Transcripts For CSPAN3 Defense Department Confirmations 20171103

Opioid epidemic. After that, a border oversight hearing. Yesterday the United Nations called for the lift on the u. S. Embargo against cuba. Several Defense Department nominees testified at conformation hearing earlier. Well hear from mark esper asked about Army Readiness and Sexual Assaults in the military. The Senate Armed Services committee is chaired by arizona senator, john mccain. Good morning. Senate Armed Service s committe meets to consider the nominations of mark t. Esper for secretary of the army. Personnel of red naez. Joseph to be undersecretary of defense for intelligence. And guy v. Roberts for nuclear, chemical and biological defense weapons. I would like to say that ive been pleased with the reaction of the secretary of defense. And the administration in being cooperative in responding to our questions and to our ability to carry out our responsibilities on the Defense Authorization bill. I think that most members were happy with the briefing that we received concerning the actions on the u. S. S. Mccain and others. And so were glad to begin this hearing. We thank all of you from joining us this morning. We welcome your family and friends here with us today. As is our tradition at the beginning of your testimony. We invite you to introduce those who are joining you. Its the standard for this committee to ask certain questions in order to exercise its legislative and oversight responsibilities. Its important that this committee and other appropriate committees of the congress be able to receive testimony briefings and other communications of information. Id ask that you each provide responses to the following questions. For the years i have been a member of this committee, it has not been an important issue. It is now an important issue because we are not receiving the information and communication that is the constitutional responsibility of this committee. So i urge you to consider your answers very carefully when i ask these questions. Have you ad hered to applicable laws and regulations governing conflicts of interest . Yes, sir. Yes. Will you insure that your staff complies with deadlines established for requesting communications, including questions for the record in hearings . Yes. Will you cooperate in providing witnesses and briefers in response to congressional requests . Yes, sir. Will those witnesses be protected from reprisal for their testimony or briefings . Yes, sir. Do you agree to confirm and testify upon request before this committee . Yes. Do you agrooee to provide documents including electronical forms of communication in a timely manner when requested by a dually constituted committee or for the basis of any good faith delay or denial in providing such documents . Yes. Have you assumed any duties or undertaken any actions which would appear to presume the outcome of the conformation process . Yes. Thank you. Mr. Willky over half of the annual Defense Budget is spent on personnel costs to include training, health care and compensation. Our forces facing a readiness crisis. Our personnel, our experiencing the strain of 16 years of continuous conflict. I wish you could have heard our navy testimony yesterday concerning the accidents that have taken place and we all know that this congress bears significant responsibility. For the lack of funding and lack of readiness, lack of capability of our military, which then makes for 100hour work weeks which then leads to accidents. Im sure you are aware of the testimony the chief of naval operation. Our forces facing, as i said, a readiness crisis. Personnel are experiencing the strain of continuous conflict. And the next personnel will be the senior responsible for issues that have been a priority for this committee in the last three years. The sweeping personnel Reforms Congress has passed in recent Defense Authorizations bills reflect the import anance. We expect that you will work to faithfully implement these reforms and be a forward thinking partner to this committee. And serving in defense of our living room. And the youngest and brightest americans. The secretary of defense for intelligence. You will serve as the principal intelligence advisor for the c secretary of defense and dual of Defense Intelligence in the office of the director of national intelligence. Its been nearly 15 years since this position was created and the security environment is changed dramatically during that time. The scope and complexity of Global Threats is unlike anything the nation has faced during the last seven decades. Thats why its more important than ever that this committee and the department make certain that Defense Intelligence enterprise is appropriately structured to integrate and prioritize intelligence resources and capabilities throughout the department. I look to our nominee to explain how he intends to reassess this structure and insure that the military has timely and accurate intelligence to defend the nation against a rapidly evolving series of security challenges. Mr. Roberts, if confirmed, you will be the principal advisor to the secretary of defense on Nuclear Weapons and chemical and biological defense as well as the executive director of the Nuclear Weapons counsel. As such, you will have a key role in shepherding the Modernization Program of the nuclear tried a, including the bomber, submarine, icbm, longrange stand off weapon and Nuclear Command control. If confirmed we will expect you to advocate for the timely and responsible execution of these programs which remain a corner stone of the Nations National defense, especially in the current strategic environment and we expect you will work with the Security Administration and the Department Energy to support the recapitalization that supports the Nuclear Weapons stock pile. Many of these facilities are in a disgraceful state of disrepair and strong leadership from both dod and doe will be required to keep all of these programs on time and at cost. There is no clearer illustration that our army remains at war than the combat loss of four of our offerings in niger last months. After 16 years of war, the army perhaps more than any other service, has been tested. Routinely theyve proven their courage, skill and determination. The burden imposed on our soldiers only gres as threats to our nation increase and sequestration remains the law of the land. Given current operational demands, restoring readiness must be the armys First Priority. Weve made some progress this year towards improving ready brigads ready for deployment. But the army still does nautd plan to return to full Spectrum Readiness until 2021 at the earliest. Meanwhile, the army is woefully behind on modernization and our soldiers are increasingly unprepared to confront the harsh realities of 21st century warfare. With glaring capability gaps, these problems would only get worse as our adversaries continue to modernize their forces. Put simply our army lacks both the adequate capacity and the key capabilities to win decisively. If confirmed we will expect you to implement the six key priorities for force modernization that the remember army announced last month. We must work to turn these Program Goals into real equipment and put them in the hands of our soldiers. They cant afford the false choice between readiness and modernization. Building a ready modern army will require Visionary Leadership and a clear strategy. If confirmed, we will expect you to lead the army to those ends. Youll have to learn the lessons of the past, make tough decisions, take and manage real risks and hold yourself and those working for you accountable for results. When you do so, you will always have an ally in this chairman, in this committee. Finally, dr. Esper,b i would be remiss if i did not reiterate the concerns of Defense Ministry sf filling out the leadership ranks at the department of defense. I want to be clear that my reservations throughout early consultations i had with the administration about potential nominees including yours, and a handful of others, it was then i decided i couldnt support further nominees with that background beyond those we had already discussed. I appreciate your commitment, not only to recuse yourself on matters related to the Raytheon Company but further not to accept or seek wavers to your recusal obligation. And i would like to submit your letter stating your commitment into the record woutd objection. Let me thank our witnesses for their willingness to serve our nation at this challenging time. The length of my Opening Statement was directed, directly related to the importance of the task that you will be asked to undertake. Senator reed. Well, thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Let me join in welcoming our nominees and to thank them and their families for their willingness to serve in their positions. Id also like to, as you will, as you introduce your families, acknowledge the Critical Role they play in supporting your efforts and the men and women in uniform. Youve been nominated to lead one of our greatest institutions, the United States army. If confirmed you will be serving during a time with many challenges, why we continue to deploy soldiers around the world. The army soul so continues to grapple with modernization and canceling those efforts that are underperforming or of course prohibited and you have a wealth of experience including your expeer ynls in the army as well as in public and private sector. If confirmed, your unique perspective will allow you to tackle these challenges head on and i look forward to hearing your views on these issues. Mr. Willky, if confirmed of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, youll face charges including our military has adequate numbers of ready and Trained Service members of sufficiently high character and talent to meet National Defense objectives. This over arching imperative requires many challenges. Exeding the increase to the overall Defense Budget, even as the number of active duty soldiers has dropped from over 2 million in 1980 to 1. 3 million today. Despite an increase to Defense Budget over that time frame. Your vast expeer yngs with the department and congress should serve you well as if you are confirmed. I look forward to working with you and youll be tackling difficult issues and i know youll do them well. You have been nominated to serve at a very critical time. Intelligence and operations are more integrated than ever before. But at the same time the demand for timely intelligence is exer baited by the inefficient allegation process of airborne intelligence and recognizance capabilities among the gop combattant commands. As gathering capabilities continue to advance at an exceptional pace, were also experiencing a shortfall in analytical tools necessary to make use of the overwhelming amount of intelligence being generated. Given your more than three deai decades of service to the namy, you should serve with great distinction as you have in the past. Mr. Roberts, if confirmed, you will serve in a position that dates back to the 1946 Atomic Energy act. Since its mission its faced nonproliferation and treaty verification. However, its core mission as not changed. To support its Nuclear Deterrent mission and the Department Energys nnsa. In no Uncertain Terms i expect you as your predecessors have done to hold your nnsa accountable in meeting the stock pile neesds and restoring our ability as we recapitalize our tried a over the next 20 years. Following the ratification of the new star treaty, this committee has extended considerable time and effort holding the nnsa accountable to this mission. Again, thank you for your willingness to serve the nation and had thank you, mr. Chairman. I note the presence of our respected friends, senator tells, who would like to i believe introduce one of the witnesses. Thank you, mr. Chairman, Ranking Member and distinguished colleagues on Senate Armed Services. I have the privilege of making a few comments about colonel robert willky. He has an extensive resume im sure is in the recrord but i think it bears repeating the things i think make him uniquely qualified. Many of you met him when he was working for secretary mattis to help with the transition. Hes got several years of private sector experience including working on projects to reform and reorganizeinize the ministry of defense supply chain and logistics system monopoly he also served in the Bush Administration for both gates and rumsfield as assistant secretary of defense and before that he served under condoleezza rice. I could go through the full resume but i wont. I have to tell you being a junior senator being willing to serve with me was a real honor. He started under jesse helms and hes worked on capitol hill for many years up to and serving in the leaders office. He has a grasp of history that is unparallel. We play a game in my office called stump robert. We havent figured out how to do it yet and he has a broad base of educational experience. In your comments about taking readiness seriously theres probably not a day that goes by that were not talking about that and its one of the reasons when we were looking at subcommittees i may serve on that he was the one to say it would be great for you to get the personnel subcommittee because thats an area we can do a lot of work and we made progress with the great staff and im pretty sure they have a high opinion of robert. We also call him forest gump. Because there is not a single story he cannot put in context of some experience he had had dating back to the roman times. He is going to be a great addition to the department of defense and im personally its bitter sweet to lose him but in my capacity as personnel subcommittee, i get opportunity to continue to work with him and do great work. So i whole heartedly appreciate the opportunity to introduce him. Well, thank you, senator tillerson. Thank you for your very good words and your opinion is shared on this diasas well. And so maybe well just begin with you, mr. Willky, if youd like to proceed. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator reed and distinguished members of the committee on Armed Services this is the second time i have appeared in this chair. I hope its better than the last time. Yes. In 2006 i was blessed to have my wife julie with me. We grew up together outside of fort bragg and she is the foundation of our family in both our civilian and military lives. Unlike 2006, my daughter megan is now old enough to sit here. She is escaping from her Junior High School classes at washington and lee and is also representing her brother adam, who is a first semester Mechanical Engineering student at clemson university. Im also proud to have my sister in law here, we too went to high school in fayette vill. You welcome him to the committee. Thank you. I was honored to be introduced by a former member of this committee and a truly great senate leader, trent lot. Im equally humbled today not only by the confidence placed in me but to be introduced by senator tillerson. Senator helms said for any senator to truly represent North Carolina, he must understand North Carolina highway 24. That is the road that connects 45 of the entire United States marine corps in the eastern part of our state to the place senator reed calls the hub of the universe, fort brag. He exemplifieies what all of usn the military life strive to be and that is to serve as leader. If confirmed dwrb will be charged with making life easier for military and civilian who carry our future on their shoulders. Ive been privileged to see this military life from many angles, as a dependent, as the son of a gravely wounded combat soldier, and as a Senior Leader in the white house in the pentagon. My earliest memories are of the mass jumps of the Airborne Division at fort brag and of the artillery half section rolling across the old post quad rangal. I witnessed first hand the transition from the conscript military to the allvolunteer total force of guard active and reserve envisioned by the late army chief of staff craig neighbors. Mr. Chairman, since desert storm readiness has meant the ability to mobilize, fight and win two wars. Without prejudging the strategic review, that notion of readiness is a good place for p r to start when assessing the quality of the total force. In my opinion, as the chairman mentioned, the department has too often been caught up in cha chasing the shiny object. There have been few champions for readiness to work with this committee. Simply put we need to get people back in the range and in the motor pools and prepare for the full spectrum of conflict, a spectrum that now includes cyber in space. The thresh hold question is whether each decision enhances the ability to deter and if need be keeping our soldiers, sailers and airmen and marines alive and back quickly. When they return, we owe them and their families the same level of care and attention. This is not the military that he joined that dawn of the kennedy administration. Yet, were hamstrung bay policies and procedures to run that force of multiple millions refreshed each year by thousands of drafties and rotc graduates. Today our military is vastly different. Comprised entirely of high quality volunteers. 17 of the force is female. Many of whom are serving in the front lines in numbers and missions unimaginable in the days of the wax. But our head impaquarters are bloeted. Men and women forced to leave in their prime. Promotions often see the bottom performer advance at the same pace as the front runner. Success will increasingly rely on the technical aability of our troops yet our assignment system values dep lth over breadth of experience. Service members cannot move freely among active guard and reserve components. In my fathers day, few soldier husband families. Today over 60 do. For our families, the center of their lives can be the military health care system. But that system has been slow to keep up with modern medicaled a vanls vances for conditions like autism and other behavioral disorders. We still center military families making their medical appointments on paper. Constant rotation again based on a 19th century army model prevents spouses from putting down roots and garnering mean g meaningful employment. The bottom line, as the chairman said in his remarks to secretary mattis is if the families are not happy, the soldier walks. The allvolunteer force has performed miracles but dwell times for front line marine and infantry units are down to 1. 14 years and on any given day, 15 of the army is medically unable to deploy. Mr. Chairman, we must address those hard facts or the force will break. This committee has kept face pace and faith with many of the finest in the world. If confirmed, i pledge to build on your work and work with the it great patriots that part of they are families, the patriots that help you keep that faith. I thank you and look forward to your questions. Thank you for an excellent statement. Dr. Esper. Chairman mccain, members of the Armed Services committee, its an honor and a privilege to appear before you this morning as the president s nominee of secretary for the army. I would like to begin by recognizing my wife, leah and our children, luke, john and kate with me today. Like many military families they made sacrifices in support of my service. Theyre welcome here. Less than a year after we married, my wife experienced anxious days and nights to the gulf war. Later she gave birth to our first son and Army Hospital in a foreign country while i was training throughout and we moved four times in five years but she always made a home wherever the army sent us. After i transitioned to the virginia guard, she showed additional parenting duties during annual training and everything in between. This will continue for several years during my various jobs in the senate, the house, as a Deputy Assistant secretary of defense, until 2007. I tell the story because the big thanks i owe my wife for all the support she gave me and the terrific job she did raising our children. I also show the story to give you a sense of my experiences in the army. Until my tirement, i wore an army uniform for 25 years. I was fortunate to serve in some of the best top leadership units and serve on three separate continents in defense of our country. I understand well the challenges of military service. And how it all impacts the soldiers and their families. I was fortunate to serve with the best. Of the United States army whose selfishness and vigilant keep our great country safe. Their welfare and readiness will always be my top priority. Todays is the greatest ground force in history. Despite this fact, the service faces many challenges. This committee know them well. Pi pivoting to address adversaries while terrorists fight they fight terrorists abroad. The next secretary must lead the premier ground force to success in these difficult times and insure its prepared for the future fights as well. My vow, if it confirmed is deliver my values, experiences and all my energies to address these issues. If confirmed my First Priority will be reidiness, insuringing the total army is across the full spectrum of conflict. With the army engaged in over 140 countries around the world, training rotations to europe to deter russia and four deployed units in the pacific defending against a bell koes, north korea, readiness must be our top ort. This means recruiting the best our nation has to offer. And insuring theyre well traind and well led. Every unit must be prepared to deploy and accomplish its mission. These are the fundamental title 10 duties of the secretary of the army and if confirmed i intend to do them well. This means growing the force while maintaining quality, reshapeing it to be more successful and robust lin domains to guarantee clear over match in futurer conflicts. The secretary must articulate a clear vision. Reforms championed must be and includes modifying the personnel system. Prototyping and demonstrating systems early and involving the private sector. We must provide them with the tools they need to fight and win when had they need them. I kn in the meantime they mus exercise better stewardship of its resources. So third priority is efficiency. I intend to play an active role in the top acquisition programs, reduce bureaucracy, bring inefficiency out of processies and promote an audit ready culture. We must free up time, money and man power to be invested in our other priorities. If confirmed proven to maximize and collaborate broadly, treat others with respect, encourage innovation, Critical Thinking and trait talk. Empower people and hold leaders accountab accountable. They must be upheld at every level. Chairman mccain, members of this committee, thank you for your time and consideration today. I know well the critical article one responsibilities. And what you expect. So i look forward to working continuously to insure inUnited States army is ready to fight and win any day under any conditions and that the total army family are, soldiers, civilians and loved ones at home are well cared for. Im grateful for your consideration and look forward to your questions. Thank you, mr. Kernen. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. And for your consideration to be the undersecretary of defense for intelligence. Im appreciative of the trust and confidence President Trump and secretary mattis have placed in me and if confirmed look forward to assuming the responsibilities of a role i view as extremely important. Id like to thank my family who are not here in person but are in spirit. They have all influenced me greatly. My father, who left Columbia Medical School in 1939 to fly b 32s and my father in law who flew during world war ii and two sisters, martha and mary who are active humanitarians on many fronts. Most important lay my wife, jan, always patriotic, supportive and caring. She was alone much of my military career raising our two children and too often called upon to support and console casualties from my command. Lastly, preeminent reason for my willing noosz serve is for the men and women who stand in defense for our country. Should i be confirmed they will have the unwaving commitment to the task. When combined along with its impact on leader Decision Making is crucial to our nations security. During combat and Contingency Operations i placed a high value on intelligence support, it allowed us to mitigate risk and exploit inhadtelligence on those target sites. In my experience my countries and our allies intelligence and Law Enforcement enterprises were rue taen lee vital. Collecting collaborative capabilities remains firm and if confirmed that will continue. My initial priorities would include providing intelligence support to war fighters and National Security decision makers. Collaborating across the department of defense, and with our allies and emerging foreign partners and finally leveraging technologies and innovations where they can address other internal and external threats and challenges. We must collect, process analyze information from all domains. Humans, sea, air, land, space and cyber. Hour our intelligence enterprise must be trained to do so as well. If confirmed will relentlessly pursue the resources that meet our nations intelligence needs. In closing im committed to working very closely with this committee and others of jurisdiction to provide the information needed to carry out oversight responsibilities. Thank you for your consideration. Look forward to your questions. Thank you. Mr. Roberts. Thank you for your consideration of my nomination of undersecretary of defense for biological and Nuclear Defense programs. Its a an honor and a privilege to be considered for this. Id like the thank them for their confidence in me and i owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to my wife, lin and two sons who regrettably could not be here today. But their love, support and sacrifice have been uplifting and without it, i wouldnt be here today. And, would like to thank the men and women who continue to serve and have served our nation. As i can attest first hand, we cannot thank them enough. I feel no stronger sense of purpice and inspiration than if confirmed to inshur they as well as all americans are fully protected from the threat of weapons of mass destruction, proliferation and use. Like wise i look forward to working with the rest of the defense team to implement the president s plan to rebuild our military and insure the safety and security of american peeping, particularly regarding our modernizing our Nuclear Enterprise. I believe my 35 years of expeer y experience negauche yioestiatin seeing our nato posture makes me uniquely qualified. In various conventional and strategic arms control negauche yiegzs. Working in the private sector on nonproliferation Training Programs and as an academic teaching classes on nonprolific arms control strategy and osd policy where i worked on issues that continue to be delves including russia, north korea and missile deterrent and defense policy. And a range of initiatives. I work closely with our allies to reshape our policy towards russia, develop and implement the policy to prevent proliferation. While there, i developed a keen appr appreciation for the importance of regular consultations and working closely with our allies and partners as well as other International Actors and industry. If confirmed i anticipate continuing to work closely with our allies and partners as well as my counterparts to proliferate our efforts. Most importantly the president has prioritized nuclear modernation as the highest priority. If confirmed i will work to first insure we have a robust Nuclear Enterprise with a full set of survivable nuclear capables and develop a posture for todays threats and challenges and 3rd, institute the clairatory policies that credibly convey the message that aggression of any kind is not a rational option. I believe we must maintain the deterrent posture to kourpter the threat of weapons of mass destruction collection and use. I will work closely with other ageany partners and allies to inhi insure they never have the opportunity to use mass disruption against our forces and our homeland. And i look forward to support developing and modernizing the needed capabilities to deter our adversaries, reassure our allies, prevent the spread of and efktively respond to proliferation in use. Thank you again and i look forward to your questions. Thank you very much, mr. Roberts. I just like to make a comment here and that is the reason why these nominations have not been acted on as rapidly as possible is because of failures of communication between this committee and the pentagon. Which is a shame since i have known them for many, many years. We expect from you, as i open questions that i ask, not only communication but cooperation. And that is something that is our Constitutional Responsibilities and i hope that you appreciate it. Dr. Esper, from time to time theres frustration because of failures of major weapons system. Over the last 10 years or so, we have wasted about 40 billion on systems like the comanche attack helicopter, the joint Tactical Radio System and the distributed Common Ground system army. Most recently the committee has learned of the failure of the war fighter Information Network tactical or known as win tee. This program has cost the taxpayer over 6 billion. And has yet to meet the requirements of our war fighters. Let me just tell you now that is not acceptable. Its not acceptable to the taxpayers aof america. Its not acceptable to the members of this committee. Weve made several changes in the Defense Authorization bill. But we do not want anymore of these failures. You lose credibility with the American People when a program has to be canceled and it costs the taxpayers over 6 billion. So please keep that in mind and we will be exercising careful scrutiny. We just cant keep wasting billions of dollars like this. We just cant. So i hope thats the message you get from every member of the committee on both sides. So could i ask dr. Esper, you have an a strength of over 1 million soldiers. Army remains one service in the greatest demand by the combattant commanders. All the while it works to build readiness. Is the current budget adequate to maintain readiness and modernize the army for 21st century warfare . I do not think the current budget is adequate to maintain for readiness or prepare for future readiness. Mr. Willky . No, sir, it is not. No, mr. Chairman, i do not believe its sufficient. May i just say again for over two years army leaders have asserted readiness as priority number one. You believe that the army is at a level of readiness to conduct combined arms maneuver warfare against a peer competitor . I think the army faces many Readiness Challenges and most importantly is to engage a near peer competitor in a high end fight. With only 1 3 of the combat teams and brigads ready and engaging in such a conflict would be conducted significant risk. Thank you. Almost every day we hear of another issue concerning cyber. Either revelations of old attacks, increase in the knowledge that we have concerning what the russians did to try to effect the outcome of our elections. And as far as we can tell, for the last eight years there has not been a strategy in cyber which then would be translated to policy which would then be translated to the action. Now weve got provisions in the Defense Authorization bill. How serious do you think this issue is . Sir, i think the cyber threat is probably one of the most concerning threats that face our nation today. Certainly in terms of what it can do to malicious activity inside of our infrastructure for our nation and cyber activities taking place in the department of defense. We have to commit ourselves to protecting our networks, to mitigating the impacts of malicious activity. We also need to develop an offensive and a defensive capability. Again i think its a very, very serious threat we have to take seriously. It it is a borderless warfare domain. Thats difficult to be tracked, to undermine our democracy. Again whether it be stealing our technology or whether it be trying to influence our elections. Well, i thank you and we look forward to working with you because still to this day we do not see a discernible strategy on confronting an issue that could have under certain circumstances undermined democracy. And our fundamental of selecting our leaders. Senator can i add, we intend to move your nominations through as quickly as possible. We need you to get to work. Senator reed. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Again thank you for your testimony, your service and dr. Espy, let me associate myself with the chairmans initial remarks about the unfortunate and thats a mild term, failures on programs going all the way back to crusader to fighting systems and land systems etc. With the army. Can you give us a sense of how youre going to approach this issue . How youre going to take it on . I share your and chairmans concerns and the rest of the committees with are eguard to the modernization record. Its fraud with a number of mistakes in the past and not only the cost of taxpayers billions of dollars but more importantly if left to soldiers without the tools and weapons they need to be suck stesful on the battle field. We need relook the whole acqu acquisition process and all the way through to the testing part and fielding. And to do that means you need to take a holistic approach which looks at process ease, policies which are trying to eventually get at is a fundamentally new system which changes culture as well. There have been a number of reports in the past that tell us how to do that. The report of 2011. There was a very good report by the Government Affairs committee which i think senator mccain was part of. And it begins with table at the same time and making sure your requirements is stable and from there on, as you move through the acquisition process, doing things such as lining up the assignments of the milestone process that theres clear accountability across the board and i think with what the army announced recently, theyre all in the right direction but to me the key is delearning the process, getting rid of bureaucratic habits, closer engagement with industry, both private and commercial sector. More for off the shelf or things he that can be developed. Prototyping, demonstrating and other transactional authorities and really again fundamentally over hauling the system as it is now. Thank you. Is now. Thank you. Mr. Wilke, thank you for your service here and many other places. Thank you. One of the things the department of defense has struggled with, a societal issue were seeing in headlines everyday is Sexual Harassment. The department has not yet promulgated a comprehensive policy with that regard. Can you give us a commitment you will work on that and get a policy out in a reasonable amount of time . Yes, sir. There are several items in that vein, the report or policy that you refer to was set in place so that the requirement set in place by the fy 15 nda. Given the current climate it is now more than ever and shouldnt have been that long. Thank you very much. You view it as a serious issue, mr. Wilkie . Very serious issue. One of the issues we see everyday, the lack of overisr, one of the factors, i dont know how dispositive in the niger situation. In fact, general walt house said he only got 20 of what he needed. You were in southcom, you probably got zero percent of what you need. How do we fix that quickly particularly given those that will put more pressure on isr. Overhead isr in general, theres insatiable demand for that for the right reasons, isr provides you opportunities for Mission Success and markedly protects your force. Those assets are absolutely critical. The ajudication process we go through, those assets under my charge will be in support of the war fighter. Thats not to say theres opportunities where we can support other organizations, but primarily and i havent seen the investigation on niger but i do believe certainly isrs could have benefitted that and certainly could have benefitted us in southcom. Finally, mr. Roberts, thank you for your service and what you propose to do. Let me stress again concern about the ability of the nsa to support dod through the plutonium pit process looking at acquisition of Nuclear Enterprise roughly 1. 5 to 1 1. 5 trillion roughly over the next decade or so and part of that is getting the plutonium pits. Can you give us a sense of that . Yes, senator. When i first started this process i was actually very surprised to find out we dont have the capability for pit production right now. This committee has looked at and raised this issue. Certainly, if confirmed, one of the highest priorities ill have is to work with nnsa to find out what the delays have been. I find it very perplexing because the weapons council earlier, i think in 2014 had indicated there was a solution to work forward on this and subsequently, there was a series looking at other alternatives by nnsa. Ive seen the letter this committee sent raising those concerns. I believe those concerns are legitimate and we need to work on them. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to blow a little smoke at you guys. In 30 years ive been in the house or Armed Services senate ive never seen a group nochl knees come in more qualified than you four. I think we will turn this corner now because we have the right people at the helm. I want to ask one question, the same question of all four of you, because one of our problems, when i was trying to explain to people the last eight years whats happening to our military, the threat were facing, different than any kind of threat weve ever faced before, you dont have i didnt have the credibility to sell that but when the uniforms started talking about it, that makes a big difference. Weve had that happen. Im very proud of them to tell the unvarnished truth about the problems we have. When general allen testified before this committee that only a third of our brigade combat teams were work, ready, a fourth of our air brigades and half of our divisions were ready and general dunford said to this committee, pretty shocking, he said if we dont address this dynamic with sustained, sufficient and predictable funding, over the course of several years we will lose our qualitative and quantitative competitive advantage. Thats a pretty shocking statement. Id like to ask two questions of each one of you, yes or no questions. Do you agree with the statements by generals allen and dunford . Yes. Yes. Yes. Secondly, the question i had, would you be just as straight forward and honest about very uncomfortable subjects, such as the threat that were facing, as these uniforms . Yes, sir. I believe you will, too. Not just the uniforms are important but the secretaries are important. I have very much of a concern about that. General or dr. Esper, general milli wrote talking about the sustained readiness saying the go of the armys sustained readiness model is to have 66 , not to maintain because were not there now, to achieve 66 of the force in a combat ready status at any moment by the year 2023. Now, would you say that under this model, do you think were on track to reach that goal . Senator, my understanding is the army is on track to reach that goal. My certainly view is thats not fast enough, so if confirmed, i would like to look at ways working with the chief and Senior Army Leaders to find ways to accelerate that particularly given the challenges we face right now in the international scene. Let me also compliment you because the answer you gave to senator reeds questions talking about what our acquisition questions were and your answer i thought was a very definitive answer. Mr. Wilkie, i remember so well, a guy who has always been a real hero to me was jesse helms. I remember going to his funeral, you and i sat next to each other and we talked about that. I would say to my friend, senator tillis, that thats one of the main things i look at when i look at you and your Extensive Service youve had in the past. Im grateful to know that you understand our readiness challenge. I chair the Readiness Committee and been very concerned about where we are today, in terms of your top priority going forward, how would how has our budget cuts in the bca affected our military readiness capacity and capabilities. Its important to answer this question now because of what were in this midst of and debate going on today. Senator, if we start from the premise that we have never face breadth of the strategic challenges we have now that leaves you to only one answer, unless the department of defense has a steady and understandable stream of financing to plan for the years ahead, as any other business would have, then it would not be capable of playing in a field where we continue to have an unfair advantage over our adversaries. Uhhuh. A good answer but its unfortunate. I am concerned, though, about a statement that was made or a fact out there, we dont seem to talk about, that is, only about a quarter of todays 17 to 24 yearolds are eligible for military service. Of that population, even a smaller number are interested in enlisting or commissioning. I was a product of the draft so id like to see what are some of the innovative opportunities we have to expand that pool . What are some of the options we have out there . Sir, it is, as you say, its a societywide problem. What i dont believe the department has done, as we have moved into the 21st century, is adopt the modes of Information Collection that americas young people have. We have not mastered social media. We have not mastered something i consider to be fundamental, and that is online recruiting across the country. Weve also had situations in the last 15 to 20 years where the First Experience that our youth, at one time had with the military, if they were not from a community tied to an installation. Junior rotc. We are losing those units across the country. Obviously in a time of budget crunch, thats probably low on the list. But if youre looking at the long term, youre looking at trying to change the perception of young americans, those kinds of interactions and the ability of the government through the department to adopt to the way young people think is vital or we will never get caught up. My time is expired but thats a great answer. I appreciate that very much. Senator. Thank you, mr. Chairman and congratulations to all of you and thank you for being willing to consider taking on these positions. Dr. Esper, in your testimony you said your First Priority would be readiness insuring the total army would be prepared to fight. Can you elaborate how you would characterize readiness and the National Guard . Yes, maam. I had the pleasure to serve in active duty and the guard. I know all three components fairly well. Including in the last 16 years fighting in afghanistan and iraq we learned anything, learned that the reserve are not just Strategic Reserve but critical component of that. As we try and put readiness on a better footing we look at what in my mind our munition stockpiles, our equipment is better maintained and ready to go. The training for the high end is conducted particularly through the combat training centers. In terms of personnel, units are fully manned. I think that applied to all three components as well. We need to make sure National Guard brigade combat teams are there as well and working closely with the active. I think what most people dont appreciate the majority of the total arm mince the garden army reserve. Its critical we train as a total army in all those regards across the spectrum of conflict. Thank you. I appreciate that. I look forward to you coming up to New Hampshire to see the challenges we face with our guard and reserve in New Hampshire. Mr. Wilkie, first of all, thank you very much for your work as for senator tillis on the special immigrant visa program. That was very helpful. As you know, thats very important as we support our men and women still on the battlefield. I want to ask you about the Healthcare System in the military. You mentioned that in your opening remarks. Kids vac is a universal Vaccine Program that purchases vaccines at a discounted rate from the cdc to make sure they go to children regardless of the familys income. The only Health Insurance plan that does not reimburse or pay the kids vac or similar programs for states for vaccines is tricare. Will you commit to this committee you will focus on this issue and help get this matter resolved . Yes, senator. The kids vacs Program Impacts 10 state, New Hampshire having the largest complaint against the system. I will pledge that i will look at that as well as a number of other things with tricare, but getting our children vaccinated is the top would be a top priority for any undersecretary. Thank you very much. Mr. Kernan, senator mccain talked about the importance of cyber and you agreed with that in your response. Can you tell me who is in charge of Cyber Strategy throughout the United States, not just the department of defense but throughout the federal government . I would just say im familiar with the department of Defense Cyberstrategy and were committed to that. Can you tell me who is in charge at the department of defense in doing that . Right now, its a collective responsibility. I certainly have responsibility for cyber in the intelligence realm and certainly believe i have responsibility for developing the strategy chairman mccain discussed. I think the issue whether its such a prolific and important issue to be addressed because it involves everybody in our country, not just civilian, not just military, our infrastructure, our networks, all those things have to be addressed. I believe it will be a whole of government approach to cyber and we have to collaboratively work together, Leverage Technology to address the problem. I sternal agree with that. Can i just add, somebody has to be in charge, mr. Kernan. Right now no one is. My point, senator mccain. Right now we dont have somebody who can be held accountable, everyone knows is the person in charge if something goes wrong. Mr. Roberts, in your testimony, you talk about working to develop a Nuclear Posture thats responsive to todays threats and challenges and instituting declaratory policies that creditably convey aggression of any kind is not a rational option. What do you mean by that . What kind of policies do we need to have in place . So the concern there is not only having the capabilities to indicate to our adversaries that aggression is not a rational option, but also the political will to make it clear that indeed if you attack us you will pay a terrible price. Having that posture, which right now i feel is difficult to convey because of the fact that we have for so long undercapitalized our Nuclear Deterrent and now were approaching a time where weve got to replace all of those things at a very high cost. Thats going to be a challenge. Are you suggesting that we should be prepared to engage in nuclear war against our enemies . Senator, i believe we should be prepared to engage so they never have to engage. Ive often said that our Nuclear Weapons, we use Nuclear Weapons every single day because its a Political Tool more than a military one. I certainly think that that deterrent made sense against the soviets and was very effective. Im not sure it makes as much sense against north korea. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator rounds. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Let me also add my surprise to that of senator shaheen and chairman mccain with regard, mr. Kernan, to the concern expressed and your response, or rather i would say, perhaps a nonresponse with regard to who would actually be responsible for the cyberchallenges that our nation faces. I think it points out and i would not suggest that you are wrong in your response we actually requested members of the white house to actually participate in one of our hearings here to discuss this specific issue and they declined to even attend. That type of an attitude is the wrong attitude with regard to finding the appropriate way to respond to attacks in the defense of our country and the cyber realm. Mr. Kernan, what i would ask is this, a commitment with regard to your responsibilities to participate and to be able to respond the next time we ask you to come back in terms of laying out a plan to identify a person who would be responsible for cyber defenses within the whole of government within the United States government system. Would you commit to that, sir . I am absolutely committed to that and would Second Coming from the military, there needs to be somebody in charge to make it work and i am absolutely committed to doing that and bringing the department of Defense Cyber concerns, cyber perspectives into helping the whole of government effort. Would you once again, would you agree or concur with us right now its difficult to determine who is actually responsible or that area or that responsibility today . I would concur that its difficult. Its difficult to address who that is. I would say theres lots of activities going on but its not focused under one person that im aware of. Thank you. Im just curious, with regard to, for mr. Roberts and dr. Esper, north koreas Nuclear Weapons have gotten a lot of attention lately but i think we should also be mindful of their chemical weapons stockpile. Open source estimate open source documents estimate north korea has 5,000 tons of chemical weapons and is likely to use them if a conflict breaks out. In 2009, the Army Published a report on counter weapons of mass destruction that stated the army lacks the full range of capability to support the joint force commander in the tactical and operational chemical weapons in mass destruction missions expected in the future. Additionally, a 2015 iran report identified a serious gap between the mag nude of the weapons of mass destruction threat and dod resources or resource priorities for counterwmd missions. Can either of you speak to the army or dods readiness to mitigate the impact of potential north korean use of chemical weapons . Dr. Esper. Senator, ill take first stab at that. That is an area of concern to the army, as i understand it, much like the rest of the army, the forces arent fully prepared. The 130 or so cbr teams, a quarter are deemed ready to go. Work needs to continue in that area because much like the armys preparing to engage at a high end threat, this is a threat you face. This is something i experienced when i went to the gulf war in 1990 was the clear threat of chemical weapons by Saddam Hussein and we were in a different training posture at that time and we need to be in a similar posture as we look at adversaries in asia and europe. If i can add, thats an area of concern im very concerned about. We looked at the threat and the focus is on the nuclear side. Clearly the north crankoreans ha large chemical capability and im concerned about the biocapability they have as well. They have a program from defectors that have told us that. This is one area we are not prepared for to deal with. Thats one of the things, that if confirmed, i plan on addressing very very strongly. Would both of you commit that perhaps time is of the essence with regard to that particular issue . Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator blumenthal. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to join the comments of my colleagues calling attention to the importance of personnel for all the extraordinary equipment and advanced technology we bring to bear at the battlefield. It is at the end of the day our people who are our greatest resource. I would second senator the remarks made previously about the excellent qualifications of these nominees and i want to thank and congratulate each of you. Before i ask any questions, i want to just raise for the committees consideration news about the ruling in a case now pending in guantanamo, in fact, camp justice, as it is perhaps incorrectly called there, a ruling by air force colonel vans spate presiding over a case holding in contempt of course Brigadier General john baker, a 28 year marine corps veteran, second highest ranking marine corps lawyer sentencing him to 21 days of confinement and a 1,000 fine simply for raising the issue about a potential conflict of interest or ethical problem with the three lawyers who were assigned to that Death Penalty case at guantanamo. I am deeply troubled by this decision. I find it very very questionable indeed potentially contrary to our Justice System and i hope that our committee will bring oversight to this matter and this case and to the conduct of military justice at guantanamo. The chairman led this committee in requiring of the last administration a comprehensive plan to end the use of the guantanamo detention facility. Unfortunately, the last administration failed to followthrough on the chairmans direction. This job now belongs to the present administration and this committee has expressed very constructive interest in making sure that the Justice System works there in accordance with our due process requirements. Obviously, im not asking the witnesses to respond but i hope that the department of defense will turn its attention and give us a briefing on what is happening there. I also recognize its possibilities for intervention may be limited. I know all of our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of the recent terrorist attack in new york city. And i am troubled by the president s eliminating funding to a lab in new york city, whose sole purpose is to train and support First Responders who defend our nations great city. The National Urban security and technologys laboratory known as nuscl, has worked for over 65 years to keep our Community Safe from nuclear, biological and radiological attacks. If enacted, these cuts, in my view, they are careless and contradictory, would weaken our defenses against terrorist attacks. I sent a letter to the appropriations subcommittee urging 3. 4 million in fy 18. Appropriations committee i would like to know whether you will support the funding for this laboratory which is essential to our National Defense. Senator, im not familiar with the lab or the issue, but i certainly will look into it and more than willing to work with you on this issue. I believe we need to continue making investments, research and development is critical to the armys future readiness. On this particular issue id like to follow up with you on it, if confirmed. I appreciate that. Mr. Roberts, i think you will have, in particular, jurisdiction over this issue. Senator, i believe that lab is under the department of Homeland Security. But saying that, dealing with potential attack to our homeland, the department of defense will work closely with the department of Homeland Security and identify particular gaps, frankly, if this closure would result in a gap is something we need to address. I certainly will commit to looking into it if confirmed. I appreciate your saying it you would look into it. I would like you if you would, after you look into it, respond in writing and tell me what your position will be. If im confirmed. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator ernst. Thank you, mr. Chairman and gentleman, thank you very much for being willing to continue your service to the great United States. Dr. Esper, i would like to ask you some simple yes or no questions. Question number one, do you commit to cutting wasteful spending and making it a priority . Yes, senator. Do you commit to working with me to combat and previous military Sexual Assault in the army . Yes, senator. Will you provided me with advance notice should changes to the integration policy be considered . Yes. Do you commit to an unbiased and transparent approach throughout the process . Yes, senator. I appreciate those answers very much. Now, onto a more open discussion. In your advance policy statement you say i believe it is very suitable for off the shelf or easily adaptable solution for a new weapon end get. I do agree with that wholeheartedly. However, i also feel that full and open competition is paramount to making sure that our soldiers get the very best weapons into their hands. So, can you speak to the importance of full and open competitions, and can i get your commitment that you will make this a priority . Yes, maam. First of all, let me give you the commitment up front, if confirmed, mine would be to pursue full and open competition on everything we can. Answering your first question, my experience both on this side, the government side, from my time on the hill and more recently of course my time in industry, i witnessed first hand competition does two things. It drives quality and drives lower price. In my mind the more we can open up the aperture to include the widest number of participants, whether traditional Defense Industry, commercial off the shelf or off the shelf easily adaptable we should pursue it. The key thing is getting colorados the tools and weapons and equipment they need at the best price and best value being the key criteria. I appreciate that. At a time when our near peer competitors are outpacing us in small arms we have to figure out the best way to get those weapons into our soldiers hands. Thank you very much. Dr. Esper, im sure you know the military has made progress reducing the number of Sexual Assaults from 26,000 to slightly less than 15,000 over the past four years, while keeping adjudication of Sexual Assault cases within the chain of command, yet we need continued improvement, there is no doubt about that. Given your many years of leadership in the army, im confident you understand the responsibility and accountability commanders assume on a daily basis. What i would like you to do is talk a little bit to that and do you think further reductions in Sexual Assault like that that weve seen over the past four years will be possible without the ability to hold our military commanders accountable . Can you outline how the commanders role in the process has placed them in a position to be held accountable. Yes, maam. First, let me say up front there is no room in the army for Sexual Harassment or Sexual Assault or retaliation against anybody. Its a terrible thing, cannot be tolerated. It just undermines readiness of individuals and breaks down cohesion and there must be zero tolerance for Sexual Harassment. As i did note i was a commander and understand well a commanders duty is to maintain good order and discipline. In my view, having that full tool kit of Authority Available to him or her is critical to maintaining good order discipline. Its also critical the commander understands it is his or her responsibility to maintain the right culture in a unit to make sure that the soldiers under their command understand Sexual Harassment, assault of any kind will not be tolerated. If we consider pulling some of those tools out of the tool kit the commander will be less able to deal with it and be my responsibility and set us back rather than forward. I think the army has put a number of programs in place, Senior Leadership is working this issue hard. We see in some cases the numbers moving in the right direction in reductions in cases reported and others we dont. Its something i will take seriously if confirmed and my aim is to continue to drive that number down. Thank you. While we have seen a decrease in those numbers theyre not yet good enough. We have to continue. I hope you really be willing to continue working on this issue with me. We do need our commanders to set that level and culture of dignity and respect in our army unit. Thank you for your commitment. Thank you, gentleman. Id like to thank the senator for all her hard work on this very important issue. Thank you. Senator heinrich. Thank you, chairman. Welcome, jegentleman. As you know, the center for Plutonium Research is currently the only facility capable of meeting the pentagons costs and schedule requirements. I have a copy of a july 2014 letter in response to section 4113 of the nda they Tell Congress the national Security Administration will begin the process of designing and building modular buildings at los alamos because it does have those requirements. I understand senator reed may have raised that earlier while i was at energy and natural resources. Do you support the plutonium pit mission at los alamos for which you will be the executive director . Thank you. I have seen the letter. I did not see it before. It is clear what the Nuclear Council decided. Once i looked into it and saw the letter this committee sent in response in september i was a little surprised nothing had happened. I agree with the committees statement in the letter that the analysis of alternatives by nnsa is a rehashing of the decisions that have already been made. If confirmed, this is again a high priority issue i think we need to look at. It has a major impact on our ability and i think were falling behind the mandate of being able to do that, produce up to 80 by 2027. I will look at that. That is exactly my concern. I would ask you if there is any deviation or delay from what the Nuclear Weapons counsel endorsed in july 2015, i have your ability to look at the independent analysis making sure that the assumptions and conclusions of proposed alternative actually stack up. Yes, senator. Im not quite familiar to the extent i can tell them what to do, i will do it. Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Esper, this committee has authorized significant funding to train and advise Foreign Security forces so they can take a greater responsibility for their own security. I certainly welcome the armys decision earlier this year to set up five additional brigades that will specialize in this growing mission area. As you know, currently, there are 170 million worth of new modern facilities currently sitting vacant at White Sands Missile range. Given the budget concerns were under, i would ask you as you look to where to station Security Force assistant brigades or sfans, you will take into account the ability to use existing facilities rather han build brand new facilities if they meet the requirements for those locations . Yes, senator, i will. I want to thank you for that. White sands missile range has personnel structure at texas as well and i want to thank you for your work on this. I want to take a moment and thank the army for its assistance on legislation weve been working on the last several years between boundary adjustments between White Sands Missile range and White Sands National monument, support the issues and deconflict some issues they had over the years. The army staff at the pentagon and white sands has been very helpful putting that together. I want to shift gears real quickly in my last seconds to mr. Kernan, one area of technology were seeing a lot of increase in is commercial space activity. I want to ask you how should the department leverage the broader space as part of our overall portfolio of space issues . I think its critically important we leverage commercial technology in a multitude of forms to include vibcyber and space. Space, we need to be able to operate freely in space. It provides incredible isr support for the multitude of things we do. Im an advocate of the mission and what requirements were trying to pursue and i certainly will do that if i am confirmed. Thank you very much. Dr. Esper, i appreciate you being here and willingness to serve both in the past and future. I wish you well. I have to ask about two items involving my home state of mississippi where we manufacture helicopters and also uniforms. I mention this because it involves the Industrial Base but also involved items our troops need. The first one is the lacoda training helicopter, airbus makes in columbus, mississippi. In 2015y there was an award of lacoda helicopters. A contract dispute ensued and those helicopters are being held up pending the court case. In 2017, the Appropriations Committee appropriated for 28 lacodas, a separate matter entirely and gave clear directive language for the army to purchase the 28 lacodas. I brought this up in a previous hearing with acting secretary of the army as to why this clear language had passed by the congress had not been followed. He said something to the effect, its all involved in a court case. Well, thats not true. There are 16 lacodas in 2016 involved in a court case. Subsequent to that, this congress ordered the army to purchase 28 lacodas. That is not being held up in a court case. It sounds like an excuse to me. I wanted you to be aware of the detrimental impacts this situation is having on the Industrial Base but also on army pilot training. I want to ask you, do you believe the Army Secretary is required to follow clear and directive language expressed in legislation . Yes, senator, i do. Are you familiar with this case . I am a little familiar with the case, yes, sir. Have i got it wrong at all . Senator, i trust you have your facts accurately. If confirmed, will you do all in or power to expedite the contracting actions required and to issue a production contract, as outlined, in the congressionally enacted and signed into law fy defensive appropriations act . Yes, senator, if confirmed i certainly will look into this issue and resolve it with your office as quickly as possible. We really do need to resolve it. The other thing involves uniforms and treating the uniforms with insecticides. Weve been doing this in mississippi for years. They manufacture the uniform and then put the insecticide on. Someone in their wisdom in the department of the army decided we should treat the fabric first and then cut it and sew it into a uniform. I can tell you the people working at the plants dont like this because obviously youve got a chemically treated piece of fabric, youre cutting it and it gets out into the air that they breathe. And becomes a problem. I cannot fathom why the army would want to change an efficient and proven process that leaves no environmental waste. Thats to make the uniform, then treat it. If confirmed, will you get somebody to look into this issue and get back to us and try to make some sense out of that . Yes, sir, for sure. Good. I will yield back the remaining 50 seconds of my time. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator peters. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you to each of our nominees here today, for your willingness to serve in what are certainly very important positions. Dr. Esper, id like to ask about ground vehicle modernization, particularly the abrams platform. I believe modernization of the armys Ground Combat vehicle is one of the most pressing Security Issues we face as a nation. Earlier at a subcommittee on modernization, lieutenant murray testified the abrams tank remains towards the top of its class with parity and not overmatch compared to our allies and competitors. This is very concern to us and sure to you to make sure our soldiers always have the advantage, never a fair fight. This information is of great concern. Last year, general mcmaster testified before the airline subcommittee at the current funding levels the bradley fighting vehicle and abe hams tank will soon be obsolete but remain in inventory the next 50 to 70 years. Our ally and competitors are investing significant resources in modernization. And it will take us 50 years to upgrade the fleet unless we upgrade the strategy. There are ways to modernize the fleet at a faster pace that could save bill xwroions of dol. My question to you, dr. Esper, how do you believe the army should upgrade the aging fleet and threats. I share your concerns about the age of our current Ground Combat vehicles. Theyve been in service as long as i had been, going back to the early 80s. The army made a number of upgrades through the years to keep them as effective on the battlefield as possible. Nonetheless with the projections you cited with general mcmaster, im deeply concerned at what pointed were no longer able to upgrade them. One of the things if confirmed, i hope to look at this and the timelines to accelerate that to fill a Ground Combat vehicle and tank sooner rather than later. We have put important language on the fynda, which is helpful and calls for prototyping this vehicle and we should look what other military partners are building to see if there are other designs we build from and in the meantime continue with upgrades to bradley and the abrams. They are enhancing its power and lethality, critical to insuring over match. They need to continue but we cant wait another 15, 20 years to design and build a new one either. Im encouraged as well as your mention of prototyping. You see prototyping as something we can use to accelerate this process . Absolutely. I think we should prototype any vehicle we can, early in the process and test them using soldiers either in training scenarios or real world deployments. I think prototyping is the way we need to continue to go. Dr. Esper, when we had the opportunity to meet in my office, we had a detailed discussion about autonomy and robotics and things that come out of art officials intelligence advances. I talked about the issue were doing in michigan with the armys research, engaged in pretty Cutting Technology and we talked about how to invest in the private center. Tardec has a wonderful prototype in Hydrogen Fuel technology for special forces operation but other areas we need to explore as well. How do you believe the army can best capitalize working with the private sector and how would you do that if confirmed . Senator, i think we need to do that and the army needs to engage with Research Centers and looking at robotics and autonomy. We discussed a vision for me is ground convoys. You can envision a future rather than scores of trucks moving between destinations much as we had during the iraq war, between kuwait and baghdad hauling supplies and what not, you can do that autonomously, no longer putting at risk soldiers to do such tasks and completing them more efficiently and fills out manpower for other ranks. It could buy us greater effectiveness and efficiency and we need to look across the board. The army is doing this in terms of robotics and all these things are critical. The private sector is outpacing what the military can do on its own. There needs to be greater outreach and Greater Partnership between the private sector and dod on these matters if were going to obtain the overmatch we need on future battlefields. Thank you. Senator king. Thank you, themr. Chairman. I everybody with tom cotton on the uncommittee and we had a number of issues such as readiness and modernization. I agree with senator mccain and reed, readiness is your number one priority and i would venture to say it may well be your legacy. Weve had a series of failures over the past dozen or 20 years. It just cant continue. Modernization is the future of readiness. If we dont have that we wont get there. I want your ernest commitment to this significant challenge. Absolutely, senator. I am convinced we cant modernize a force unless we completely overhaul the current acquisition system. You anticipated my next question. My commitment is working with the army Senior Leadership to do just that. I think theyve gotten off to a good start with ideas being discussed and putting into play. I think that will help us get the Current System into a position where we could do a much better job in terms of delivering to the soldier the tools, equipment, systems, weapons when they need it, best value at a good cost. Over the past four or five years ive probably been to a dozen hearings or more, maybe 20, that touched on procurement one way or another. I keep hearing certain themes. One is build off a stable design, get a design before you build and the second is like up to it. Dont do r d when youre in the middle of building. Quite often thats an issue, trying to do r d when constructing large objects like aircraft carriers. Third, use off the Shelf Technology as often as possible. Senator mccain has made a very strong point in the past about the 200 page spec for a new handgun. Lets talk about off the shelf. That should be the first option rather than the last option. Number four, design platforms that are modular. When youre doing a large platform like a new tank or land combat vehicle the danger is the technology in that vehicle will be obsolete before its built and therefore it should be designed in a way to pull out technological parts and replacement. Finally, i heard repeatedly, be careful whos in charge of this process and provided continuity. See if you can keep people with a program for some period of time so it doesnt stop and start. Do you concur with those suggestions . Thats based on what ive been hearing. Absolutely. Many of the key elements i outlined in my apqs regards to the approach. Your last one is most important, accountability, knowing whos in charge and that requires changing the personnel system from the top down, particularly when you get to program managers, there is handoff from milestone to milestone and phase to faze of the process. Part of that is making the procurement process reasonably timely so people dont reach retirement age while theyre waiting for the system to move through. Yes, sir. The challenge in the past it exceeded the grasp while waiting for the requirements. Rather than strive for perfect, we cant let the perfect be the enemy of the better. Pursuing the 80 solution now and building in mod due lairty to upgrade in later iterations is critical. Apache, bradley going back to the 80s was so secretary marsh protected them in terms of funding and go ideas that came up later in the process. Without that, theres a classic story about the apache and apache longbow, those systems wouldnt have been filled in time for Desert Shield and desert stomp. Those are what we need. Ive outlined them. Theres been more than enough studies on them. Time to get the system right. When my people talk about how long the system takes, i find it salutary, eisenhower retook in 11 months. Thats a good time frame. Youre taking on a very important position. My main concern as a member of this committee and the Intelligence Committee is redundancy and overlap in terms of military intelligence and civilian intelligence. Were talking 70 billion a year between the two functions. I hope that can be a focus and where there is an overlatch or redundancy overlap or redundancy we can work to reduce that. Yes, if im confirmed i will be completely committed to that. Were in such a resource constrained environment we should look across the Intelligence Committee and leverage those capabilities and we shouldnt have duplicity. I appreciate that and will continue to keep in touch with you on that very subject. Thank you. Senator warren. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Dr. Esper, i appreciate the chance we had to meet in my office. Like chairman mccain, im concerned about the number of defense appointees coming from the big five defense contractors. As you know from our meeting avoiding conflicts of interest is very important to me. First, i want to clear something up. Your letter to the dod General Council Ethics Office states you will not participate in particular matters involving your former employer, raytheon, for a period of one year, but your letter also states you will comply with the white house ethics pledge which requires you to recuse yourself for two years, can you confirm for the record you will recuse yourself for two years from all particular matters involving ratheon . Yes, senator, for two years of those matters outlined in my ethics agreement . All matters as to raytheon. I would like to ask you about the specifications of your job at raytheon, when you served as Vice President of Government Relations for the last seven years, which particular Army Programs did you lobby on behalf of during your time there . Yes, maam. I engaged the hill on a few army issues. I actually spent an overwhelming majority of my time on the business end doing everything from deep programs and fair enough but id like to know about the Army Programs you lobbied on behalf of. There were three army perhaps so important to my ceo i went to the hill on. The patriot radar system in support of the armys budget request for that and also pushing the army to accelerate its development of its next generation radar because the company felt we could provide a capability to the soldiers sooner than the current timeline. The sect is elevated air stat with surveillance and fire control radar designed to protect the National Capital region. That program is now ended. The Third Program i worked on the dcgsa, the congress was pushing for a commercial only solution and raytheon asked we opened up that aperture so the competition be opened up not to commercial but traditional Defense Industry as well and drive down competition and price and quality. Those were the three programs. Those were the three. You used the word personally. Did you oversee lobbying in other areas . The lobbyists that reported the team that reported to me, i oversaw all their activities across all service, mda, nondefense activities. Everything raytheon lobbied on . Yes, maam, those were my responsibilities out of several. The ethics letter you signed allows you to see recusal from matters involving your former employer. I know you had conversations about this with your chairman and you pledged not to seek a waiver. I appreciate that. I hope that you might go further than the two year recusal requirement. Would you be willing to commit to recuse yourself from the particular matters that you identified for the duration of your time in office . Senator, i dont see that being a problem right now. Is that a yes . No, its not. What id like to do is what id like to do, if confirmed is come back to you maybe in a couple years to see if there was an issue and then revisit the issue with you at that time if at all possible. I want to say, dr. Esper, i think its important to take these ethics obligations seriously. The American People need to have confidence the top officials at the pentagon are working for them. That starts with completely and fully stepping back from decisions that will have a Financial Impact on the former employees of those officials. We secretary of defense several complaints from the massachusetts National Guard officers in recent months about the delays in federal recognition of their promotions. According to a letter my office received from the National Guard bureau, the current processing time is about 68 months. This is becoming a morale issue for the massachusetts guard and i imagine its a problem in other state guard units as well. If confirmed, will you commit to looking into this issue promptly and then getting back and briefing me and my staff on why these delays are occurring . Yes, maam, if confirmed, i will. All right. Weve got to find a way to speed this up before this morale problem spreads. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Liked to say to my friend from massachusetts we will look into that. It seems that im not that familiar with it, but it seems to me that its a problem that is not not directly connected te guard promotion but other aspects of it. Is that your understanding . Fair enough. I have heard about this more specifically from the guard. They brought it directly to my attention, so thats how ive seen it. But if it affects a larger problem, we would need to deal with the larger problem. I would be eager to engage with you on this issue. We cannot have these kind of delays and keep people serving. Honestly, this is the first ive heard of it. Id be glad to get to work on it with you. Good. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to say to the nominees thank you for appearing. We will convene the committee probably tomorrow if weve got all the paperwork done so that we can report out your nominations to the full senate, and then it will be a matter obviously of scheduling, which there seems to be some problems with lately. But i hope we could, given the aspects of these responsibilities that we could go ahead and move them rather than 30 hours of nondebate debate. So i thank you all. Jack, do you have no, mr. Chairman. I thank the witnesses, and this hearing is adjourned. House ways and means chair kevin brady discusses the gop tax reform plan with reporters. The plan was unveiled thursday. Live coverage begins at 11 50 a. M. On cspan 2. Dr. Scott got lb speaks and takes questions. You can follow both events online at cspan. Org or an the cspan radio app. Join us this weekend on book tv. Coverage gens saturday at 11 00 a. M. Eastern and includes lizza monday, kevin young, author, peter watam, daniel allen and her book, and allen almon, author of life in code, a personal history of technology. On sunday our live coverage starts at 3 00 p. M. Eastern with Carol Anderson and her book white rage, the unspoken truth of our racial divide. Melissa with bloodlines. And paula levine and mark shable. The texas book festival Live Saturday and sunday on cspan 2s book tv. Sunday night on q and a ron chernow and his new book on ulysses s. Grant. You know, grants life moves through a very different kind of the charisma of ulysses s. Grant is that he had no charisma. He was not dramatic in different situations. Hes no less fascinating, but hes kind of no less deep than hamilton. But kind of very, very subtle character. George washington had a similar kind