there if we cant deter it we have to be ready to fight and win. Can you spend a minute on asia and the importance of the Prime Minister of australia obviously it takes a very different defense posture based on the rise of china how do you see our alliance in that part of the world in particular . Thats a great question getting back to china so what we have seen with regard to what has happened the last several months we have seen china become more aggressive use the tragedy of covid to their advantage for propaganda purposes and they overplayed their hand we see them to continue to try to exercise their muscle in the South China Sea with the chinese vessel a few months ago they deploy he troops so it is inconsistent with International Norms and rules of behavior and many allies and partners are reacting as well i give great credit to the australians and in particular the brits whether pushing huawai out of the system or a brandnew different strategy with a longterm commitment to funding. Secretary pompeo and i did two plus two where we talk about these issues. And another silverlining of covid we see much more online. So we have been doing meetings and trilateral meetings and what what my counterparts have agreed to was we have to do more into multilateral lies so many relationships unlike europe and asia are bilateral with us korea and philippines and us australia we need to multilateral lies those maybe not officially but as we talk as a group thats the best way to push back against chinas bad behavior in the pacific so another positive outcome is not able to travel but to do and a multilateral way and we need to advance that. I could not agree more. I was playing graduate he came to the top of the queue and has many ambitious programs and long grain precision fires how do we engage our International Partners to strengthen the capability to keep pace . Early and often. Part of the strategy my policy team is a firstever global outreach when it comes to allies and partners we are expanding by 50 percent over the next five Years International military education and training but how we advance arms sales and weapon sales to build relationships is one of those remarkable facets. Reaching out whether advanced aviation, the army but not just missiles but energy. And to get longerrange artillery like in yuma arizona to give us the precision we never had. So to work with allies and partners and we are not only for the army that all services thats how we further develop the asymmetrical things that we have with the russians and the chinese with allies and partner partners. Another question from our audiences from ambassador sanders regarding russia asking you to elaborate how you see the strategic competition and the repositioning you describe of the troops in germany was designed around that and comment in particular of the terrorist activity in africa son is supported by the russians. On the first one obviously russia has taken on a much more aggressive posture. They are playing multiple hands and we see in libya and africa and we know well in georgia and annexation of chimeric on crimea , stirring trouble up in the baltics and be are in the situation but we have to stand up to them and that means committing funding and troops to deter russian bad behavior. So there is a conflict in europe and thats my commitment. I served as a young officer in italy as part of a Rapid Reaction force i know the value is greater than the sum of the parts together. Russia is focused but we need to address them whenever we us see them you mentioned and africom i just got off the phone with general all towns and whos doing a great job down there and as part of the reform yes we need to focus on the threat in africa and those that are principally west and east africa but also distinguish between threats that are local or regional nature and those that threaten the homeland and the strategic interest we made a number of changes already but hes focused on that. And at the top of his list is competition in africa where we need to be to address what china and russia i might be doing and whatever governments they influence. To say i will be part of the organization in the army which is geared to doing for other countries and militaries. So other places we could address competition as we continue to review his combat and command will make progress to moving forward on National Defense strategy. We have had a number of people raise the question to what happened in beirut do you share anything or are you still getting information. Most believe and beyond that i have nothing further to report. Obviously at the tragedy for the dozens for those its a shame to see that it happened in that its devastating it could have been much worse but secretary pompeo this morning we are reaching out we are positioning ourselves and then to assess the people love lebanon. Its a humanitarian thing to do. There was a lot of talk with the iran deal. And how you think about the threat and the nance of the first one defense strategy. We have the maximum pressure campaign. I ran has been a bad actor in that region threatening malign activities. Today into afghanistan. And with that aspect of it. And the pursuit of longrange weapons missiles. And i dod posture is the strength whether israel or saudi arabia and other countries in the Arabian Peninsula. Weather on the land in places across the Arabian Peninsula and to deter bad behavior when they were stopping ships and sabotaging and freedom of navigation. That the United States tries to enforce whether the persian gulf or the South China Sea. So theres that piece of it. And to stay upon its vna challenging neighborhood as guests of the government and then to see them captured by iran with the policies set forth by the state department and to maintain the peace to determine any behavior from december and january. And the final question what im interested in is two parts. And i have some sense of what it is like to go to west point serving as a combat officer and a great privilege reflect on the last year to give us whatever thoughts you have on that. And to travel around the world and what comes out just as it did today is this admiration and love and respect and feeling of absolute current one commitment and as we close out. And then to implement the agenda. And with the policies of the administration and to know what will happen in the world with the Counterterrorism Operations but nobody a year ago would be facing a global pandemic. You never know what the world will throw what you. And with the chairman of the joint chief of staff together previously great in civilian secretaries and combatant commander. So to be flexible and adaptable so to break down the silos that we had at the time or the Service Secretaries would meet one meeting and then a different meeting and the joint chiefs of staff with another meeting and then you go to a format where we all sit together twice a day on a monday. So with those Combatant Commanders and how to deal with russia and china and that enables us to deal with covid much more effectively. But who knows what will happen tomorrow. Weve had a good day compared to what would happen has happened. Nothing more than going out on the road to spend time with the soldiers. And what the aspirations are and learn about their careers. And with the swearingin ceremonies. So those that are willing to raise the right hand and swear no to the constitution give their life and sacrifice themselves for their fellow americans in defense of an idea and the ideals that we are all free with inherent rights that guarantee and the constitution and gender and you name it we are all around the notion of the constitution and what it means and to commit you just cant help but be inspired and every time we go out there and we news your faith in the future and the next generation. On the Early Morning in july raise their right hand to swear the oath for the first time and all aspirations and then you just get inspired the next generation will carry the torch to be we committed to defending the country and all that we believe in. Mr. Secretary thank you. Thank you for what you just said that was stirring in thank you for your public service. Thank you for defending all of us. I enjoyed our time and i hope we can do it again sometime court and Public Policy events. You can watch all of cspan Public Affairs programming on television, online or on the free radio app. Be part of the National Conversation through the daily washington journal programs order for the social media feed. Cspan, created by americas Cable Television companies as a public service, and brought to you today by your television provider. Next, the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society hold a discussion on executive power and the constitution during the trump administration. Legal scholars analyze some of the president s executive actions and how they compare to previous president s. This is an hour. My name is john malcolm, Vice President of the institute for constitutional Heritage Foundation and we are cohosting this event with the