Transcripts For CSPAN2 Hearing On Defense Department Confirmations 20240712

The Senate Committee held a confirmation hearing for several underground divisions including Inspector General and deputy undersecretary for intelligence and security. Some of the topics covered the Committee Hearing included whistleblower protections, election interference and servicemember misconduct. The meeting will come to order, we consider the nominations of mr. Jason, Inspector General of the department of defense. Mr. Lucas to be assistant secretary of defense that Nuclear Chemical biological and defense rooms and mr. Lewis to be assistant secretary of defense special operations. I think everyone for being here today, let me briefly say these people are and i think we have a great bunch that is certainly qualified for the mission they are accommodated for. Senior advisor, u. S. Customs and border protection, you have extensive experience leading litigation as part of the Inspector Generals offices for the federal Housing Agency and the u. S. Department of housing and urban Development Given former secret Service Agents and winner of the 2015 count of Inspector Generals words for excellence. You are currently an associate director of the Consulting Group and its north American Private sector. Having previously served as assistant to the president for National Security affairs and a senior director for national threats, on the staff is a special forces officer you commanded and the forced team on the ground in afghanistan. Prior to your recent services managing member of the Everest Technology llc, he served as Senior Intelligence support officer with the cia, you also have a 36 year career of service in the u. S. Army, culminating as Deputy Director for u. S. Command for combating weapons of mass destruction and retiring as the Major General in the army reserve. Mr. Bremer, you have a 20 year civilian career in financing Capital Management 2007, you were appointed by president george w. Bush for the white house fellow and later served on the homeland security, you are author of the 2007 National Strategy for homeland security. Prior to that, he served four years as a navy seal. We have a great bunch here standard, we have required questions requested so we will ask these questions to each one of you and we ask you to respond locally. If you adhere to the laws and relations governing conflict of interest. All four of you. Yes. Was that for . Okay. Will you ensure your staff complies with the deadlines established for the request and communication including questions for the record in the hearings . Yes,. Yes. Yes. Congressional request . Yes. Those witnesses protected for reprisal for the testimony and briefings . Yes. Do you agree its confirmed to testify before this committee . Yes. Do you agree to provide documents including electronic forms of communications in a timely matter when requested by constituted committee or consult with the Committee Regarding the basis for any good delay or denial and providing documents . Have you assumed duties in taking action which appear to resume outcome of the hearing . No. I dont have to tell you the series threatened time in this hearings. Its very significant this time. Thank you very much. I want to thank you for having this hearing and also families who are watching and i would be remiss if i did not take this opportunity to remind my colleagues the administration recently disregarded our constitutional role to consent in respect to the appointment. , this would continue to serve me and should pose the appropriate role, i constitutional role in the u. S. Senate. I would hope the administration would take action directed by and prevent any further erosion or disruption of the appropriate role between the u. S. Senate and administration. I have the opportunity to talk with most of you previously and i want to thank you for our conversation, you have extensive experience as an investigator but you have never really had the experience as Inspector General, which is a specific and very sophisticated operation. You served in many areas but youve never served in the military and youre being asked now to be Inspector General for the proper defense. Again, we acknowledge your skill but you will be leading 1600 professionals and jobs that transcend investigations and complex operations. Also in 2008, we passed Inspector General form act in one of the functions was the creation Inspector General and integrity or its called the cig i. E. , one of their roles is to make recommendations to those positions in your is the only one not submitted for recommendations so we have no input for the council and i think that is unfortunate for you. Youve been nominated under security, i believe your service has been on National Security and provide you with with relevant experience in the position and your question consistently emphasizing the importance of collaboration and coordination for the effective performance of the duties of office and i appreciate this perspective very much. You must be focused on providing intelligence support for Security Services for all proponents of the department of defense. You have been nominated to position of sick. Nuclear chemical and biological defense programs as a form of chemicals, have an experience in defending against chemical and biological weapons and that knowledge will be important as you oversee the Defense Department, particularly in the role of the role of developing a vaccine against the coronavirus. Another year part of your portfolio will deal with nuclear, you have oversight and energies nuclear, National Nuclear Security Administration under production schedule for the nuclear warhead. Will be involved managing the Nuclear Weapons council which is the joint duty, dod body for these efforts. I have concerns about your expertise in nuclear matters. You have great experience in chemical and biological weapons and i would hope and i know focus your attention on getting up to speed these matters. Your nominated for the next secretary for special operations for the asd, a critically important position task for the oversight advocacy for special Operations Forces in addition to other policies response abilities related to counterterrorism, airline nuclear warfare, and building capacity. Its confirmed you will be charged with completing longoverdue action to enable officers for service like responsibilities. Related to special Operations Forces. The department has fallen short of the clear mandate four years ago and the efforts to hire qualified personnel for the department to integrate solar into the decisionmaking bodies, all of this must be accelerated. Unfortunately, several highprofile this conduct instances in recent years have led to questions about professionalism and ethics of special operators. I oppose the president s inappropriate intervention in several work cases last remains concerned about the actions send to our troops, the American People, allies and adversaries. Im interested in the comments you made regarding that. I believe he needs to be a person whos willing to advocate and hold each member to the highest sense of conduct and not support those who abandoned the standards. I look forward to the testimony of all the nominees. Thank you. Thank you. As a reminder, we are going to be joined by some of our members coming in via computer and i hope it will work better than it did last tuesday. Im going to take the opportunity here to make for a problem that existed last, they were not able to give that much time without objection. We are going to hear from members starting with mr. Albin and handle and then went county. Would like to suggest you make your remarks brief because you will be getting a lot of questions during the process. Lets start with you, try to keep these brief. Good morning. Im grateful and humbled to be before you today for consideration of my nomination to the Inspector General of department of defense. I like to think the president for his nomination and for my incredible Family Friends and colleagues who have brought me to this day and most especially to my wife, valerie who met me on a blind date 20 years ago and has stood by me ever since. She inspires me every day. Amazing children who are constantly reminders for why i continue this great career in Public Service, my parents who instilled in me an early love of country and most especially, my father was the proud product of army rotc and its signal corps. A longtime friends and mentors, ken and john who over decades, have given themselves to me. If confirmed, ill have the high honor and privilege of serving alongside 73 other federal inspectors general as well as 1500 extraordinarily skilled professionals of the department of Defense Office of Inspector General. Its a huge response ability, i would not take it lightly but one, if confirmed, i will gladly accept. Inspectors general, center stage of todays most important matters more so than the dod ig. To oversee the federal investment to the covid19 pandemic. Congress has appropriated ten points explain dollars to the department of defense for prevention, preparation and response to covid 19, as well as a separate 20 million appropriation to the ig for over inside of the same. If confirmed, i am confident that my over two decades of diverse management and oversight experience will serve me well in lady the dod ig and having served as a special agent with two other offices of Inspector General as well as with the u. S. Secret service i have led complex investigations into civil, criminal and employee misconduct. Through these experiences i witnessed firsthand how fraud, waste and abuse negatively impacted government programs, services and ultimately our taxpayers and how sustained oversight and preventative corrective actions are critical to the effective operations of our government. In closing, and many of my meetings with both you and your staff we discussed the importance of independence and transparency. I stated then and publicly reaffirm now my commitment to champion both of these values without reservation and without exception. If confirmed i will exercise my response bullies as i have throughout my entire career by gathering and following the facts wherever they lay, analyzing the data objectively and applying the law without favor or preconception. I want to thank you, mr. Chairman, Ranking Member read and members of the committee and i look forward to answering your questions. Thank you. Chairman, distinct numbers of the committee thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today and for your consideration of my nomination to be deputy under secretary of defense for intelligence and security. I appreciate the trust and confidence the president secretary has placed in me and truly grateful for the opportunity to serve again if confirmed. My journey to this hearing room today began with Lessons Learned in my family at an early age grade the value of service, love of our country and my grandfather was a sailor in the pacific during world war ii. My father and uncle were both naval officers, submariner and pilots. My brother brian is an active duty marine officer in an f35 pilot who himself married a marine naval flight officer but my other brother michael and his wife are both dod civilians sorting the navy as my mother in law did. For three generations of my family has sworn to protect and defend the constitution. As i myself have had the honor to do multiple times. Each chapter of my career has helped to uniquely prepare me for this role. As a special forces officer i was both the consumer and collector of intelligence. I saw firsthand how timely accurate intelligence affects the fidelity of military strategy, operations and risk to force trade as a senior director of national secured Council Staff i had an opportunity to work closely with the inter agency to coordinate governmentwide efforts, enhancing our collective security. In this role as minded daily of how essential integrated intelligence is to supporting National Policymaking and its implementation. And now as a leader on the boston Consulting Group north american sector team i worked to bring commercial best practices to government problems. I approach my nomination with a clear focus under the criticality of Defense Security efforts in support of the National Defense strategy. These efforts are essential to ensure the United States retains a strategic advantage in the competitive and contested environments we face today. The foundational military intelligence necessary to inform Great Power Competition and the Technology Environment in which it will occur is paramount. With Program Costs to meet these credit threats and currently i and the cost of misallocation even higher the premium on intelligence in forming prudent investment acquisition is at an alltime level. Furthermore, as malign actively from adversaries short of Armed Conflict continues to rise the timely and accurate intelligence required to inform leaders and war fighters alike and response is critical. Lastly, ensuring we are fully leveraging protection our National Security Innovation Base will remain is in a vacant imperative. The Defense Intelligence and security enterprise must continue aggressively seeking commercial partnerships to retain our innovation advantage while at the same time protecting this advantage against the growing range of auxiliary attempts to infiltrate and undermine our sources of strength. If confirmed i look forward to supporting these crucial efforts in serving the men and women of the Defense Intelligence and security enterprise. In closing, im committed to working closely with this committee and other committees to restriction to provide the information needed to carry out oversight responsibilities. Thank you for your time today in consideration of my nomination. I look forward to your questions. Thank you. Thank you, chairman inhofe, Ranking Member read and members of the committee. As you consider my nomination to be assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs. I am honored to be considered for this supported position and it is a great povich to appear before you today. I wish to thank President Trump and secretary esper for this opportunity and their confidence in me and support for my nomination. I am very appreciative of my family who have supported me during my long career of past government service, especially my children and my sister who unfortunately cannot be here today. I am here today desiring to continue to serve our nation and our National Defense and the Nuclear Chemical and biological defense areas. After my commissioning at the center goal i serve the majority of my 36 year army career defending our nation against the scourge of weapons of mass destruction. I believe my career today has both prepared me and given me great insight into the ast and cb portfolio and a sound appreciation for the needs of the war fighter and the joint force in both acquiring and sustaining nuclear, chemical and biological defense capabilities. During these times are regard modernizing our Nuclear Deterrent and its associated National Nuclear Security Administration infrastructure as critical to our nations security and preserving our american way of life. My previous Senior Leader tours at both u. S. Strategic command and at the joint staff of a lipped in me a deep understanding of u. S. Strategic commands, Nuclear Deterrent mission, and the joint forces roles in preventing, countering and, if needed, defending our nation against weapons of mass destruction. If confirmed, i pledged to focus on modernizing our Nuclear Triad, building on the partnership the department of defense has with the nasa. Improving counter wmd programs and completing destruction of the remainder of our legacy chemical weapon stockpile within budget and on time. If confirmed, i pledged to work with the congress in these efforts and to enhance our communication and cooperation. Thank you again. I look forward to your questions. Thank you mr. Polakowski. Stir bremer. Chairman inhofe, Ranking Member read and distinguished members of this committee. It is an honor to appear before you today as the president s nominee for assistant secretary of defense for special operations in low intensity conflict with i want to thank the president and the department of defense for this opportunity. If confirmed it will be my highest professional honor to again serve alongside the most capable and honorable fighting force in the world. I would like to begin by recognizing my amazing wife, brooke, and son, will, who are watching from a location nearby. Their unconditional love and support makes us all possible. To my son if i am confirmed the long hours and time apart will be the hardest on you and for that i thank you. I could not be more proud. I would like to thank my brother, steve, sister, tammy and my extended family and countless friends and neighbors and mentors who counsel and support throughout my career has been invaluable. Most of all, i would like to thank my parents, lou and carol bremer. They are watching for my hometown and the great state of louisiana. Because of their sacrifice i have lived the american dream. My mom was a West Virginia coal miners daughter and she grew up in a holler with no running water. My dad enlisted in the air force in 17 and served 20 years in uniform. They taught me the importance of faith, hard work and love of country. Mom and dad, thank you and i love you. The National Security challenges we face are complex and rapidly evolving. The rise of Great Power Competition with china and russia has dramatically increased the stakes of the game. The myriad threats we face from rogue regimes and nonstate actors persist. The consequences of failing to deter great powers is the potential for total war. This is the challenge of our lifetimes. The National Defense strategy articulates the sober assessment of these threats and a path forward to address them. I am encouraged by the alignment of the congress and the departments behind the end ds and i support it without reservation. Since 911 u. S. Special Operations Command has let our global fight against terrorism. In so doing, they have perfected their craft. They are unmatched globally, lethal and agile and the return on investment for the u. S. Taxpayer has been immeasurable. Our battlefield because our terrorist adversaries to adapt. They are networked and distributed. They Leverage Technology through recruits and radicalized supervisors to launch attacks from outside and inside our borders. China and russia seek to undermine our competitive advantage by investing heavily in asymmetric capabilities in the realms of disinformation, cyber, space, hypersonic and under c. They challenge us in the gray zone between competition and conflict opt in proxies to do their bidding. While they also build their conventional capabilities. This will always lead in counterterrorism and it is or has a Critical Role to play under the and ds and this requires a concerted longterm investment in how we organize, train and equip the force. Building on the decadelong focus on counterterrorism will also address the emergent threats posed by great powers and the principal challenge is the prince will challenge facing u. S. Special Operations Command. It is not a transition from one to the other but an adaptation to confront both. Under the leadership of general clark and his predecessors this process is well underway. If confirmed it will be my top priority. We must dominate in the gray space through the instruments of the irregular warfare to erode our powers and [inaudible] artificial intelligence, unmanned systems, 5g and others and we must be a Global Leader of the information domain. All of this must be grounded in soft total commitment to ethics. If confirmed, i will address head on the moral and legal families that have surfaced in the ranks in recent years. These Actions Betray the very pencils we fight for and erode the sacred trust of the American People. They also tarnish the legacy of the vast majority who have served so honorably from oss in world war ii to a soft today. I give you my commitment to enact all necessary reforms in partnership with the commander of u. S. Special Operations Command. And through all this its critical we safeguard the wellbeing of the force and the families. The last two decades to put them under tremendous strain, taking care of our people is not negotiable. Thank you again for your time and consideration and i look forward to your questions. Thank you very much, mr. Bremer. We will start our fiveminute rounds and each member i would like to ask you to try to hone it to five minutes as we have a lot of interest and of course we have the witnesses before us and five minutes except for senator cotten and i have explained that and he can have more time if he wants and then i will start mine with mr. Mr. Polakowski. I cant think of anyone who is in a better position to assess what we need for our nsa with you in the background that you have and bring to this committee. I appreciate it very much. As assistant secretary of defense for Nuclear Chemical and biological programs you would be designated staff secretary for the Nuclear Weapons counsel. That means you would be responsible for ensuring coordination between dod and the National Nuclear Security Administration on all Nuclear Modernization programs, funding requirements and policy. We ask you a question. Do you believe that dod acting through the Nuclear Weapons counsel should provide guidance and assistance to the nsa as it develops its budget each year . I do, senator. Can you think of any reason why you wouldnt . I cant. I seed the nsa supporting the apartment of defense in its mission. If confirmed what would you think, if you are prevented from even seeing the nsa budget until after it was finalized for submission to congress . I think that would be a mistake and would severely impair not only our existing triad but our modernization efforts Going Forward in the future and in fact potentially jeopardize the National Defense. That would be a disaster, wouldnt it . Yes, senator. That is exactly what some people would like and specifically some in the department of energy. The Nuclear Weapons counsel is currently composed of six under secretaries or general officers, five from dod and one from and an essay, recently some have proposed to elevate the counsel to the secretary level and designating the secretary of defense and the secretary of energy as cochairs. Let me repeat that because i stumbled through that. The Nuclear Weapons counsel is currently composed of six under secretaries or equivalent general officers. Five from dod, and one from an nsa. Recently some have proposed elevating the counsel to the secretary level and designating the secretary of defense in the secretary of energy as cochairs. What would be at your opinion of this proposal . I think that is a mistake and i would not support it, senator. Were not that put the secretary of energy and have a veto power . Yes, senator. Thank you, senator reid. Thank you very much, mr. Char man. Let me associate myself with your comments which you directed to the doctor with respect to the role of the department of defense and crafting the budget between doe and dod. Thank you determined for your leadership. Mr. Reamer, we had an opportunity to chat on the phone and i raise the issue of the chief and he pointed out you made comments that they were in the trial phase before the conclusion of the trial and generally they were about due process and about everyone getting their promise and we agreed with that. But the president s actions came after the due process phase and raises one question, do you believe that first the individual military member, particularly special operator should be held accountable for misconduct . Senator, without question for misconduct should never be tolerated within the soft enterprise or dod atlarge. To believe chief gallagher after the due process given to him by the military justice system, was he held accountable appropriately for his conduct . Senator, i know he was convicted of posing with an isis war fighter and i dont condone that activity and there is no place in the soft enterprise and i know the president weighed in on the matter and it is his prerogative as commanderinchief and i think that authority invested in him has been exercised by many president s over time. But the question still remains, do you believe that chief gallagher was held accountable appropriately under due process by the military for his conduct . Senator, i know the military did its part through due process in the uc mj. They found him guilty of posing with the isis fighter and he opened the adjudication of that and went to the president s desk. Im not privy to the council he was provided and im not even privy to the details of the ca case. Ive got no further comment. Well, what message does the president s action send, if in fact, your comments were about due process and i will except those fair comments but the due process argument will resolve and there is a possibility that the message that was sent, not only in this context, but the context of at least two other incidents where in infantry lieutenant was pardoned who had mortgages troops to kill civilians or special forces was in the process of adjudication when he was pardoned. Does that send a message to our troops into the world at large that this behavior is acceptable, rather then, as you initially indicated, on acceptable . I understand the concern senator and without question we hold our war fighters to a very high standard. If i and confirmed in this position i will ensure those standards are appropriately enforced and it is always going to be the president s prerogative as commanderinchief to weigh in on those issues and again im not privy to the council he has provided in the process. Just a final point, general clark has undertaking is in a vacant study of the culture of the special operations because incidents like this and some not as serious but instances like this have propped up. Are you concerned about, as you go into this job, your role of implementing those changes so that the culture is improved . Yes, senator. I have read that report and i was encouraged by it. Even more encouraged by the fact that i know general clark and his staff are proceeding to implement those key findings. There were 16 key findings under number of different categories and i will wholeheartedly support that effort and do my role in assisting him with that. [crowd boos] thank you. Mr. Hensel, one of your responsibilities in the defense counterintelligence and security agency, which has gotten more and more responsibly since it has to protect our contractors and all the enterprise from intrusion by foreign powers, cyber intrusion, multiple intrusions i would just like you to give us a sense that you will focus your attention on making sure that this will be up to speed and can you do that . Certainly, i would organize the Important Role it plays in securing our supply chain in countering efforts by our efforts to exploit vulnerabilities and supply chain and look for weaknesses in our protocols. Again, thank you. Mr. Mr. Polakowski, you have extraordinary experiences that chemical weapons officer which will come in as i indicated extremely fortunately given the chemical issues and biological issues we are facing. One area where i think you would agree that you would spend more time extra studies Nuclear Policy and do you have a sense of how you will get up to speed as fast as possible . I do, senator. I plan to, if confirmed, with my staff and go over to update myself on what has occurred in the recent past and most importantly what are those pressing issues that are coming up immediately as well as the longterm and then print out and work very closely with my nsa colleagues, deputy administrator for defense programs and doctor for don as well as the administrator, lisa. Thank you. In this avenue, you had a career dedicated to Public Service and you have done with admirable skill and dedication and patriotic commitment paid we appreciate that very much. In your new role you will be in a very difficult position and that is you will have to be sort of keeping tabs on your bosses, more or less. Secular defense, senior military offices et cetera who might outrank you. I assume that you are not only prepared to do that but you see that is one of the most than of again once abilities of an ig which is to speak truth to power everyday even if that person happens to be the secretary of defense or the secretary of state or secretary of anything else. Is that a Fair Assessment . Spirit yes, senator it is. I wanted to create an aspect of my background is that i dont come for the department of defense and it makes me an independent arbiter of fact and not coming with any legacy bias. I dont belong to a service or belong to a component. It is critical to talk truth to power and that is one of the key roles of an Inspector General so, if confirmed, you have my commitment that that will be the way i organize the office, around the office and report out of the office, sir. And reporting to the congress when appropriate and to others individuals when appropriate, correct . Yes, center. They give very much. By webex, senator wicker you are recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thanks to the witnesses for their willingness to serve the government. Let me just follow up on the Interesting Exchange between you and senator reid just now. I thank you mentioned an important perspective there. But also you bring 20 years of experience in offices of Inspector General and the federal Housing Finance agency, oig, as well as the apartment of urban development oig. Of course you mentioned in your testimony you intend to be a leader in rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. It is harder to find as we have seen over time that you might think there is no line item we could cut from waste, fraud and abuse but has to be identified and you have to convince others that this particular spending is indeed wasteful and abusive. What experience did you have in these other agencies you will be able to bring to the department of defense . We will need to save money and we will need to spend more money and to the extent we can save money where it is being spent and effectively we will do a better job of securing our freedom and security. Thank you, senator for that question. One of the primary aspects of the injector Generals Office is obviously to do economy and see reviews of programs and operations and one of those critical elements is to review constantly house expenditures are being conducted and one of the critical elements i think that we can all agree on is that for example military privatized military housing was not executed well and its not only a wellness issue for a military Service Members and families but a critical failure and government program. My background that you address, savings would include looking at programs as they are being stood up, identifying early and often how we can accommodate to save money and ferreting out fraud, waste and abuse with proper mitigation techniques. There is a lot of room for improvement throughout the entire enterprise and i am committed to helping with that effort. Could you give us your assessment so far of the audit of the department of defense and the massive undertaking . Could you tell us in a few minutes remaining how you see that is going . Sure. The apartment of defense is consolidated audit is an absolutely gigantic undertaking an apartment spends about a billion dollars a year on the effort and the department of defense oig is in charge of ensuring that the 23 consolidated Financial Statements can come together and i think that over the last two years it is being conducted and there has been incredible growth in the ability to identify the universe of transactions and also identify performance areas that could be improved, including the Financial Services and auditing components, improvements, it systems as well as the Data Compliance measures. I think that there is absolutely room for improvement on how that audit can be inducted in the dod ig has been doing that doing and a credit will job managing public accountants, their staff as well. Working with the other components and Service Members to get that job done. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I yield back. Thank you mr. Chairman. Mr. Bremer, i appreciated the exchange you had with senator reed about the importance of responding to the comprehensive review which found and i am quoting here, so calm culture focused on forced employment and Mission Accomplished that creates the context or situations allowing for misconduct and unethical behavior to develop within the soft enterprise. You have a number of had a number of interesting social media posts where you feature disparaging comments about democratic and had pictures of a number of personalities, some of whom have been discredited, including a man named nilo you novelist who lost his job or resign at breitbart after he defended pet ophelia. You think about the role you will play in responding to that so calm, brands of review, how do you explain some of your past social media posts and activities, which i assume you would agree with me, are not the kind of model we want to hold up to our special operations forc forces . Spirit yes, senator. Those were posts i regret. They were flippant. They were in my capacity as a private sector and i am now down to linked in on social media and you know people that know me and worked with me over the last 30 years, both in uniform and in the private sector, no im a serious person but im a businessman, national circuiting professional and i plan to take that bodywork and experience to the enterprise. Ethics is a very big thing and i have lived it in uniform and lived it outside of uniform and i have relieved people as a commander and as a chairman of the company for unethical behavior. I take these issues very seriously in my oversight role as relates to ethics will be a top priority. Thank you. I appreciate that. Could you tell me if you are still a managing director at [inaudible] capital . I am. If you are confirmed, do you plan to divest from this . Spirit yes senator. Ive gone through an extensive ethics review and agreed to make a number of different divestitures as part of that review. There is some findings in my ethics agreement after detailed review by the office of government ethics where they felt the investments i held did not pose a conflict for this particular post. If i am ever involved in a matter, particular matter, that involves any equities whatever across my portfolio i will either recuse myself or to best as appropriate. Thank you. I would ask you the same thing about tier one. It has been reported to be a company that trained some of the individuals who are responsible for the murder of jamaal khashoggi. Are you still involved in tier one and if confirmed, will you agree to the best from any involvement there . Yes senator pete i am not on the board and if confirmed i would be stuffing off and resigning from that board and all other board as servers. Thank you. Mr. Polakowski, if confirmed you will be responsible for developing policies and recommendations on Nuclear Weapons, as you testified. As you note the new start treaty expires in 2021 and the administration is still considering whether to call for the fiveyear extension that the treaty allows. Could you share your thoughts on whether you think we should extend the new start treaty and what benefits it provides to our National Security. If confirmed, i would of course, defer to that apartment of state and to the undersecretary for policy. With regards to myself as a private citizen and a professional we live in a very, what i consider, dangerous time. We have two near peer competitors, russia and china, who have been modernizing very regularly over the past years while we have not and we are in a precarious state now could in fact, there are thousands of systems that are not covered by the existing use to our treaty that are quite concerning, i believe, to the American Public as well as the administration. Nevertheless, there are benefits with the treaty itself. Both nations have followed the treaty provisions and from what i have heard in previous testimony from previous strategic commanders as well as other Senior Leaders in the joint force is that they do get value from the existing verification provisions so i will be happy to expound any further on that but just like is going on right now, i believe there is room for improvement in the treaty itself to encompass more systems that potentially threaten our nation and increase the strength of the verification enforcement regime associated with perhaps a renegotiation treaty. My time is up so i will submit further questions and followup questions. I think i would all agree that further improvement would be helpful and i think the question is what is lost if we cant get those improvements and we lose the ability to extend new start. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator shaheen. Senator rounds. [inaudible] thank you was determined. First of all i want to thank you for your service. Mr. Bremer, i enjoyed our conversation a few weeks ago, especially your views on maintaining special Operation Forces standards while recognizing the truly aweinspiring contributions they made to our nations security. We want to follow up with you under the discussion we have on the Close Combat Lethality Task force for secretary mattis established the task force and believed that the personnel policies training and equipment that we provide to our post combat forces have not kept pace with major advances in technology, human factor, science and tele management. I agreed with his thinking on this issue. These are the forces who have accounted historically for nearly 90 of the casualties that constitute 4 of the force. Many of them are special Operation Forces and can you provide the committee with your perspective on this task force and the important work that it is doing . Senator, thank you for the question but i also enjoyed our discussion and cannot agree more about the importance of this task force. The stat that i was going to share is the exact stat you would share. Frontline commute units are responsible for 90 of the fatalities of dod and so if we dont get it right at the edge of the battle space then we are not doing our job as overseers of the enterprise. It comes down to technology. Increase and the lethality of the force and i think the task force is working out a 600meter from the edge of the battle space. Sort of a directive and it comes down to night vision, smart munitions and the right weaponry. I think we need to constantly invest in that and in a rate it and make sure were giving friendly soldiers, to your point, many of whom are soft and the best out there from both commercial and military Industrial Complex to do their jobs. Thank you, sir. Mr. Polakowski, our chairman has made it pretty clear the concern that this committee has regarding longterm planning leadership and their responsibilities between the apartment of energy and the department of defense. If we are going to upgrade and continue the modernization of our Nuclear Command and control it is absolutely essential that this issue be cleared up and cleared up as soon as possible. Would you agree with that, sir . I do. There has been a lot of progress on the leadership site with u. S. Strategic command as well as the undersecretary having sniffing and response abilities. Thank you sir. Mr. Abend, i commend you in your interest in serving as the dod ig. I think one of the challenges we have working in washington and representing people back home like in my home state of south dakota is a concern that is expressed to us on a regular basis that what happens in washington does not reflect the beliefs and values of a lot of the rest of america. In that regard they believe that while they elect us to make decisions the vast majority of these decisions made are made by unelected bureaucrats and that sometimes they go without control. One thing they ask of us on a regular basis, time and time again is that we do every thing we can to regain control and to understand clearly what does happen within the large departments in which we expect branch employs to be responsible but at the same time that we have a responsibility to exercise Due Diligence when it comes to their oversight. You become a tool and a very important tool in that battle. I appreciate the fact that you made it clear that you are from the outside and that you are not from the inside of the pentagon. I think that is an opportunity for you and i guess the only thing i would ask of you sir is the commitment that when you look at reports and when you look at concerns that may come up that you look at them from the eyes of a citizen sitting someplace outside of washington dc and asked the question whether or not they would believe that the contracts that are being reviewed and the actions of individual departments within the department of defense or within the offices, whether or not they meet the standards of what a taxpaying citizen would consider to be a fair use and an appropriate use of those resources. I think that is the commitment you are trying to make but i want to make it clear i really thank you are on the frontline and you can provide our citizens with confidence that somebody on a daily basis is looking out for their interest as well. Your thoughts, sir. Senator, i could not agree more. That is the primary response ability as an Inspector General is to ensure not only that citizens have transparency in our government through our reporting to them and not that reporting is objective, thorough and timely but also that its written in plain english so they can interpret the facts of it. Dod ig has a great history of doing so including the consolidated Financial Analysis they put out, its very easy to understand grid i am committed to ensuring that that continues forward and that the accountability is due and it will be handed down as well. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator. Senator blumenthal. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Abend, you and i talked on the phone about the vulnerability of Inspector General and Critical Role they play that in effect makes them vulnerable and this administration has unfortunately seen a high turnover just yesterday, the department of another Inspector General, department of state, what will you do to make sure that your independence is safeguarded against any kind of interference . Senator, any request that comes towards me, whether from the white house, congress or the public will be treated the same way, independently, objectively and through the analytic lens of the Inspector General. Nobody has preference in my bo book. The kind of turnover we have seen, largely the result of the resident firing inspectors general without cause has severely undermined effective oversight and, in fact, the role of the congress as well as those inspectors general. When you and i spoke i mentioned that i have introduced a measure called the core act that would forbid the firing of inspectors general without cause and it would provide action to those inspectors general as well as others against illegal firings and have you reviewed that legislation and will you support it . Senator i have reviewed the legislation. At this time i would like to, you know, i would like to pause on whether or not i could support your exact legislation until i would have a chance to discuss that with the other professionals at the Defense Department and Inspector General. I think the content of the legislation and the concept of protecting inspectors generals independence is critical. I think all Inspector Generals should be permitted to investigate to the full completion of their investigation without interference bar none. The specifics of that legislation and the impact it would have on the longterm, i think on the longterm responsibilities for all Inspector Generals, i just dont want to see a situation where the ig Community Becomes a sense of sovereignty. I want to ensure there is also oversight of that as well. Will you commit that you will review it and come back to meet with the position, hopefully supporting it . Senator, as discussed on the phone i think with a very transparent and honest conversation and i will absolutely have those discussions with you and come back to you with a decision. Mr. Hensel, over the last few days members of this committee and others have received classified briefings about foreign threats to the security of our legislation briefings and the documents we have and joan have been absolutely chilling. I find them shocking and appalling. Would you agree with me that the america people need and deserve to know more about these Security Threats . Senator, i agree that the foreign activity aimed at undermining our democratic process will continue and the best disinfectant or misinformation is sunlight and work to inform this. Will you authorize steps to be taken to declassify some of this information . Senator, at this time i dont have access as to the classified information to make an informed opinion but i do think a principal in order to counter disinformation is education of the electorate as well as policymakers. Again, i would like you to come back and i will put questions in the record on this issue as to a means to be declassify information. The need to know for americans is urgent and they deserve to know it. Let me just say finally, as i did at the last hearing, i continue to be really deeply dismayed and outraged by the installation of general data as acting deputy secretary and its an invasion of scrutiny and makes these proceedings a sham and a mockery as the Ranking Member has indicated and others on this committee share that view. I believe, i am not sure what i will do or we will do it i certainly am now disinclined to oppose every nominee, especially at this late stage of this administration for any position and department of defense. What other measures may be possible and i am not committing to do at this point. Others have mentioned putting a hold on nominees and i am not prepared to take that step right now but this appointment was done in such bad faith with such disrespect that i think some response by this committee is necessary. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator cotton is organized for his time plus additional time to make up for our blunder on two days ago. I want to say for the market wasnt the chairmans blunder. He is the cuttingedge technological early adopter on this committee. Mr. Chairman, i appreciate that and wont take up a full ten minutes but maybe we should get him came with his fancy small computer there to run technology for me. Mr. Bremer, i want to go back to something you said in your exchange with senator shaheen, taking response bodie as a leader, both in your military service and in the private sector talking about leaving people and could you give an example from a time in the navy of an instance where you had to make those hard decisions. Senator, i dont want to go into great detail on a personal matter but effectively in a realworld situation and as a combat leader i was in a position where i had to make a decision on the combat effectiveness of my platoon versus what i saw was a loss of good order and discipline among the ranks. I made the tough choice and since sent somebody back to headquarters. And i think its a good lesson here because that individual learned a lesson and went on to have a very stellar career in Naval Special warfare but to meet this is the sort of leadership we need at the lower levels in the ranks. Soft has a distributed operational force. You know, culture and ethics cant just come from the top, it has to start on day one when a soft operator comes into the enterprise because that soft operator may be operating in a twoman or fourman unit and someplace in africa. They dont have ethics as a core principle that guides their daily actions then it could lead to bad behavior. That is a message you want all our troopers to hear down to the lowest level and that is a standard you will expect should he be confirmed to this job, not just high levels but down to Junior Officers and ncos as well . Absolutely, senator. You will work with some of the finest troopers and we hold all our soldier, sailors, airmen, marines to the highest of standards and i believe they are the best among us as a people but in a special Operation Forces we have, i think, and even higher standard and many of these units creeds or mottoes suggest that those standards apply not just to being mentally alert and physically strong but morally straight and is that the message you want our special Operation Forces to hear today from you . If confirmed, that will be the standard. Thank you. Mr. Polakowski, i want to turn the conversation we had earlier about the new start treaty and i want to punctuate a couple of points on that. I believe that treaty has many flaws but i believe two of them are fundamental and it only covers about half of russias Nuclear Arsenal in china is not bound by it. On the first point, do you believe it is in the interest of the United States and our allies to include all of russias Nuclear Weapons in any kind of an extension of the new start treaty whether you call those weapons tactical or battlefield or low yield or what have you . I do. That would be an object of any treaty negotiations. And the second flaw i mentioned is that it only covers russia and has a very outdated cold war approach to nuclear arms control. Yes, russia still has by far the largest arsenal then does china but china is rapidly modernizing and expanding its Nuclear Arsenal and if we continue with this model of simply bilateral treaties between the United States and russia i fear that in a relatively short order the United States could face nuclear overmatched with russia and chinas arsenal combined against ours. Do you believe its in the best interest of the United States to abandon that bilateral approach and move to a trilateral approach where we are making treaties with our two main adversaries that have Nuclear Weapons . Senator, i would prefer to refrain from encompassing both together. I do think we need to address both nations as you mentioned, and as i brought up earlier, modernization by global nations concerns me and china has their own obligations under Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty to negotiate in faith and to reduce and hopefully eventually eliminate Nuclear Weapons so they do have a legal obligation to come to the table, either bilaterally or multilaterally, and so it would be prudent for us to include them in any negotiations. In queue. For the record, do you commit your full support to the modernization of the Nuclear Triad plan, land and sea . I do. Do you commit your full report to the [inaudible] i do. I want to turn to the Nuclear Weapons council. We discussed that we would be deeply involved and do you agree rightdoublequote nation between the apartment of defense and the nsa through the council is a social free vocative management . And do you agree that it is to build the ability of the permit to advise and guide the preparation of the nsa budget . Yes, Nuclear Weapons council really has legal responsibilities to coordinate and approve their budgets mission. If duty did not participate in the budget process for the nsa what would be the likely consequences . Uncontrolled spending and most importantly, our nations determined would suffer. Thank you mr. Chairman i yield back my time. Okay. The webex we have senator her mono. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I asked the following decisions for the nominees who appear before my committee, going down the line starting alphabetically with mr. Abend and mr. Bremer and then ending with mr. Polakowski. [inaudible] have you ever made unwanted sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature . No. No. No. Thank you. Have you ever face discipline or injured into a settlement of this conduct . No. No. No. This is a question for mr. Mr. Abend. They repeatedly taken action to undermine and weaken inspectors generals when their investigations uncover wrongdoing or potential wrongdoing within the administration. In fact, it is a [inaudible] for ids have been fired and your immediate predecessor at the deity should be confirmed resigned after being demoted and you just testified that of the importance of the independence of the Inspector General and you will be overseen 1600 people within your shop of the dod. Are you willing to stand up to the truth even if it means being targeted by the president for doing so . Yes, senator. I definitely am. That has been a concept of operation in every position i have had and i have been in service and i dont fear that. I will follow the facts where they lead and apply the law where it is written. You certainly will be held to that because your immediate predecessor was demoted. For mr. Bremer, who testified earlier that if confirmed you will ensure due process and follow for those who are accused of misconduct. When most servicemembers are returned to their services for [inaudible] as in the gallagher case, how exactly would you do that and you are not in the service [inaudible] . Senator, i would advocate for due process. If im not in the chain of command to effectuate that then, you know, i would have limitations around that but from my perspective all u. S. Citizens should be afforded due process and those that go forward our war fighters that are putting their lives on the line to protect the same rights and liberties we have in this country should also be afforded due process. Yes, that did not quite happen. They went to the process and then [inaudible] i hope that is not the kind of practice you would consider to be usual or condone. Another question for you, you have been asked these questions so let me go into it. Several incidences involving Operations Forces [inaudible] to the special operations incident in africa that led to a soldiers death to [inaudible] from iraq due to good order and discipline and want the special Operations Command has reviewed this has revealed any systemic issues and i remain concerned about special operators acting with impunity and additionally the president s words and actions since granting clemency to gallagher have eroded at integrity and made it difficult. I would like to know and i described some of the first steps you will take to improve the culture and reinstate trust in our special Operations Forces as a civilian responsible for the oversight of the special operations. Yes. Thank you, senator. It is a problem and it has got my attention. You know, our american taxpayers expect special operations troops to uphold the highest level of ethics and conduct on the battlefield. I am running out of time so could you name one. Yes, i would senator. The first thing i would do is work with the commander of special Operations Command to sift through the findings in a comp ransom review. I think its important that is multifaceted and there were 16 recommendations that came out of that. Thank you. You did mention that russia is engaging in disinformation and i think we have acknowledged with respect to the upcoming election paid to think the president is taking the necessary steps to thwart russias disinformation in this upcoming election . Senator, was that question for me . Yes, mr. Bremer. Senator, that is outside my purview for the position i am nominated for. Overseen special operations, i just dont have sufficient information to give you a thoughtful answer on that. You hope the president is doing the things he needs to be doing. I certainly expect he is. Well, he is not. Thank you. Thank you, senator. Senator ernst. Gentlemen, thank you very much for your willingness to serve our great nation. What i would like to ask about is Something Else that we had a conversation about, and that is one of the key programs located at so com. Thats the preservation of the force and family, that task force. I firmly believe in this. This task force has a Critical Mission to assure the well being of our special Operations Forces, warriors their support personnel and their families. You know, the soft deployments are unique in scope and their requirements, and weve learned the hard way that we must rebuild the resilience of our special Operations Forces and their families, very important part of the organization, not only physically but also psychological, spiritually and socially. Do i have my commitment from you today, your commitment that you will continue to support the program . Absolutely, senator, if confirmed, im an avid supporter of that program. It is very important for the force and our families. Can you describe some of the steps through potus that you see could be very helpful to sof and so com in general . Sure, the program is multifacetted. It focuses on not just physical well being, but mental well being, spiritual well being and well being of family, it involves the Care Coalition and that support provides to families when operators are deployed overseas, helping them return and reintegrate in the family. There are a number of different aspects in that program that have taken pressure off the community. They have a very very tough cycle of deployments. We want to make sure that we are keeping not only our operators and support personnel at their finest but also their families and keeping them in the fold. Thank you. I truly appreciate it. Last year, i sat down with representatives from the dod ig, the army ig, and the National Guard ig regarding two iowa cases involving Sexual Assault and reprisal. Each case was with each respective ig for a total of over 798 days and 749 days. One sat with the dod ig for 255 days before being transferred to the army ig. I dont believe this is acceptable. This is not the timeline we expect from our igs and certainly for those that have suffered from Sexual Assault and that reprisal. If confirmed, would you commit to looking at the standards used to determine whether or not a complaint warrants a full investigation, and if they are being fairly applied . Senator, any individual that comes forward with an allegation should be treated much better than that. Absolutely. Im committed to reviewing the timeliness, thoroughness, and objectivity of the reporting in ensuring that it gets out to the proper decisionmaking authorities correctly. Nobody that suffers through that kind of action should have to wait that amount of days. Im not familiar with the individual case, but if confirmed, i promise you i will look into it. Thank you. If the dod is not adequately to carry out their missions, would you notify us immediately . Im committed to doing that. Thank you. If you have any potential resource shortfalls and other issues also, will you commit to letting us know immediately . Yes, senator, i will do that. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. These are issues that are very significant, especially to those survivors of assault and and other actions. And other actions. We want to make sure those cases are being completed as quickly as possible. With that, mr. Chair, i yield back thank you, senator ernst. Senator cane . Thank you, mr. Chair and to the witnesses thank you for your service to the country and your willingness to continue serving i want to follow up on questions that senator shaheen asked. When did you join Capital Management . I joined it in january of 2015. When did you become a board member of the board of the chair one group . Im not exactly sure of the date. I would say it was probably around 2017 . But id have to come back to you with an actual date. If the board operates with committees, have you ever been a chair of any of the committees of the chair one group board . I have not, senator. Have you ever been an officer of the chair one group . I have not. How large is the board of the chair one group . Very small. I believe weve got five directors on the board. Public reports suggest that the name of the group used to be aggressive training solutions, is that correct . Senator, thats the first time i have heard that name. If theres history that im unaware of, im just not certain. Thank you for that. Reports also indicate that cerebrus either owns the chair one group or affiliates of it own the chair one group. Is that accurate . Yes, it is. It is owned through the funds, senator. In march of 2019, a few months after the assassination of a virginia resident who worked as a journalist with the Washington Post. The Washington Post ran a piece by a reporter. It is titled how the mysteries of the murder have rocked u. S. Saudi partnership. The date of the article march 29, 2019. I would like to introduce it for the record, mr. Chair. Without objection. Thank you, mr. Chair. In the article, im going to read a section that i want to ask you about. The khashoggi story is a lesson in how u. S. Supported intelligence and special operations capabilities can be misused by other countries. Thats the starkest conclusion that emerged from this reporting, among these previously undisclosed findings. Some members of the Saudi Rapid Intervention group that was sent to istanbul received training in the United States according to u. S. And saudi sources. The cia has cautioned other Government Agencies that some of this special Operations Training might have been conducted by Tier One Group, an arkansas based company under a state department license. The training occurred before the khashoggi incident as part of ongoing liaison with the saudis and it hasnt been resumed. Are you aware of that public reporting . Senator, thats the first time i have heard of this article. Were you aware separate from the article, were you aware of claims that had been made this members of the Saudi Rapid Intervention group that were sent to istanbul to assassinate Jamal Khashoggi might have received training by Tier One Group . I was not aware of that. Do you know whether Tier One Group has conducted any internal investigation to determine whether saudis that had been trained by the Tier One Group participated in this . Not to my knowledge or recollection, senator. I do know that we train saudi nationals as part of our engagements with the kingdom, as an allied nation, we train other nations as well, but i have no knowledge of that. So until today, you had not been aware that an allegation had been made that a company on which you sit as a director, with a small board of directors, had potentially been involved in training saudis who were participants in the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi . Senator, i dont have any recollection of that. There is a possibility that we did have a discussion about it. Its a number of years ago. I could go back and check my records and come back to you on a more specific answer, but to my recollection, i do not recall internal discussions on that. Im asking this partly because Jamal Khashoggi was a virginia resident. But im also asking to sort of probe in a leadership position and being a director of a corporation, especially a small one a small board, if there are public allegations of this kind and the Washington Post piece is not the only one. Its been reported in chicago tribune, in arkansas papers. Its been reported internationally. That Tier One Group trained saudis were involved in the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. It would seem like that would be the kind of public news that might make an organization say we should at least check and see whether this is true. But i just want to be clear about it, as of today, you do not know whether the Tier One Group has conducted any investigation to determine whether theres any truth to these multiple public reports . Senator, i will give you my commitment to go back and check the record op on this. Record on this. It is my recollection that we may have not. I may be mistaken. We have a culture at compliance in cerberus. That culture is pushed down into our portfolio companies. As i think about it in realtime, i think it is probably likely we did do some sort of investigation. I dont recall the specifics on that. I will come back to you with more full answer. I would ask for the record there was an investigation and what was disclosed. Thank you, mr. Chair, i yield back. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you for being here. One to follow up on some of the discussions we have had previously, obviously as a former seal, youre more than slightly familiar with the importance of good isr, and this year the department of defense has tried to eliminate some of the platforms to make room for other isr capabilities, related specifically to the adversaries. Were in a shifting time frame. Were all very familiar with that. As a former seal, do you have concerns about this transition and the gap, for example, in north dakota we have the rq 4s, platforms that our airmen fly and utilize, are you concerned at all as i am that we dont have a plan for the middle and end is it less important that we do . It is certainly an important issue. I dont have any particular knowledge on what the plan is for that transition. I will say that isr is very important to the battle space, specifically to sof who tends to be out on the edge of this battle space. I think ensuring that we have eyes and ears in the areas that we operate is important. I do have confidence that the department will get that right. Obviously were transitioning and adapting our enterprise for both the Counterterrorism Mission set and near peer competition, so we need assets in other geographies outside of Traditional Mission sets, so beyond that, i have no other, you know, knowledge about the issue. And i appreciate that. And i think north dakota and north dakotans and all of us, we want to be part of a solution, certainly not part of the problem, because we know where we need to get. We would love to be able to get there faster. But were concerned about the transition, and i would look forward to working with you and would love of course as always and with everybody love to have you come to north dakota to see some of our capabilities both at the guard and the air force, and even in the private sector as it relates to isr platforms, uas and would welcome that, if ewed come and visit us if you would come and visit us. Similarly, youre also a former special ops, you understand the importance of isr. Are you comfortable with the decreases in capacity with some of the legacy systems that are being contemplated . Senator, as we discussed on the phone, certainly aware of the progress made in the department to align isr resources to nds priorities, and from my own time in combat, certainly recognize the demand by commanders for isr as it increases Mission Success and equally importantly reduces risk to force. If confirmed, i would certainly work to balance this alignment and priorities with the ongoing requirement to meet combat commander isr demand. I dont remember if you and i discussed this on the phone or not, but if not, i have to do this for the benefit of the senator from alaska, reminding him that it is cold in north dakota too and we border two canadian provinces and close to the north pole. With regards specifically then to that domain, the arctic domain, do you have any thoughts about isr in that domain and the role northern bases could play . I think, senator, as we pivot isr support to nds priorities, of note is chinese and russian increased activities. Chinese scientific, economic and security activity in the arctics and chinese and russian exploration in the northern seaways, so as i think about isr related the arctic is coverage for chinese and russian Great Power Competition is certainly something that would be weighed as long as i have a few minutes, of course, north dakota has two of the three legs of the Nuclear Triad. Submarines dont have a lot of value in the middle of north american continent, but if they did, we would love to have all three. Anyway, we have two of the three. I know you get this probably a lot, but maybe its more of a statement than a question. We share the concern about the time line for modernization. Were all committed to it. You know, i know the chairman showed you the blue book, the nds, and when he is reminding you hes reminding all of us of the priority of the nds. We appreciate that. So just any thoughts you might have on sticking with the timeline for modernization particularly of the ground base strategic deterrent, as well as the b 52 modernization . Just know were with you and open the floor to your thoughts. I think the planning and deliberations that have been made so far, with regard to the delivery platforms as well as the work by nnsa on both the war head side as well as infrastructure, are all well planned. They are very challenging. We not only have to modernize, but we also have to sustain what we have in place today. As admiral richard recently mentioned, on a web talk, he basically was very emphatic, whatever we can do to accelerate things, he would welcome. So one of the areas that im going to be focused on considering all of the normal balancing that one has to do in terms of programs is where can we wherever possible accelerate . And of course that is also going to take the cooperation of the congress because without funding, both for the department and nnsa, we wont get there. I think we have a good plan. Nnsa has a good road map in their area, and hopefully with all of the challenges ahead, we can very closely lead and manage the enterprise so we get to where we need to be, a strong, safe, and effective deterrent that will continue to last for the decades to come. As with everything weve talked about, the transition is the challenge, and you wont have much argue inspect this committee. You wont have much argument in this committee. Thank you, all. Look to supporting you all. Thank you, senator. Via web ex, senator . Thank you, mr. Chairman. I would like to follow up on senator canes line of questioning. Having served on a number of corporate boards myself, it is hard for me to believe that a mention of your company by name in a column by one of the leading Foreign Affairs commentators in the country would not come to your attention nor to the attention of the board and the imply nation that your company was somehow involved in the training of those who murdered Jamal Khashoggi and youre telling us here today that you only at first you said you had no recollection of it, and then you said well, maybe there was something. Would you like to clarify this matter . I find it incredibly hard to believe that a fiveperson board of this company would not have had a fire drill when this allegation arose. Yeah, senator, listen, you know, to be absolutely clear on the issue, i just dont recall the specifics about it. Im not trying to hide any investigation that we may have done or not done. Understanding how we approach these sort of things has me sort of thinking that its very likely that we did do some form of an investigation, likely even had a discussion at the board level. I can go back and look at the details on that and provide that to both you and senator cane, in full disclosure. Its just that, you know, im involved in a lot of different corporate matters, a lot of different boards, and that particular instance i cannot recall the specifics about it. Thank you, and i know senator canes going to follow up. Youre in a unique and i think very important position right now as you yourself i think the term you used moral and legal failings in recent years in so com. As a former seal with credibility in that community, it seems to me you have a very terrific opportunity to try to deal with this what appears to be potential problems of culture. I hope you will take advantage of that and i think youve testified here that that is your intention; is that right . Yes, senator, it is. Thank you for those comments, if confirmed, i will absolutely take lead on this. Thank you. Mr. Abed, youre taking a very difficult job, a very important job. I consider Inspector Generals among the most important jobs in u. S. Government because of the size and in the case of the Defense Department often secrecy. The public really doesnt have much visibility as to whats going on. Unfortunately, in recent years, the Life Expectancy the job Life Expectancy of an Inspector General is about the same as a squirrel trying to cross pennsylvania avenue down the street here. I really hope youll think hard about the obligation you have to the country and the fact that your oath when youre likely confirmed and sworn in is to the constitution of the United States and to the laws under which you will be operating, not to any particular president or member of congress or secretary of defense. Is that the way you see it, mr. Aben . Senator, thats exactly the way i see my obligation. I have sworn that oath several times in my career. I abide by it each and every time. Im a zealous advocate for the truth. I have advocated on behalf of victims my entire Law Enforcement career. I will advocate on behalf of the departments best interests throughout this one as well. Theres no deterrence from that. Thats the mission. Thank you. I appreciate that. I take you at your word. I think you may be tested, and i hope that you will remember your testimony here today when that happens. Mr. Hansel, talking about intelligence, normally a customer of the intelligence agencies is the president , the secretary of defense or the cia, the policymakers, sometimes member of congress, i would argue that every four years your customer is the American People because when they vote on november 3rd, they are the decisionmakers. They are the policymakers. And they need and deserve your intelligence about information involving foreign actors that may influence or try to influence our election. Will you push for the declassification when possible, and i understand about sources and methods, but i think you need to think about who is your customer, and every four years in november, your customer is the American People. Do you view it that way, mr. Hansel . Senator, as you alluded to, part of my responsibility, if confirmed, would be securing our classified information and our sources and method. However, as i stated earlier, i do believe that the best disinfectant for misinformation is the sunlight, and certainly if confirmed, would work with the broader Intelligence Community and the dnis office to determine whats appropriate for declassification . I think youre absolutely right in that view, and i hope you will hold to it and look forward to supporting your confirmation. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator king. A squirrel crossing pennsylvania thats good, i like that. [laughter] senator warren is coming via web im here. Im here, mr. Chairman. Can you hear me . You are recognized thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate it. Mr. Aben, the Defense Department Inspector General is one of the most important ig positions in all of government. And if confirmed, you will lead an office of nearly 1500 investigators, auditors, other staff that will be responsible for investigating, fraud, abuse across the department whose budget accounts for half of all federal discretionary spending. Now, this job requires someone with experience in leading Large Organizations and overseeing highprofile investigations, as well as someone who can exercise strong independence. So mr. Aben, in the past three Defense Department igs all came into this role having been igs at other smaller agencies. Have you ever been an Inspector General for any federal or state agency . No, i have not, senator. Well, President Trump has already fired or removed five inspectors general this year alone, including the ig who youve been nominated to replace. It seems clear to me that the president doesnt believe inspectors general should be investigating his administration. Now, despite your obvious lack of experience, i know youre going to say that you are committed to being independent and resisting political pressure. And frankly, its easy to say that in a confirmation hearing when you want the big promotion. So instead of asking you that, i just want to get more specific. The president has already shown an interest in using military forces to quell peaceful protests. He did it right here in washingtons Lafayette Square just two months ago. Its an abuse of power. Its a disturbing misuse of our military. If the department of defense leadership allowed military forces to deploy to American Cities in response to people who are exercising their 1st amendment right, is that something you would consider investigating . Senator, any time theres an expenditure that involves the department of defense, that falls under the purview of the Inspector Generals office, in that type of situation, theres an expenditure appropriated towards the movement of troops or whatnot, and that would fall under consideration for review by the Inspector Generals office. Good. I appreciate that. You know, i hope we never see another Lafayette Square or similar incident again, but im glad to hear you say that such an episode may lead to the rise of an investigation. You know, i appreciate your past Public Service, and i know that you would tell us that youre going to be independent, but im concerned that the president has picked you for this job precisely because he believes that you will not stand up to him. So let me just be really clear about this. Over the past several months, the president had repeatedly worked to delegitimize the up coming elections. Hes deployed federal troops to exercise force against peaceful protesters, and last week he proposed delaying the election. Failure to take these actions seriously is a mistake for both democrats and republicans. We need watchdogs at the dod who will safeguard our democracy, even if it means preventing the president from turning the military into his own personal militia. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator warren. Senator holly . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you all for being here. Missouri as you know is the proud home of the kansas city National Security campus, which does extraordinary work producing the nonnuclear components of the nnsas programs. Can you give me a sense, and i think senator cotton touched on this earlier, but i think it is important to revisit it how do you believe the Nuclear Weapons council should the preparation of the nnsas budget so we can ensure the facility in kansas city and others like it get the resources they need to meet do dx requirements . Dod requirements . Well, the council needs to be able to do exactly what the law has charged them to do, coordinate and approve nnsas Budget Proposal, and also, track that through the process, through the congress, so that in the end result, nnsa gets the budget that it needs to deliver and support the department of defense for its mission. Do you support modernizing the nnsas production complex and support the programs and priorities laid out in the 2018 Nuclear Review . Absolutely. Very good. Mr. Hansel, let me ask you about the National Intelligence agency which is building a new campus in st. Louis, that will host many of the agencys most important functions and capabilities, can you give me a sense of how you this campus and the nga more broadly contributing to the department of defenses shift away from counterterrorism and toward Great Power Competition . Senator, if confirmed, i would help manage that trade space between our enduring intelligence requirements and the new prioritization of nds efforts. I specifically to the nga facility and broader nga assets, i would say it is critical these intelligence investments are critical in order to inform the power competition, to identify additional gaps that might be required very good. Let me ask you about a related security issue. I introduced legislation back in march that would prohibit all federal employees including dod employees, dod personnel from downloading or using the app tiktok on their devices, on federal devices. Can you give me a sense of your understanding of what security dangers this app tiktok poses to dod employees and why it is important that dod personnel not use tiktok on government devices . Yes, senator. Im certainly aware of the Security Threat from tiktok application and believe it is not on the list of approved applications for Department Personnel network. Further more, relative to the threat of tiktok, i would say the departments role as an interagency player in the broader review specifically and if confirmed would participate in that. Based on these the risks that youre aware of, with the tiktok app and as you point out dods own actions now in prohibiting personnel from using it, i believe actually the department went so far as to discourage dod personnel from permitting their own dependents, minor children from downloading it on personal devices, in light of what you know about this, would you agree that tiktok ought to be prohibited on all government devices . Senator, my purview would be informed with conjunction of cio for dod policy, but certainly would work with interagency colleagues for a broader government policy. Let me to broaden just a little bit. Tiktok of course isnt the only application that has that comes with some sort of tie to beijing that could potentially pose security risks for dod personnel or for civilians for that matter, if you are confirmed how would you make sure that other applications that have chinese ownership or chinese influence are kept off of dodissued devices . Senator, i think actions similar to what we outlined for tiktok would be applicable. I think specifically to the chinese threat, though, is to ensure that a principle we follow when constructing our efforts so that they are aligned across the entire range of the value chain, from very Early Research and development through the entire Defense Industrial base, to support traditional players that develop and deliver capability. It is that management of information across the Defense Intelligence base thats a vulnerability. Very good, thank you. Let me ask you about your responsibilities, if confirmed, you would be responsible for overseeing investigations of waste fraud and abuse in Afghanistan Reconstruction. Can you give me some examples now of waste fraud abuse in the afghan reconstruction effort that you know of and find particularly worthy of attention . Senator, as you are aware, the department of defense Inspector General is the lead ig for all oversight, the reconstruction efforts are headed up through the Afghanistan Reconstruction office. We would be deconflicting and collaborating them on those efforts. Specific examples that i read through the reporting, you know, include some Construction Contracts and some incidences, it would be incumbent upon us to make sure there is a clear focus for the taxpayer that every dollar allocated is being spent for its intended purpose and not wasted. Ive got some additional questions for you mr. Abend about that, my time has expired here. I will give those to you in the record and then some questions for you mr. Bremer that i didnt get to, but i will have for you in the record as well. Thank you all for being here. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator holly. Senator gillibrand . She is via webex. Mr. Chairman, im going to pass to the next person. Im just getting my computer together. All right. Well come to you next after that. Senator jones via web ex . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you to all our Witnesses Today for your past service and your willingness to serve in the capacities for which you have been nominated. I would like to ask about your background. Your biography states that while serving in the army, you helped stand up the Standing Joint force headquarters for elimination. And while youve got a very impressive back ground, there has been some concern about your lack of nuclear experience for this particular position. So i would like for you to talk to the committee a little bit about how with your career and particularly on the Standing Joint force for headquarters for elimination, how you experience with regard to the Nuclear Aspect has prepared you for this up coming position . Senator, im a strong leader with significant technical aptitude, and ive worked the issues of nuclear, chemical, and biological defense over my 36year career. During my last three years, in the army, ending in my requirement in 2016, i worked at u. S. Strategic command. I worked directly for the commander admiral haney, and i also was dual hatted working as the Deputy Director for Stratcom Center for encountering wmd. At stratcom, i was involved as the main point of contact for not only the Stratcom Center, but also the Standing Joint force headquarters on stratcoms strategic and operational planning. I participated in all their global series of exercises and also provided input with regards to their strategic targeting planning process. I was a frequent [inaudible] to stratcom headquarters, i interfaced very heavily with the face. With regards to the Standing Joint force headquarters, most of the focus of that was getting the u. S. Military ready for a potential conflict on the korean peninsula. And part of that charge was to do planning in case our forces, Coalition Partners ever had to go and seize chemical, biological and Nuclear Sites in north korea, to either prevent attacks from occurring or to prevent the proliferation of those materials elsewhere. I think thats good. I thank you very much. I appreciate it. I dont mean to cut you off, and i may ask you to do more for questions for the record, but my time is running out a little bit. I want to get to a similar question to you, mr. Hansel, impressive career, and i appreciate it very much. I have a little bit of concern about your lack of intelligence specific experience. If you would, could you just describe for the committee specifically what experience or training youve received to prepare and qualify you to assume the role of deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence . Yes, senator. As i stated in the opening statement, as a special forces officer, i was both a collector and consumer intelligence and familiar with intelligence on the tactical edge. As senior director of the National Security council, i was privy to interagency efforts of the intelligence space. A portion of my responsibilities on the nsc within the confines of my portfolio was coordination among intelligence agencies to better integrate efforts towards supporting strategic priorities. Thank you. Mr. Bremer, there are reports that you had presented a plan to replace troops in afghanistan with military contractors. Could you talk about that a little bit and describe for the committee what you believe is the appropriate role for private security contractors in afghanistan or in other areas of active service . Senator, we own a portfolio company. It provides very important support to our war fighters down range in a number of different geographies, mainly around logistics and maintenance. I think thats the sort of role the private military contractors have in overseas combat operations is supporting u. S. Troops abroad. All right. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Appreciate it. Thank you. Senator gillibrand, by web ex . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Bremer, the last two decades has seen an enormous transformation in our military, which is most evident when we look at the role of our special Operations Community that assumes new duties all over the world. Your service as a navy seal occurred before this transformative period. Do you feel you are qualified and possess the necessary experience to lead future efforts, given that you have worked mostly in the Financial Sector during this new era of special operations . Yes, senator, i do. The 20 years that i have been out of the community, i have certainly kept a foot in National Security, but the body of work and development and experience that i had is very applicable, especially as it relates to the organized train and equip functions of the office that is very clearly intended for the assistant secretary of defense for special operations to oversee. I appreciate that congressional intent is clear that this position is now intended to reside between the u. S. Special Operations Commander and the secretary of defense, and so im used to that sort of oversight role at the board level, looking into how money is spent, the efficacy of programs and a number of different skill sets in the private sector that are applicable to the oversight role in this position. The special Operations Community, in particular the navy seals have seen a number of scandals recently. Given this current image, do you believe that you are the right person to reform the special Operations Community and rehabilitate its culture . I do, senator. I share your concern. Its gotten a lot of air time here today. It is a significant issue, and it needs to be addressed head on. I understand the enterprise, the sof enterprise having come out of the service as a seal. It is a good starting point because i understand how these organizations are tasked to organize. I understand how they have independent cultures, and i understand how the training pipelines if you get them right can involve training and ethics from a very early part of an individuals service. You know, my perspective on this is when somebody shows up for day one of the army sfq course, ethics should be a big part of their training. It should start on day one. It should be in the dna of every sof operator and it is going to take a concerted effort over multiple years to sort of turn this narrative around because openly it tarnishes the vast majority of special operators that are out there doing their work honorably. We cant allow that to happen. Thank you. Mr. Abends, i want to talk about whistleblowers. As you know [inaudible] an ig cannot expose a whistleblowers identity in the course of the investigation unless it is necessary or essential to carry out the investigation. Do you believe it is ever acceptable for an ig to expose a whistleblowers identity in the course of an investigation . And if yes, when is that acceptable . I think critical importance to keep confidentiality of whistleblowers is paramount for the Whistleblowers Program success. Without the ability of employees, contractors, military servicemembers, Intelligence Community members to come forward with information and not fear reprisal, the Whistleblower Program would crumble upon itself. Im committed to protecting the identities pursuant to the ig act all the way through, pursuant to the law and to ensuring that people can come forward and report fraud, waste and abuse. As the senior policy advisor for u. S. Customs and border protection, have you ever been involved in any way of deployment of the personnel to washington, d. C. , Portland Oregon or any other city . Senator, when i was when i received the nomination, i stepped back from my daytoday duties and not involved in any of those actions. Okay. If as Inspector General you were to investigate and then find reasonable grounds to believe that these statutes have been violated by pentagon officials in the context of ongoing protests, do you commit to reporting those findings to congress and to the public . Senator, i commit to reporting the results of those investigations if they were undertaken pursuant to the law and to the committee as well. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator gillibrand. I believe there are no more members seeking recognition at this time, and i would ask senator reed, do you have any further comments . [inaudible]. All right. Let me just mention, this year the nnsa assessed it would need just roughly 19. 9 billion dollars to accomplish its mission and during the budget process doe, department of energy, thats secretary burlet and o and b cut that request to 17 1 2 billion dollars without consultation to with dod. Luckily President Trump in fact we were all there and appealed to him, members of this committee, as to the need thats been impressed upon us to adequately have the Nuclear Capability that we need at this time. So the president believed us. He took it back up to where it was, another 2 1 2 billion dollars. Now, since that time, i think i know secretary burlet is a very effective lobbyist and all of a sudden the request that the president has had to go back up to 19. 9 billion was reduced back down to the original amount, reduced by about 2 1 2 billion dollars. I would say that you are probably one of the most knowledgeable persons in this field, and so i would like to ask you the question is, have you had a chance to assess the budget that were talking about now, and having gone up from 17 1 2 to roughly 20 billion and then back down again, what would be your assessment as to where we should be in that budget process for this year . Senator, the budget needs to be restored to what the original nnsa Budget Proposal was. That was a very deliberative process, by the Nuclear Weapons council, with input from the combat and command. A lot of thought was put into that. If that budget is not actually provided to nnsa, they will not be able to deliver on their war head acquisition programs, and they will not be able to do their infrastructure plans, and in accordance with our modernization schedule, its got a significant and severe impact if it remains the way it is. I couldnt think of a better answer for that, and i appreciate very much your background, your knowledge, and your willingness to come forth with honesty. It is what our needs are. Theres nothing more important that were dealing with than that Nuclear Capability, and i think we all understand that. Let me thank all four of you for your time this morning. Looking forward to serving with you. Thank you very much. We are adjourned. Book tv on cspan 2 has top, nonfiction books and authors, every weekend. Coming up sunday, msnbc political analyst maxwell with her book the end of white politics on identity politics and how to create a more inclusive democratic party. Shes interviewed by ceo and founding president maria kumar. Then at 10 45 p. M. , maryland republican governor larry hogan on his life and career with his book still standing. Watch book tv on cspan 2, this weekend. The perjury case against President Trumps former National Security advisor Michael Flynn will be reheard by the full u. S. Court of appeals for the d. C. Circuit on tuesday. The panel of ten judges will decide whether a federal distribute court judge must dismiss the charges against Michael Flynn as recommended by the Justice Department. Hear the case live, tuesday at 9 30 a. M. Eastern on cspan and at cspan. Org or listen live with the free cspan radio app. Attorney general william barr and ivanka trump announced this week that Justice Department is awarding over 35 Million Dollars in Housing Assistance grants to victims of human trafficking. The money can also be u