Transcripts For CSPAN3 Navy Secretary Testifies On Readiness 20180118

Engagements are and what the price being paid for those engagements really is. Good afternoon. Ladies and gentlemen, i call this joint hearing of the readiness and cpower and Projection Forces subcommittees of the House Arms Services committee to order. First, i would like to honor the 17 sailors who were lost in the uss fitzgerald sailors douglas, noe hernandez, and dakota rigsby, Carlos Victor subayung and the two uss john mccain sailors, kevin bushel, dustin doyen, timothy drake, charles finley, john hogeland, Abraham Lopez and kenneth smith, logan palmer and each one of them is so special to every person here. Over the course of the past six months our subcommittees have met with Navy Leadership to understand the causal factors that have led to gruesome and tragic incidents involving ships resulting in the death of 17 sailors. Our navy remains most powerful in the world. However, the navy is not alone in responsibility. As sales james mattis stated in august. Quote, it creates unpredicibility and makes us rigid and we cannot deal with new and revealing threats and we know our enemies are not standing still, end of quote. Passing another temporary measure com pounds the negative impacts for our military and some of those impacts are highlighted by the manning, training and certification gaps necessitated by increased operational demand. Speaker paul ryan and chairman mack dornberry have been clear and have been promoting the critical need of the robust appropriations bill. I believe the primary responsibility of the National Government is to provide for the National Security of its citizens and that is true of our sailors, soldiers and marines and therefore, it is our responsibility to better understand the readiness observation and have the review and comprehensive review are informing and assisting the department of the nafty in correcting any deficiencies and shortfalls. This week the Navy Announced additional actions for shipboard personnel involved in these collisions. Separate from these military actions, this committee remains concerned that Senior Officers who created the conditions for ships to not receive depotlevel repairs and the individuals who chose to repeatedly approve waivers of expired certifications and the individuals had the ability to balance and globally resource Operational Requirements are not being held accountable. Today the secretary of the navy, and the honorable Richard Spencer and the chief of Naval Operations and admiral John Richardson are here to testify to the Navy Strategic readiness review and the comprehensive review for our hearing on Surface Warfare at a crossroads. Our main concern about the navys training and certification processes and the approach to correcting deficiencies and shortfalls and the navys approach to improve accountability. I hope that todays hearing will address these concerns. I would like now to turn to our Ranking Member Congress Member of guam for any statement she would like to make. Thank you for conjoining this important meeting on navys readiness and thank you to secretary spencer and admiral richardson for being here today. Following several mishaps in 2017 involving navy ships you each directed separate parallel reviews of Surface Fleet operations and readiness. The strategic readiness review and the fleet comprehensive review are important steps aimed at identifying and addressing the challenges that our snnavy facing today. However, actions speak louder than words and we must ensure that the recommendations included in these reviews are program. Ly considered and acted upon to improve the readiness of the fleet and prevent a repeat of the tragedies of 2017. Todays hearing is the first opportunity for members of this committee to discuss the recommendations of these two reviews. However, these committees oversight of these issues will not end with todays hearings. I hope that members of this committee can continue a frank and an open dialogue with the navys leadership as progress is made toward implementing these reviews recommendations. Without question, i think my colleagues would agree that the u. S. Navy is the most powerful fleet in the world. However, in the light of recent global events and the escalation of nearpeer threats around the world, we must ensure that the navy is properly manned, trained and equipped to conduct the missions that may be asked of them. As highlighted by 2017, the high operational tempo and the emphasis on ship maintenance and training have chipped away at the overall readiness of the fleet. One element of Navy Readiness that im concerned about is ship maintenance and specifically for ships operating in the pacific. Over the past several years, we have engaged Senior Navy Leaders regarding the navys redness requirements in the western pacific, specifically in depotlevel ship repair and dry dock capabilities and capacity. In the fleet comprehensive review, the navy identified capacity issues that the ship repair facility in yokosuka, japan. To our witnesses, i look forward today to hearing how the navy plans to address the ship capacity issue in the pa sivenlg and improve the immaterial con of the fleet. Furthermore, i look forward to hearing how that plan will align with the president s 2018 National Strategic Security Strategy to maintain a forward military presence capable of deterring, and if necessary, defeating any adversary which will be balanced with an Economic Strategy that rejuvenates the domestic economy. In addition to supporting proper ship maintenance, we must also ensure our Surface Warfare officers and sailors are receiving adequate training to perform the missions that are asked of them. We must empower ship Commanding Officers to express concerns up their chain of command without facing careerending repercussions when they are tasked with the mission that they feel their ship or crew are not properly trained for. This is a management and a cultural issue for the navys leadership to address and to that end, i look forward to hearing your plans to ensure sufficient time is allocated for training and maintenance. Two pillars for restoring the navy surface readiness. I fear that well be a long journey to return to proper readiness level, but i do assure you that this committee will try to help you where we can. Similarly, we will not hesitate to raise concerns and issues with you as we perform our oversight role. I believe the navy is in good hands, and i look forward to staying updated on the progress of your work to restore readiness across the fleet, and i look forward today, this afternoon, to your testimony. Mr. Chairman, i thank you, and i yield back. Thank you, Ranking Member mardeyo. I now turn to the chairman of virginia and chairman of the subcommittee congressman mark whitman for any remarks he may have. Thank you, mr. Chairman and thank you for yielding, and i want to thank secretary spencer and admiral richardson for joining us today and for being part of what i think is a very needed and, i think, productive process to go through to make sure that we are making the necessary course changes to address this issue. Let me start by quoting a Navy War College professor and he recently wrote an article entitled who watches the watchers in the United States navy . In this article he expressed concern about the apparent lack of accountability for the problems in the Surface Warfare community. He indicated the navy is quick in citing senior leaderships loss of confidence in Commanding Officers, but is at best circumspect when assessing fault to the system that drove these Commanding Officers to seek what he calls the normalization of deviation. This culture of holding the Commanding Officer accountable is very apparent with the decision announced on tuesday to bring the Commanding Officers and other officials from the uss fitzgerald and mccain before an article 32 hearing for negligent homicide. While i agree with the nave they officers should be held accountable, i am equally convinced that we need to reform the system that drove these officers to avoid additional incidents and to reduce future normalization of deviation instances. I think the navy has taken a tremendously important and good first step on is adressing the systematic areas and there are a multitude of other issues that need to be reform, and material readiness and serious training reform. While the comprehensive review and strategic redness review have identified the organizational problems facing the navy and i think it is time to take bold steps in creating the deficiencies and its time to flatten the organization, and manning, training and equipping authorities at Fleet Forces Command. It is time to reactivate the second fleet and eliminate fourth fleet to ensure the navy retains an emphasis on deployment credibility. It is time that we consolidate navy policy and led by colocating the threestar type commanders and it is time for congress to end restrictions that contributed to the disorganization and allow the navy to effectively reorganize. I am particularly disappointed with the deployed naval forces, particularly, with the different ship classes. I do not understand why four deployed naval forces are in the surface navy. They need to be the best. With regard to training, i have concern that as our ships become more technically challenging to operate, our Surface Warfare community has retained a generalist preference that contributes to the Surface Warfare malaise. I think it is time that we adopt specialists similar to the Aviation Community and foreign navys. We should require Surface Warfare officers to specialize in deck or engineering and allow needed Junior Officers time to develop basic skills. Further, the navy should consider adopting certification milestones similar to the commercial sector. The u. S. Navy needs to significantly improve the Surface Warfare pipeline to ensure Navy Officers are provided basic navigation and engineering skills. Finally asked to correcting material issue, i think it is time to start to take our insert process seriously and correct the material problems facing the deployed naval forces. The statutorily driven process that provides congress and our nation a sfap shot of the material condition of the fleet. I am concerned that it fails to provide our nation a reasonable perspective of the negative consequences associated with underfunding the readiness accounts. Navys should be prepared to publicly articulate the surface ship maintenance and we need to ensure that deployed navy forces are maintained with the forces that maintain the fleet. It is time that we routinely deploy ships that have been deployed for over 20 years. We have significant challenges that face the Surface Forces, but with time and resolve i am confident that we can right the Surface Forces that are perilously a skew. As to dr. Holmes question as to who watches the watchers . I will answer that this committee will continue to drive toward accountability and providing solutions to the systemic problems that face the Surface Warfare community. We will watch the watchers. I yield back the balance of my time, mr. Chairman. Thank you, chairman whitman and now to the gentleman from connecticut and Ranking Member of the forces Sub Committee for his remarks. Thank you admiral richardson for your presence to update the subcommittees on the result of your reviews of the ship cligs. This is the fourth engagement given the unacceptable level of fatalities in noncombat settings which occurred 2017. For many member, even those who hail from districts far from the western pacific these collisions strike home. In connecticut, two outstanding sailors and Electronics Technician second class dustin doyan and second class nguyen of watertown, connecticut, lost their lives. Give then drastic harm, it is the duty of all of us to ensure that bold, systemic change protections our ships from similar tragedies in the future. At the annual symposium held across the potomac, a panel of young officers assigned ships in japan discussed the challenges they faced with the 7th pleat and they describe high operational tempo of training and operations and long hours. They describe a system in which they cannot be certain they understood the risks that they were taking. One junior officer stated that following the collision of the fitzgerald and mccain, he asked himself i amor is t certain of position. He had just returned home from asked are we good at this or are we just lucky . These anguished staples describe issues that go far beyond the particulars of any ship and they speak to Operations Training in management of our Surface Forces. The comprehensive review and Strategic Review make dozens of recommendations for changes and reforms that are needed inside the navy. After meeting with each of you, it is clear that many of these recommendations have been or are in the process of being implemented internally in real time. I urge you to continue to make the implementation of these recommendations a top priority and to Keep Congress and the families of our lost sailors updated on your progress. Other recommendation, however, will need congress direct attention and action. For example, one of the areas where both reviews agree is that congress has contributed to these systemic readiness issues and the service forces. Specifically, recent defense Appropriations Bills have carried language which restricts the navy from realigning its equip functions under a single command. These congressionally mandated command and control restrictions have allowed an unusual situation to continue in the Pacific Fleet which is responsible for both deploying forces and determining when those forcers ready to deploy and to do so separate from the rest of the fleet. As the result of your respective reviews and as theyve made clear, this arrangement allowed ships to be deployed without basic certifications and without meaningful plans to minimize the risk to our sailors. While theres disagreement in Strategic Review about the best actual command and control structure for navy Surface Forces, it is clear that continued congressional limitation in this area is a hindrance to the the readiness of the fleet. Even before these recent collisions congress had seriously considered changes to these this restrictive language. In 2016, the house voted unanimously to remove the provision completely, but it was later restored by the senate in the 2016 ndaa, and an appropriations bill. It is my hope that we can once again work on a bipartisan basis to remove these restrictions from our funding bills and to see these efforts through to the end. Your input here will be invaluable in that effort. The other obvious mission can execute is to restore budget stability for the navy. We need repair work to move forward in a timely manner and we need to increase the supply of combatready ship available to Fleet Forces Command ready than letting shipbuilding languish because of crs and its operated under crs in eight of the last 12 months and it appears this week that that number is likely to grow to nine out of 15. This is hardly a road map to a 355ship navy and i think i speak for our colleagues that we create bold, new institutional change. We owe it to the memory of the sailors that we lost and we owe it to the families and we owe it to the forwarddeployed sailors who ask am i just lucky . Thank you, Ranking Member wyoming is present with us today. I ask unanimous consent that nonsubcommittee members be allowed to participate in todays briefing after all subcommittee members have had an opportunity to ask questions. Is there any objection . Hearing none, without objection, the nonsubcommittee members will be recognized at the appropriate time for five minutes. Secretary Richard Spencer, we now turn to you for your remarks and briefi ining on the sneb. Incident chairman, and wilson, Ranking Member, distinguished members of the committee, thank you for having us today to talk about our reviews and how were moving forward. We should keep the sailors lost on mccain and fitzgerald in our thoughts and prayers as we go forward. Over the past year our Surface Fleet continued to operate and train around the globe filling a Strong Demand signal to help preserve our National Security. At the same time, however, those operation operations have led to some tragic losses. Those losses demand we take time to study, understand, make course corrections to ensure the safety of our most valuable resource, which is people. As you are well aware, we lost 20 sailors in major incidents in the pacific last year. The loss of any sailor is a tragedy. All of us in the department of the navy stand in solidarity and support of fellow sailors and families. Im here today as the responsible one and accountable for our most valuable resources. To fulfill these responsibilities, im directing change across the fleet and marine corps to correct the issues identified in our analysis of those intolerable events. Both the comprehensive and st j strategic readiness reviews sought to identify factors that led to last years accidents. The comprehensive review focused on the causal factors and underlying conditions at the tactical and operational levels, while the strategic readiness review examined broader system and root causes. The strategic readiness review found the discovered deficienc deficiencies were traceable to a policy or decision but cumulative results of decisions aimed at achieving shortterm goals. Overall the review team found that accepting deviations from our standards which translates into higher risks had gradually become normalized. And therefore compounding accumulated risks. This must and will be corrected. As we move forward, success will not be attained overnight. My leadership time and i are working closely with the Navy Marine Corps team to examine, adopt and implement recommendations from these reviews. The cmo will address remedial actions we strikhave taken to re us to a environment of safety and sustainability. Simultaneo simultaneously, were working through plans for the strategic readiness reviews recommendations. As we do so, were addressing issues that fit into five categories. Command and control, operations, manning and training, governance, and culture and learning. Many of the reviews recommended corrective actions are within my authority to implement as secretary of the navy. Some, however, will require coordination with the office of the secretary of defense, as well as with you, the congress. The most important step you could take now that would help us restore the health of the navy is to give us stable and Adequate Funding. We must be able to count on reliable resourcing to operate safely and and efficiently. Despite these challenges, i want to assure you, i want to assure you, that the Navy Marine Corps team is still the most ready, capable and lethal force in our arsenal. We know, however, that staying that way means we must seize every opportunity to improve. And we are committed to do so. We stand with the families of the fallen and their loved ones and their repeated requests that good must come out of these cathartic events rings true throughout our enterprise on a daily basis. We must act with a sense of urgency to grow our competitive advantage in a sustainable manner and i look forward to working with you to do so. Thank you. Thank you very much, secretary. We now turn to admiral jauohn richardson for your opening remarks. Thank you, chairman wilson. Distinguished members of the readiness and sea power committees. I want to brief you today on the unified action plan to address the systemic issues identified in the comprehensive review and secretary spencers strategic readiness review. Looking back, 2017 was a year of both triumph and tragedy for our navy. We consistently Forward Deployed more than 60,000 sailors and 95 ships and submarines around the globe to prerkt america from attack, enhance our nations sbre interests and enhance our Economic Prosperity and strategic influence. Were reminded of the unforgiving nature of operating at sea. Our navy experienced five serious incidents in the pacific resulting in a loss of 20 dedicated sailors. American pay triots all. Our investigations reveal that these tragedies were due in large part to human error and failures in leadership as we took our eye off mastering the basics in seamanship and navigation. We owe it to our fallen sailors, our active duty sailors and loveslove loved ones. Thats exactly what were doing. I testified before this committee in november on the findings of the comprehensive review led by admiral phil davidson, commander of the u. S. Fleet forces command. As i outline in my written statement, weve already acted on many of the reports 58 recommendations. Additionally i established an Oversight Board chaired by the vice chief of Naval Operations admirable bill moran. Things like command and control, Surface Warfare officer, career pa pass. Training and certifications. Finally as the chief of Naval Operations, i am responsible for crush anything obstacles that t our sailors from achieving safe operations at sea. To get a deck plate perspective on our progress, in december i visited our naval forces in korea, japan, bahrain and u. S. S. Theodore strike group on the persian gulf. Through interactions with thousands of our sailors theres clear to me that these incidents do not, repeat, do not define your navy. It would be a grave mistake to underestimate our capability and dedication. It was also clear our corrective action are already having a positive impact but theres more work to do and well get it done. Learning from our mistakes capturing our successes, sharing those insights across the force. Improving on our best every day. Well do so as the secretary said with a sense of urgency. By dedicating our hearts and minds well finish 2018 as the safest navy in the world for our sailors. The favored partner in the world for our friends and allies and most lethal navy in the world for our enemies. Before i close i cant in good conscience testify before congress about naval power without mentioning the toxic and corrosive effect of nine years of continuing resolutions and years under the budget control act. We are getting after the work we have to do but the absenbsence makes everything our sailors and commanders do harder. On a scale of one to ten, the importance of stable and Adequate Funding scores an 11. On behalf of our sailors, their families and our navy civilians, i thank the congress and subcommittees for your continued support in providing us the navy our nation needs. I look forward to working with you and answering your questions. With that id like to pass it back to the secretary. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, i took youve taken a brief on the comprehensive review behind closed doors and i know i met with a couple of you on the committee to explain the srr. Would it be worthwhile for me to do a two or three minute overview on the Strategic Review . It would be very helpful, yes, please proceed. Thank you. After the accident occurred, the cno and i both decided to take the path that we took, which was to immediately set up a review of the tactical and operational areas where we had to investigate. Due to these accidents. I took it upon myself to say, okay, lets go a little higher at 30,000 ic and root causes. We engaged michael behr whos here today. They went back and looked at 30 years of data to assess our present state of play and really look at systemic issues that are affecting us. We had them look outside the industry. This is kind of an interesting point id like to present to those who didnt hear the brief. We incorporated people such as crowley marine. You might call that fairly obvious. They sail on the seas also. They had a series of events that were unproductive for them and they turned inside and reexamined how they did work and they came out the other side as a poster child according to the marine Merchant Marine Academy of an organization that upholds safety. We talked to merst which also had events happen to it that were cathartic and they actually went through the same path and came out the other side. Boeing in their industrial floors increasing their capacity to produce found that they were also running into areas where they were hurting their human resources. And they put a plan in place and came out the other side. Bp north america. Needless to say, we all knew the deep water horizon event. They also went through the same. What is the common link here . It is organizations that had cathartic events that threatened them. We call them up, their ceos, and asked if they would help us in our analysis on the strategic readiness review. And they were more than forthcoming to send us all the assets we needed including all the plans that came out on the other side. Didnt need the plans. Wanted to speak to the people who went from the journey from cathartic event to the development of the plans. Wanted to see how they got to where we got. One of the other people that we incorporated which was quite interesting was the mayo clinic. How can you connect the mayo clinic to sailing on the blue waters . Its interesting. Theyve been doing studying over the past three years. We contacted the ceo of mayo clinic. They looked at large, i beg your pardon, long term complex operations in the operating room and wanted to improve the outcomes. Think organ transplant. Think very complex operations. The traditional mindset and operating environment was chief surgeon would raise his or her scalpel and go, is everyone ready, here with ego, pe go, pu dine work along the way. Professional teams in the room, cardi cardiac, the anesthesiologist were working one step behind or, in fact, equal at best. They found there was not a door open to turn around and say, need a minute here, were falling behind, need to decomprf the operating room and basically reset it. The lead surgeon would lift up his or her knife and go is everybody with me, were ready . Every one or two minutes sit there and go are we still all together . The environment for communication as the mission went forward was wide open. The Engineering Department of a ship and incorporated into the that the study. B command control, culture and modeling, came forth. Were in the process now of actually triaging those recommendations. We had our first meeting to date which we addressed command and control. We can go into that a little bit later. Were moving out on that as the cno moved out with his cr. I just wanted to give you an overview as to what we actually did in the Strategic Review in the outcomes. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much, mr. Secreta secretary. As we proceed, well be under a fiveminute rule so we have as much opportunity as we can. Margaret dean, who, herself, is a very valued member of the navy reserve. The first question forward the deployed naval sources have critical operational demands that took the u. S. S. Fitzgerald and u. S. S. John s. Mccain away from training periods. Which steps have the navy taken to ensure this is not continuing to o car wiccur with the remain forward. Deployed forces . Is the navy reviewing current sourcing requirements . Additional additionally, has the navy coordinated with the combat and commanders to review current mandatory sourcing requirements . How is the Navy Leadership communicating an inability to resource or risk associated with resourcing the cocom requirements and for each of you . Sir, ill begin on this. The simple answer is that particularly the Forward Deployed naval forces in japan have taken a look at the force generation process. The process by which they maintain and train and certify forces for the missions to which theyre assigned. We started by rebaselining every cruiser and destroyer that is in the Forward Deployed naval force in japan so first and foremost every ship that is under way right now has been assessed to be ready for those missions. Then its a matter of just sticking to that plan so we do provide sufficient time to maintain the ships when they get out there, sufficient time and attention given to training and certifying those ships before they get assigned to their missions. So just that scheduled discipline has been established and enforced by admiral sawyer, the new commander of the 7th fleet. With with respect to meeting demands, sir, as youre well aware, weve not been close as a joint force, meeting demands for a decade. We traditionally meet about 50 of the requested forces and thats not just the navy. Thats across the joint force. Sost there a constant adjudication that goes on to find the priority missions. Were doing that mindful that the forces have to be trained and certified before they go. My only addition to that, mr. Chairman, would be think of the mayo clinic example i brought up right now, the cno and are i in lockstep whthat we have an atmosphere that people can speak up and i dont use the word, no, i use the phrase, not today. It might be ready tomorrow, might be ready in a week, but it is spon upon us to instill that environment within our organization to make it that much of a more reactive and effective organization. Sir, as long as were talking about this, those conversations have happened. Happened today and have happened. This is not a navy where theres a cultural inhibition to having that happen. Those officers have gone on to have fruitful careers and promotions and everything else. These types of conversations happen in our navy right now, have been happening for some time so it is possible to have this without career i6r7 l implications. Additionally, documents end cade indicate they were properly reporting on training and material deficiencies and requesting relief addressing the culture of accountability and commanders to highlight efficiencies and properly inform the chain of command associated with these decisions without facing punitive action . Sir, ill tell you this goes right to what it means to be in command. So when personnel were held accountab accountable, and that went up to the 7th fleet commander, so this did not was not restricted to the unit level, right, and this level of accountability, frankly, hasnt been at that senior level, has not really occurred since world war ii and so, in terms of watching the watchers, were with you on that. The accountability actions addressed those things for which those commanders were they had complete ownership. They had the responsibility, accountability, and authority to act to avoid the series of decisions that resulted in either a collision, or an assignment of a ship that wasnt ready to do its mission. So each one of those was appreciated on its individual merit and strongly believe that the Accountability Measures were appropriate. And these are being monitored still, the deficiencies and the requests made . Yes, sir. Its part of a constant dialogue there. Particularly with the 7th fleet leadership the new 7th fleet leadership in place. Thank you. We now proceed to Ranking Member of guam. Mr. Secretary, i strongly support the National Security strategys intent to keep our forces Forward Deployed. In the navys two reviews, as well as previous discussions ive had with Navy Leadership, concerns have been raised about the gaps in the capability and the capacity to support ship repair requirements in the western pacific. As i mentioned in my opening statement, the comprehensive review specifically identifies this as a real challenge for srf yokosuka japan. So with that concern in mind, can you please discuss what additional options are being considered to meet ship Maintenance Requirements for navy ships operating in the western pacific . Whether we are discussing peacetime or a potential contingency it seems to me that a ship repair facility on sovereign u. S. Soil on the western pacific and we all know where that is, would be capable of supporting maintenance and this would be an ideal solution to meet ship Maintenance Requirements while keeping them forward in the region. So what options, mr. Secretary, are you discussing to meet these needs . Thank you. Were looking at all options at all times. You and i met earlier i think last week. The fact of the matter is, if, in fact, we pass the continuing resolution and hopefully get to a budget, the numbers that we have going into 18 are going to support some healthy additions to ship maintenance. At all times, were going to look at the Business Opportunities available. The best deal for the american taxpay taxpayer. If you look at the western pacific, and you look into how we go about repairing, we do have japan. We do have dockside. Dockside abilities in guam. We have hawaii and then we move to the west coast for big deep dive maintenance availabilities. We will on an ongoing basis look for any and all capabilities as we go forward because were going to be using them if, in fact, we receive the funding to do so. Thank you, mr. Secretary. I appreciate your comments during this hearing. And your leadership in ensuring adequate ship repair capabilities, especially in in the pacific. Maintain the fleet and keep it Forward Deployed. I appreciate your meeting last week as youing with me. That makes strategic and operational sense. I hope we can continue our positive dialogue and work on a solution that supports american jobs and our readiness in the region. I have another question for you, mr. Secretary. This is for admiral richardson. Its my understanding that Forward Deployed naval forces had critical operational demands that took the u. S. S. Fitzgerald and the u. S. S. John s. Mccain away from dedicated maintenance, training and certification periods. Can you please describe steps that the navy has taken to ensure that this is not continuing to occur with the remaining ships. In other words, how are we ensuring fdnf ships receive the necessary maintenance and training to set their crews up for success . Yes, maam. The establishment of that force Generation Model in japan, the fact they we are doing rigorous scheduling not only for maintenance but also to schedule training and certification events enforced by the fleet commander before theyre assigned to missions, that is essentially the our side, the supply side of the supply demand tension. And so that adhering to that in a rigorous way is really the way that we guarantee that. And then as we look through the command and control structure in a comprehensive way with both the cr and the Strategic Review, establishing sort of an advocate for training and certification out there will be part of that. Admiral, you can assure that this is occurring right as we speak. It is. Yes, maam. Thank you. I yield back, mr. Chairman. And thank you, congresswoman, and myself having toured the guam naval shipyard, i share your appreciation of the assets there. We now proceed to chairman rob whitman of isvirginia. I think you will agree with me in that we need to make sure that our Junior Service Navy Officers need time to excel in their trades. Today, though, in the navy, if you look at our Surface Warfare officers, we see a path for them to be generalists, not one that allows them to be specialists. Allows them to really get down into that specific area of skill that they need across all these different areas of ship operations that have become increasingly more complex. We see the Aviation Community that looks into. We see foreign navies doing the same thing where in this technologically increasing environment, specialties are things that are encouraged. Is it time for the navy to adopt best practices for deck and engineering specialists, development within our junior officer corps within the navy . Sir, as you can appreciate that model which is largely used by the loyal navy, is always on the table and being assessed and considered. I look forward to having a more robust conversation with you about some of these. The gives and takes are complicated. But in temple terms of the appe u. S. Navy has taken throughout its history, weve seen that, to your point, providing adequate time to learn the trade of being the officer of the deck and driving a u. S. Warship, it requires time and rigger in that training cycle. And there is a also value to understanding the Engineering Department and the rest of the ship as well. Theres always a balance there. I look forward to discussing that with you. Great. Thats a great lead into the next question. That is, as our Junior Officers come to the fleet, and theyre faced with standing that watch, with being the junior officer on the deck and increasingly more complex responsibilities there, the question always becomes when they come to the fleet, what experience do they come with . Do they have time at sea experience . I know my son whos a hmerchant mariner spent years and years, many hours of sea time and many courses to get a certification so he can captain a ship at sea. The then becomes, should we have the same component for those young put onboard a grayhaul . Should they not spend a year at sea . I understand you cant go there immediately, but should they not maybe spend a year at sea and get their third mates license so when they get to the fleet theyre extraordinarily well versed and experienced with that . Yes, sir, again, i think we have to really spend a long time on problem definition with respect to this career path. As you can appreciate driving a destroyer a complex u. S. Navy warship is much more complicated than driving a merchant ship, but, again, i think were in violent agreement that that training and career path need some adjustments. Some rugged enhancements. Sure. Those have all been part of the recommendations and the comprehensive review and the Strategic Review is in agreement with that. So i think that moving through those recommendations as proposed right now will get at the new concerns, which i share. Very good. One other additional element, too those ships should return back stateside every seven to ten years for the deep dive maintenance to make sure their material readiness is where it needs to be. These are the ships, tip of the spear that get hit the hardest. Out there on point constantly. Do you belief that a situation like we have with mccain where its been there for 20 years without coming back state side. Theres a limited capability in really the deep dive maintenance thats being done there. Do you think that the maintenance cycles of fdns ships coming back stateside should be looked at getting back to a seven to tenyear cycle . Before this the fdns ships that will be returning stateside a a. Ill give it to you in the appropriate setting. Weve already decided that trying to do all the maintenance in Forward Deployed naval forc s s is not a longtemple solution. Well be bringing those ships back. Our goal is to get to an eightyear cycle. Very good. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield become. And thank you, chairman wittman. We now proceed to Ranking Member joe courtney of connecticut. He didnt turn his microphone on. Is not optimal. Did you hear that . I believe i did. Okay. Optimal and contributed to the why are you seek bing to change that structure and why do you need Congress Help . Congressman, we just had our first i call it a issalariam where we brought together four stars, three stars, some gray beards and sat down and looked at the wiring diagram for command and control in the navy specifically the Pacific Fleet and the european theater. We had two goals in mind and this first meeting was to basically assess what we had. Guide ourselves by our goal should be the commander of a ship should have a clear line to know what he or she is reporting to and whom she or he is reporting to. We should also have a clear line of sight from command on down as to where responsibilities lie. When we look at the chart, we have not come to final conclusions yet but we are in an iterative process which well have our first step forthcoming soon. We wanted to clean up exactly what you were talking about, which is the ability for us to act in the most efficient manner possible with the most direct lines of communication. And how and why do you need congress to help you with that . Well, we have in the case of the Pacific Fleet, we have an issue that i believe is going to be appemeliorated i ed if, in f do away with the amendment, and, again, we have a clear direct command and control as to what the line of sight is for responsibility and efficiency. Thank you, and, again, to be clear, that amendment is not really well, that amendment actually intrudes by congress in terms of how the command and control structure is designed. If that amendment was removed, it we actually stepped back. Congress steps back from this issue and really allows the navy to then move forward with more optimal arrangement which i think, again, both reports really identify that as a way to move forward and to help untangle the conflicts. Is that correct . We are in agreement, yes. Admiral, would you agree with that . Sir, i would. To me, its all about standards and the way the amendment is structured it allows two standards to emerge. We need to have one single standard of excellence from our navy for these matters. Great. Thank you. Admiral, the Government Accountability office reviewed the certifications for the ships involved in the 2017 mishaps and found that many had expired and remained expired for months or years. The mccain had 7 of 22 certifications expired. Some for more than two years. The fitzgerald had 15 of 22 certifications expired including a basic seamanship certification which had been expired for nearly a year. Admiral, whats your plan to bring the ships back into compliance with basic Certification Requirements . I know you canceled all existing Risk Mitigation plans and required ships to resubmit plans at a higher command than before. What is the status of developing and improving these new plans and how are the Forward Deployed ships treating these risks differently than before . Sir, the immediate actions are complete, which was to rebaseline all ships except for those in maintenance, deep maintenance, in yukoska so those ready for sea assessment the had been done on all cruisers and destroyers in the Forward Deployed naval forces in japan. That includes the certification for every ship thats underaway signed to a mission to be certified to do those missions. Thats being done at the 7th fleet command level. Then there is sort of the longerterm plan to go through, you know, sort of the longer more detailed holistic certification for each of the ships and thats being done on a priority basis as well. What we had before was a device, a Risk Mitigation plan which really sort of lost its meaning because of, again, just the this repeated go ahead. Yes, sir, this is the exact definition of normalization of de doo heres the mitt gaigating measures well take, maybe put this expertise on board and reschedule that. They devolved down to really almost a rubber stamp. Clearly articulated in admiral davidsons comprehensive review and so part of this matter that we talked about with respect to the amendment is having that advocate for forced generation and the training and certification standards that can really, you know, whose soul function is to maintain those standards, that installs a firebreak, if you will, from allowing this degradation to happen again. And thank you, congressman courtney. We now proceed to congressman Duncan Hunter of california. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Im going to tie in with what chairman wittmans line of questioning was. In san diego six years ago or so i went to the lcs simulator, if you will, by 32nd street. Its the bridge of an lcs. Its a virtual environment. Can walk around on it, see all the way around. I think it moves even. The water looks like it moves. Its a fairly realistic setup and its cheap because its not a real boat. Ive also seen the lcs course, its gamebased learning, immersive virtual ship environment learning as well. Use it for the engine plants in one of the lcss. I dont remember which. It works. Its gamebased learning. Its new. All the kids do it. They know how to play an xbox, they know how to do this. So specifically, then, in light of the value of the lcs training program, how do you man on leveraging that type of thing where you dont have to go out for a year at sea, you can spend three weeks on the bridge of a ship like the one youre going to take over, youre going to be on the deck of, and when it there were a couple of things thats my first question, how you plan to leverage that. You admiral richardson stated multiple bridge watch standards like the basic level of knowledge on a steering control system, in particular the transfer of steering and thrust control, et cetera, and with u. S. S. Mccain, several sailors, i quote, again, several sailors on watch during the collision with the control over steering were temporarily assigned from u. S. S. Antetam. They could have done a gamebased scenario on the ship before they transferred to the new ship and been at least familiar of what they were going to do on the ship or at least easily. Its in the cloud or on a dvd. Thats my question. Ill stop there and let you answer. Sir, if i could, read it back to you, the value of simulators in terms of training, certifying our sailors, i couldnt agree with you more that particularly now with the technology, the degree of realism, the fidelity of those simulators, is very, very high. It cant take you all the way, as you know from your service, but it can take you a lot further than it used to. And so with respect to the lcs, which is designed to have sort of a blue gold crew type of an arrangement, you know, theres going to be one crew on the ship out time and one crew in the trainers and simulators so we need to make those as realistic as possible, as prototippic ypi. As the comprehensive review states, we need to sort of spread that philosophy around so we can move those simulators and stand them up in places like yukoska, japan, like sasabo, so we got that level of training capacity and capability there. And its much more than just the realistic environment. It also allows you to measure your performance throughout the game. Right . And so its more than just kids playing games. These are the Science Behind these things in terms of accelerating learning has really been stunning in the last ten years. Were leveraging all of that not only in the corrective actions for these incidents, but in the training philosophy for the navy, which falls under the title of ready relevant learning. Congressman, i just might add, when it comes to how were going to address training, a. I. Is now just beginning to tip our scales. If we look at with specifically what youre talking about with simulators, et cetera, they have the ability and were exploring the application of Artificial Intelligence which actually would work with the individual people to find weaknesses and actually strengthen the areas of weakness. You might turn around and ask, you know, what are we looking for Going Forward . Im going to preask or p preanswer a question because it fits in the wheel house. Between the srr and cr, were probably looking for 800 million. Its primarily in the area of schools, the simulators, bridge uniformi uniformity, along those lines. Its not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things but yields leverage. Thank you, both. I yield back the balance of my time. Thank you, congressman hunter. We now proceed to the senator of california. It thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, secretary spencer and admiral richardson for being here today. Im concerned about the frequency in the number of expired warfare certifications in the fleet. In instances where a ship is required for a mission, lags certification for the primary mission, what mitigations, actions, will the navy take to include globally sourcing ships . Do other warfare areas, for example, aviation or submarines, allow their platforms to deploy following a depo level repair without certifying qualifications . And ensuring a minimum level of safe to train criteria. What steps will the navy take to ensure basic and advanced training are satisfied before they are sourced to other Defense Missions . Sir, ill take first stab at that question, which is really, it goes back to this force Generation Model and rigger that needs to be applied to the training and certification elements of the force generation schedule. Typically when a ship or aircraft or any navy asset, any navy platform comes oust a deep maintenance period, theres a workup period where you work up the crew and take them through basic, intermediate, and advanced. Ships stationed in the continental United States and get formally certified before they deploy. With respect to other Forward Deployed naval forces both in bahrain in the middle east, and also in roda, spain, those models have been adhered to and we dont see these lab certifications in Forward Deployed places as we did in jap japan. The new 7th fleet commander is on that. Were looking at command and control structures to buttress that approach. Thats all wrapped into the comprehensive plan Going Forward. In the immediate time weve taken action to ensure that every ship under way right now is certified for the missions its conducting. Thank you. Secretary . Nothing to add . Let me ask you a second question. Current command and control construct for the navy Surface Forces in the pacific, there appears to be an inherent conflict with having a single command responsible for both sourcing Operational Requirements and ensuring the proper manning, training, equipment of the fleet. What steps is the navy taking to address the conflict . And how can Congress Help . Sir, as we address the command and control, the co comprehensive review and Strategic Review are in firm agreement that there needs to be a separation to a degree, as good a degree as possible, between those responsible for training and certifying forces to be ready and then those who are responsible for employing those ready forces to meet combat and commander requests, demands. And so that separation to a single standard of excellence is a major goal for both of the reviews and will certainly be one of the major achievements Going Forward. With respect to any assistance from the congress, this inowe amendment, as it was called, is just one artificial seam that inhibits us from establishing that single standard. Great. Thank you very much. I yield back my time. Thank you, congressman. We now proceed to congressman bradley burn of alabama. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Gentlemen, good to see you. I heard what you said loud and clear about continuing resolutions. And you need to know that there are many of this on this committee and many of us off the committee who have been communicating very directly and very clearly to the leadership of the congress that the use of continuing resolutions to fund the government and fund the department of defense has got to stop. We hear you. And you have many advocates in this room. Last week at the Surface Navy Association symposium, vice admiral rowden said the way to avoid collisions like the fitzgerald and mccain is to give crews more time to train and maintain. Two options on how to get there. More ships or fewer obligations. I think we can all agree that the current threat environment is not going to lead to fewer obligations. So that means more ships. The navys requirement and now the statutory requirement adopted by congress, signed by the president , is a 355ship fleet. Now, in order for us to help you, we need to know what the plan is. We havent received a new 30 year shipbuilding plan under this administration. Can we expect this plan to be delivered with the president s budget next month . Yes, you can, congressman. Good. The fy18 ndaa authorized 13 ships which was five more than the president s budget requested in large part to ensure were taking advantage of hot production lines across the Industrial Base to keep acquisition efficient and afford bl. Does the navy recognize that without careful planning, losses in it our Industrial Base make acho achieving a 355ship navy nearly impossible . Congressman, we are very much aware of this. Im more than happy to share with you and your fellow members the analysis weve just come through. Were putting a dot on it as we speak. There is, as we call it, three projections. We can go along on a keep everything warm line, which does not get us to 355 within an acceptable period of time. We can do a normalized curve which brings it in a little closer or a very aggressive curve. The balancing act that we have to do is to feed our demand need and also to be very frank with you, care for the Industrial Base because one of the things were suffering right now is the last boom and bust because we have a number of hulls that are coming up in a short period of time for decommissioning. And if we can smooth that curve, that would be an excellent solution for both the Industrial Base and for us. That is all with one caveat. If, in fact, we need ships for whatever reason in an expedited rate, were going to have to go there. Sir, if i could add on to that. Yes, sir. Is when we bring you this plan, it will come with some Historical Perspective really sort going back to 1955 and tracking our way forward. It will show you the absolutely devastating effect of the peace divide dividend, if you will, on our Industrial Base with more than a dozen shipyards really shutter down and leaves us with an Industrial Base that has far less capacity now. So we need to really protect that treasure with everything we can. I think both of you know this, but when we stood up the shipyard in mobile, a chance for Postsecondary Education for the state, and we had the entity under my direction that actually had to create the workforce for the shipyard in mobile. And we had the luxury of time, a whole lot of time, and we had a recession where we had a lot of people laid off. We have exactly the opposite situation right now. We do not have the luxury of time. We have a very active economy where people with those sorts of skills, if we lay them off, then go anywhere and get a job and its very hard both to get train the people that you need to replace them and the people you train will not have the experience that the people theyre replacing had, which means youre going to have a less efficient production schedule and the ships going to cost more which we all dont want the ships to cost me. So i just plead with you and i know you hear me because ive said this to you so many times, please work with us on this. I want you to know as you work to implement the priorities of the trump administration, we expect a larger investment in shipbuilding to relieve the stress on our Current Fleet which we know has contributed to some of these issues. We in congress are your willing partners. And we want to help in growing the fleet. However, we cant do that unless we have a signal from you on what you need and i understand youre about to get there. I understand the roadmap is forthcoming. I look forward to having some time with you so i can understand what i can do, what we can do together to grow the fleet. And i yield back. Thank you, congressman burn. We now proceed to congresswoman Stephanie Murphy of florida. Secretary spencer, admiral richardson, thank you for your testimony here today. First, i want to associate myself with the comments of some of my colleagues that we must do all that we can to ensure that the tragic accidents that the tragic and avoidables incidents that we experience this year never happen again. And specifically, id like to associate myself with the remarks by rep bradley regarding the continuing resolutions. I have heard you and your colleagues loud and clear about the deleterious effect of crs on the navys ability to ensure readiness. And i hope you know that well continue to advocate to ensure that you have a predictable funding stream for our military so that you can make the investments that are needed to ensure readiness in the safety of our sailors. I just by way of introduction, my district is in Central Florida and its home to team orlando, which is a vibrant modeling simulation and Training Community centered around the navy. Identi ive had the opportunity to see demonstrations of the same virtual gamebased Training Systems for specific workstation requirements that mr. Hunter had described. There are several companies located in my district in orlando that offer Innovative Training Solutions like this. Im just very impressed by the technology. As mr. Hunter had said, these immersive virtual Training Systems can either be deployed in schoolhouses or be operated on a sailors laptop or another device. I wanted to ask you, do you see skral value in venirtual training, maintaining qualifications and routinely assessed while deployed . Also to follow up on another question on that is, what is the navy doing urgently in 2018 to improve training deficiencies in navigation emergency procedures, in highly trafficked areas . The first part of your question, congresswoman, as far as it comes to Virtual Reality training and technological advances that are available to us, we are looking at every single possible avenue. Having just signed out travel authority last quarter for close to 500 members of the navy to go down to orlando and participate in that event down there, i think that shows our level of commitment to the area. In my initial testimony, in confirmation, i will reiterate, again, that technology is going to be our force multiplier. In every single aspect of how we do business. And training is one that well benefit from. Ill pile in on part two of your question. With respect to just immediate actions to address the concerns you had regarding operation and heavily traffic areas, weve revised the formality of the procedures for ships approaching within two nautical miles to preserve decisionmaking time for the Commanding Officers, to assess that heavily trafficked area. We changed the reporting criteria regarding a propulsion navigation and steering types of systems. So that we have a more firm control over a reassurance that those systems operate properly. That also includes damage control systems and theres a whole list that i could go down of things, measures that weve taken. Automatic identification system. The rules. Governing. When to transmit on that. So you are visible to other ships in the area have changed for our surface ships operating in those areas. Were going to integrate that ais system. Seamlessly into the rest of the gear that we use to establish Situational Awareness in those types of situations. So a whole host of measures have already been taken. And specifically, have you expedited any training, additional training or other ways in which to make the sailors more prepared . To date, because it has been such a short time, a lot of that has been sort of theboard t bee the ships. The cos didnt really didnt need to be told. They knew what to get after. In the longer term as we look to expand some of these types of technologies and enhance them more into the fleet concentration areas around rt world, were certainly going to be going to these types of simulation and performance measuring types of systems to get us up to speed as fast as possible. Thank you. I yield back. And thank you, congresswoman murphy. We now proceed to congressman dr. Ralph abraham of louisiana. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for being here. I appreciate the word of the authority, responsibility, because we all know that certainly in the military, our business, you can designate authority but never responsibility. I appreciate you gentlemen being here. Mr. Secretary, the analogy to the mayo clinic with the lead surgeon i think is a good comparison as to how things go. We understand, certainly, in Hazard Mitigation and Risk Management that there is a chain, usually if you have a mismmi mish mishap, accident or m. If any link is broken, it does not happen. The swiss cheese model with the holes lining up, so to speak. Unfortunately, in these incidences that were here to talk about, the holes did align and we understand. I assume and hope the culture of the navy, admiral, is that if any member of that crew sees something and he or she says knock it off or some phraseology that everybody takes a step back and reevaluates where they are. Sir, absolutely. And youre very familiar with the investigations and the literature on these types of major events. They are the accumulation of a lot of small errors that just sort of line up in a very unpredictable way, whether that be deepwater horizon, challenger, operating room. Thats exactly the philosophy that were taking. Ill associate my comments with my good friend, bradley, over here, as far as funding. We certainly i can say most, if not all members of congress understand these severe shortage that youre faced with and when were told and we understand that last year in 2016, i mean 2017, we had almost four times the number of training accidents as we did have deaths in combat. Theres something wrong there. We understand that does go back to certification training and that type of issue. So i just want to make a statement that, again, i appreciate your forthrightness of coming forward, giving us direct answers to direct questions. And we certainly understand what the continuing crs does to the train, or therefore, lack of training in your wheelhouse. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you very much, dr. Abraham. Thank you, mr. Chair. Mr. Secretary. Admiral richardson. Thank you for your service. My question concerns the aegis system and i wanted your assessment of how effective that currently is in the boost phase of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile in intercepting that and how much assurance the American Public could have in that technology currently. First let me say foremost the aegis combat system is highly effective in the Ballistic Missile defense role. We have tuned it for that role. We continue to improve it for that role. Not only in the combat system but also the intercepters and so thats a program, a capability, thats on a path of continuous improvement. You ask specifically about the boost phase. Ill tell you, just from a geometry standpoint, ive got to say that that is a very difficult part of the kill chain, if you will, to get after. The missile that youre trying to hit does not spend a lot of time in the boost phase. Depending upon where its launched. Just achieving the geometry to get any type of an intercepter to intercept that missile during its boost phase is difficult. And so it takes a very sophisticated combination of sensors to get it instantaneously and then a highly capable vehicle to intercept it. So were working toward that capability and the aegis system will naturally be a big part of that. So right now is there any capability of getting a missile thats launched at any phase other than the ground intercepters or right now theres with the aegis system . Absolutely. You know, throughout particularly sort of in the terminal phase is where exoatmospheric phase is where they do best. If weve got the opportunity, theres nothing that really precludes us from a system standpoint of getting the boost phases. Just physics. Just time and distance is you got to be very, very close and very, very fast to catch in that phase. Would you, then, in congress, if we were prioritizing funding more of the ground intercepters with the help of preventing an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile that was about to hit, or if we were saying lets fund more the development of the aegis system to prevent an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile that could hit the United States, what would you recommend . And how difficult would it be to have a system that would have a very high probability of success . Well, again, the probability of success for intercept is pretty high. And in terms of the approach to missile defense, it really is a comprehensive approach that you want to take without singling in on any specific capabilities. So im reluctant to choose between one system or another. Theyre all appropriate in different applications. We make tough choices. You make tough choices all the time. I mean, in terms of if you had resources, how would you allocate them or prioritize them . A program thats put forward is the best balance and assessment of the comprehensive approach. Thank you. Any further . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, congressman khanna. We proceed to congressman Mike Gallagher of wisconsin. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Gentlemen, thank you both for your service and being with us today. You said something very interesting that i think was not in your written testimony but in your oral testimony about how the lack of Adequate Funding has affected the navy and something about a scale of 1 to 10. If you wouldnt remind repeating that. I think its a particularly important point for us to hear. Sir, id be happy to repeat that. We really talked about let me see. The toxic and corrosive effect of nine years of continuing resolutions and the budget control act. And i wanted to highlight that theres plenty of work that we are responsible for and were going to get after that, but the absence of stable b and Adequate Funding for defense makes everything that were doing to correct this system harder. Much harder. And on a scale of 1 to 10, the importance of stable and Adequate Funding scores at 11. Thats a really critical point. I salute you for bringing that to light. I hope we can echo that particularly in the context of the discussion were having right now. Mr. Secretary, you referenced a is salarian process under way. We sort of already legislated that review through three outside assessments of what the future fleet needs to look like. Im heartened to hear that were going to get the 30year shipbuilding plan soon. So i do think we need sort of a rethinkour Communications Strategy and start from the beginning, making that Strategy First case to the American People for why sea power is so critical to our National Security in the first place. Because it strikes me as someone whos only been here for a year that we keep make bing the same case and for whatever reason its not working. I just would ask you, maybe this is a dumb question, mr. Secretary, whats your elevator pitch to the American People . Describe to me, if you will, what the purpose of the navy is today and in the near future. Well, the purpose of the navy, congressman, it is your Forward Deployed force. Your primary Forward Deployed force. The most limber and Flexible Force that you have that you ha multitude of things, but primarily what comes to the top issues would be keeping the arteries of commerce open on the open seas. The presence factor of American Power around the globe. Keeping peace through presence. And then when needed the ability to provide the kinetic actions that we need to suppress and or c conquer or foes. And we need platforms whether on the sea, under the sea or on air and thats where the navy has all three. How do you think about conveying that purpose to the American Public, to the fleet, and is that messaging coordinated . Who is responsible . Whats the process for Strategic Communications, if you will . Well, i think the co and i are aligned in this. I flashback to when i was going through confirmation and your strategy for naval forces Going Forward did highlight it. It is out there in the public. Obviously, what we are hearing, congressman, is we have to do it in a better manner. But its a lock step message which i just presented to you with the top three points. Sir, if i could just add. President s has just released National Security strategy, the National Defense strategy is imminent. And right on the heels will be maritime strategy. So with this issuance of strategic documents and the sort of tiering of those, i would anticipate a vigorous Strategic Communications program Going Forward as we put together and release the new maritime strategy. Thats great to hear. I know there has been some controversy about the defense guidance went out,er on the side of silence, i personally want to say thats a mistake. I understand that loose loops can sink ships but they can sink entire navies and we need to do a better job. And its a partnership between us and you. But you have the benefit of having the trust of the American People and high Approval Rating that at Times Congress does not. So we can use your help in that regard. Duly noted. Thank you, mr. Secretary. Sir, i appreciate your help there. And your pushing us in this regard. And well go as far as we can up to the point where the information we are providing, provides information that the enemy can use against us. Thats the only point that well have to stop. I totally understand that. I have 16 seconds if i could quickly ask secretary spencer, how do you over sight army and marine corp. In budgeting execution activities . In other words, how do you ensure that the budget is reflection of integrated vision of american sea power . That is one of my sole jobs with title 10. Kwh it comes to the budgeting plan. What we look foreGoing Forward in this last cycle which was my first cycle was over laying needs, over laying plan, then strategy and funding to that strategy which is what we have done this last time around. Well, thank you both, gentleman. And secretary like to thank your wife as well for signing up for this assignment. And thank you particularly with your background and experience, we appreciate your in sight. Congressman of virginia. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary and mad requiraad you both for being here. We have spoken National Policy to have 345 battle force ships. Am i correct in assuming if we make that progress that would partially relieve the pressures we discussed here today under the assumption being able to do the same commitments across a larger fleet would help . Am i under the right assumption. Thats absolutely correct, sir. Pending the digsal of the new ships to the navy, are there steps congress can take recognizing the constraints under which we operate and need to continue investing in many, many priorities, aside from defense, that would demonstrate the seriousness of our commitment to 355 ships in such a way that pressures were relieved on the front end . In other words, can we make things esser by giving you greater certainty that help is on the way . Most definitely, congressman. If we look at shipbuilding, in particular, the conversations that we have with the Industrial Base, we are looking to make sure that they are the most competitive lowest cost provider with highest quality and quickest manner possible. We turn around and asked them where are the Capital Investments that you are making in your yards to make you competitive and to provide a product in the parameters that i just presented to you. And they turned around and say well you give me the signal there is it a consistent to fund, 3, 5, 7 ships, ill make that investment. And that is where when i talk about the fact that we have to be partnership with industry, that is exactly what they are looking for. And that is exactly how you could help us is it to provide us the ability to send that signal that, yes, this is where we want to go and this is what our goal will be. Sir, if i could add to that. Please. In terms of that assurance, right now as we speak we have about 400,000 sailors and 180 naval civilians looking at their watch seeing if they are going to have a shutdown and they will be paid. I thank you. I yield back. We now proceed to congresswoman of hawaii. Thank you, thank you for being here. I do want to Say Something and make it very clear for the record. The senator anoi is not one of us, normal people. He is recipient of the medal of honor, highest award that can be presented in gratitude to anyone who wares tears the uniforms th do and professional medal of freedom. He like me, we represent the state of hawaii. And of course we are home to the pacific command. And as you know their aor is almost 55 of the earths surface. Im a strong advocate and i say this to the people in the army, to their chagrin, that the pacific isnt air and sea power, but more pack rately a sea power. And therefore im very concerned when we sit here and we start to say, well, you know maybe we need, and i dont disagree with the standard of excellence, single standard of excellence, however, i would like to impress upon you that the pacific is different. Where these accidents occurred, especially in the mccain is very busy area. Because when we were briefed earlier what we are faced with is a lot of commercial traffic as well. Its not like during world war ii when it was just basically the military ships going back and forth. It is the busiest commercial trade zones in the world. Having said that, admiral richardson in your testimony you said, looking back to 2017 was a year of triumph and tragedy for our navy. We consistently deployed more than 60,000 sailors and 95 ships and submarines around the globe. So does that mean we only had 95 out of 280 some odd ships in the 355 or president obamas, is that what you are saying in that statement, we only had 95 deployed . Consistently at anyone day we had 95 deployed. So thats about more than a third of your battle force. So it goes back to this training and certification cycle that we are on. Those are ships on mission. And the others are in maintenance and training getting ready to go on mission. Those are the ratios dealing with when you talk about that. So the secretary had a statement that was very interesting, that the strategic readiness review teams assessment determined that today efficiencies, i assume this also talks about fitzgerald, mccain and the other two that resulted with no physical injury to our benefit, are not traceable to any single policy or leadership decision, but rather the kmum la ti cumulative effect of short term operational goals. I read in one of these reports that the problem was that, actually, those of you in the pentagon would make decisions that we have to take action, and you would basically send it down to the chain of command, and whether they were adequate or not, the problem maybe even the Pacific Fleet or pay con and all of our sailors is they serve and they probably were under adverse circumstances to do that. Was that a correct statement, mr. Secretary . The navy marine core team much like our other Sister Services are organizations biased for action and thats what you want from uniformed people. What we have to find is that fine balance between when the alarm goes off in the barn, running out the door and making sure that you are prepared to do the mission you are doing. And im going to be running out of time. But i do wish that you would consider one thing. I believe the pacific is different than the european theater. It is different. And the reason why i feel that senator probably put in what you are calling anoi amendment is to ensure that the difference of that which is the pacific would become for most in everyones mind. I also would like you to also take more responsibility that the mccain and fitzgerald were basically 20 years old. And the training that goes on those ships and the fact that they are not being maintained is really a function of i thisnk higher up decisions than what you are concerned with. So i think this amendment that you are taking issue with probably is a good way to protect the people that serve in the pay con aor. So with that mr. Chair, i yield pack. And thank you. We now proceed to congressman of new jersey. Thank you for holding this hearing and certainly Ranking Members. This is the last of many hearings weve held on the tragedies that youve talked about and weve heard about today. Secretary and admiral, good to see you again. When we look at what had occurred after the first loss of life and then the second accident with the loss of life, i have to say how impressed we were after the second one the reaction we finally were getting to try to address some core issues. And its a challenge. There is no question about that. And back on november, the fleet comprehensive review made 58 recommendations, and then after that december 13th was the readiness review that had with it six chapters and 23 recommendations. And i just want to read to you out of the december 13th readiness review they talked about the very first recommendation on there, condition congressional and executive Branch Leaders to accept that higher cost and time to achieve established readiness standards will mean less presence worldwide. It appears reading that, that somehow you are making a choice between safety in lives and readiness. And i know you would never suggest that, that you understand that everybody on your command is a valuable source for not only our country but to the world. But to read that it seems that you have to make a choice, either we are going to be read cready or we are putting people at risk to lose their jobs. The recommendations, vast majority i agree with. But i want to give you a chance to address the very first recommendation that somehow we can choose safety or readiness many. And i know you dont mean that. Would you explain that . Certainly. What it does is brings up the conversation that it is a mathematical game. You cannot expand what you dont have. And we have to make sure everyone is attuned to that. And that is our responsibility. The co and i. To make sure that you all on the funding side understand what we are looking at at this model. Thats what that recommendation was to do, to get the conversation started. Just conversation . Because are you suggesting we dont understand that . No, im not suggesting you dont understand it. Im suggesting that the discussion has to be made and has to be understood. You make those decisions every day, right . Correct. Sir, as i interpret that, if i could just pylon to what the secretary is saying. I think as i read that, it really strengthens the argument that our responsibility is to be both safe and ready before we go out and get assigned to a mission. So its not a tension between safety and readiness, we need to cover down those two fundamental obligations before we send that ship forward and put it into harms way. You need both . Absolutely right. So our obligation along with yours that you need the tools you need at the appropriate time . Exactly. Yes, sir. Thank you. I yield back. And thank you. We now go to rhode island. Thank you. Thank you for being here and for your testimony. I would like to continue on the issue of training and readiness. So id like to know if and how the behavior is looking towards the expertise and training regimen of the professional marmara nar community in order to improve on ship handling skills . For example, the United States Maritime Resource Center in my state of rhode island delivers professional training and assessment of these proficiencies. Having provided all the initial core nautical science and professional Maritime Training for the noah court for example. So have you considered utilizing that training and assessment from the professional Mariner Community to fill any competency gaps that you might be facing right now . Stir, we had a pretty good dialogue with that community. And depending upon capacity and early technology, there were times we were using those simulators quite a bit. Now if you go just up the road to newport, we will find some pretty state of the arm trainers that better simulate some of the ships that we are training our sailors to drive. But in standards and an approaches its a vigorous dialogue. But what i like to do is make sure im right and current and ill get back to you, sir. Okay. Good enough. Thank you. So it also says the navy plans to continue to conduct in Service Material inspections every six years as opposed to every three potentially with the maintenance. This is one of the areas the navy record is partly the result of choices to lessen shore side training that was made over a decade ago. And while i support reducing, but i do worry loosening these may set up for increased maintenance in the future. So is this ha concea concern fo navy . And how do you intend to mitigate this risk . So you brought up the matter of in ex s. And its an absolute fundamental part of the way Going Forward. We want to make sure that we are inspecting at the proper frequency and that those inspections are useful to the crew, particularly the Commanding Officer, so that he or she can make the adjustments and continue to improve their crew. The comprehensive review found that there was something on the order of almost 300 inspections, in a typical training cycle, many of which never spoke to the Commanding Officer, and its hard to be honest to keep track of those. You mentioned in service, thats one of the critical ones for material readiness. I take those myself as does the secretary. We provided in serve report to congress. We are moving back to three year period where we have a full on detailed in serve, and then three years later lighter version that will come back and validate, and then have a heavy one again. Also looking at what do those in serves actually inspect in terms of articulating the material readiness to conduct combat operations . Not all deficiencies are created equal when it comes to that. So we are very interested and moving forward to make those in serve inspections both at the proper period and looking at the proper things. Okay. And another topic. In order to match supply and demand as noted in your strategic readiness review, how do you balance safety to support Sustainable Operations and the longterm goal of persistent readiness and constant need to fill increased Operational Requirements . Will you change your processes as to how you assess the readiness of ships and sailors . What we have in place, congressman, as youve heard us say before, the systems are in place. Weve had a deviation from the norm. And the biggest lever that we have now is to have the conversations to bring us back towards norm. I believe, and ill defer to the cno, that we have a pretty good system in place right now that has adjudication, the ability to bring supply and demand to conversation and adjudication process, but we want to make sure everyone is realize whag the truth math is with the numbers. Okay. Well, thank you both for what you are doing. Well continue to be on top of this. Something ill follow closely. I know my colleagues and i will do that. But thank you for your service and biology here today. Look forward to having you back. Thank you very much. We now conclude with wyoming. Thank you very much and allowing me to be here today. Thank you secretary spencer and admiral richardson for your service and being here. And i dont have a question. I would appreciate very much the chance to sit in and see where you are going. But i also want to echo what youve heard a number of times today. And that is that we take very seriously shall shall its n seriously, its not just the situation we are in the Holding Pattern because of the crs but there are many of us particularly on Armed Services but broadly who are consistently making the point that we are causing damage. That every time we vote for another continuing resolution, we are doing damage. One more day is more damage. And youve made that point very eloquently. We are in a situation where we have to make sure that the members of congress recognize and understand that our constitutional obligation is not being fulfilled so long as we dont provide that kind of stable and sufficient funding that youve discussed. Weve passed, as you well know, the National Defense authorization act, and the appropriations act through the house h the senate has passed the authorization but we have to get the appropriations to pass through the senate. And i would just say in closing that one of the things that has become very clear in my short time here is how important it is we remind our colleagues that we cannot treat defense spending the way that we treat every other part of the budget and every part of the appropriations process. But we have to recognize that if we fail to get this right, if we fail to get the resources that our military needs to defend and protect us, doesnt matter how important we think tax cuts are, doesnt matter how important we think Health Reform is, doesnt important how important any of the other matters we deal with are, if we fail to get this fundamental issue right, then none of those other things will matter. And so we are very grateful. Im very grateful for your being very frank and direct. We urge you to continue to do that. And we are going to continue to fight here. Well need some very significant reforms to the entire budget process in order to be able to get out of the rut that weve been in hand the real damage thats been done with the continuing resolutions for multiple years. But i thank very much the committee for its time and i thank you very much for your service and being here. If i could respond to the congresswoman. I would be remiss if i didnt put a dot on this because i know many of you in this room heard this before. But to go on the record we were asked to compute in the United States navy what nine continuing resolutions have cost us. It has cost us 4 billion. Thats not lost opportunity. Thats 4 billion in cash in a trash can with lighter fluid burn it. And thats the impact that the continuing resolutions have looking back on a totally qualitative basis. I appreciate that very much. And of course in addition to that, we are to the point where we are seeing an impact in lives as well, as you know far better than i do. And the other piece i would just point out is we are seeing impact in terms of aide to our adversaries. And the fact that one body appears unable to do its job, the fact that the senate is unable to do its constitutional obligation to pass and appropriations bill for defense doesnt absolve the house of representatives from doing its job and duty. And we are very committed to make sure we do that and get it done and get the United States senate to pass it as well so we can get it to the president s desk for signature. Thank you very much. And i yield back. And thank you very much. And we particularly appreciate your appreciation of your constituents secretary mr. Spencer here today. And secretary spencer and add mir rawl richardson, thank you for your can ddid remarks and following through on trying to address the issue of this catastrophic series of events and navys plans to get back on course. Many of us have visitsed fitzgerald in japan. We invite the navy to return and update the subcommittees on your progress in a few months. Thank you margaret dean for your service. This hearing is adjourned. The key for the navy, as you heard today, is this action plan that puts together the findings of both of these reviews. And then the time frames that those things will get done. Our job is to make sure that as chairman wilson and i have stated, as well as Ranking Members, every 90 days to come back to the navy, whether through a briefing or hearing to say where we are with putting these changes into place, how are they being operationalized, whats happening with this current state of navy operations. Can you mandate that . Or is that something you have to say please . Mandate . The briefings. No. We have agreed on a schedule for that. So essentially the scheduling is done through the house arm services community. We have all agreed to the dates. We work with the full committee with dates allowed to us. So its a formal process, but there is something that we have indicated up front what expectation is. What should the recommendations do you guys feel you want the most updates on . Which of all those recommendations do you feel . I was pleased by participation of all the subcommittee members and inciteful that indeed the pacific, the level of traffic has just got to be fully recognized. And then i was grateful with the actual combat experience of congressman duncan and congressman gallagher. We have people who have been in a combat experience where you have to be very vigilant. So that ties into what should be addressed for the safety of our military and sailors. I think the most immediate elements there are reestablishing material readiness, as you saw, with the mission certifications lapsing, whats happening to make sure those are done. Whats done immediately as far as training for individuals that go to the ships. I understand there is a tran sticks there to be able to get that Cross Section of experience, whether its simulation or time at sea. But those are things that i think we look to see priorities placed and accomplishments attained in getting those things done. And so helpful, duncan pointing out again, the significance of the virtual training. Do you think the Personnel Accountability actions are on point . I would leave that personally myself up to the secretary and the cno. I think the actions taken through the uniform code of military justice are what should happen. Obviously, through the process of allowing those individuals to make their case, theyll have their due process. I think thats critical. I think it does express the level of accountability and importance that the navy places upon this. So its part of what i think the navy is doing to say this is extraordinarily serious effort and has to be taken care of. Can i have a shutdown question. Looks like legislation now that would provide money to civilians, i believe piece of leg laying that would pay troops if there is a shutdown. Are you confident if there is a shutdown will be able to pass some legislation that will blunt some of the disruption for the military . Im counting on no shutdown. The congress has done that before. But, again, all thats a there would be one difference. There wouldnt be the things that occurred last time with unjustified notices to chaplins not to appear on base. Much of the xanshenanigans that went on simply would not occur this time. We are obviously working in every way to make sure there is not a shutdown on behalf of the American People. As electsed officials, the whole congressional body is responsible for the shutdowns. How do you feel personally after the times when we have seen these direct military, you know, consequences . What lesson do you take from that . The lesson we loorearn is it should not occur and make every effort to avoid it. And im confident the house will take care of that this evening. Both bodies to be able to get these things done. Also impact on both sides. Another cr is also impactful. So this is choosing amongst ha number of very undesirable outcomes. Another c. R. For another 30 days does have an impact on the navy. A shutdown does have an effect. None of those is good. So choosing between a lot of undesirable outcomes. Ultimately we need to get our job done on time. All the appropriations bill should be out of the house by july. No august recess unless thats done. Until the body starts to function properly and we stay away from these cliff type moments, well find ourselves at the same place. And if we keep doing the same things, well have the same outcomes. So we have to really look at how the process changes to avoid this. Congressman, the secretary of the navy gave you a very specific request and congress is always asking the services what do you need from us. The secretary said he would be looking for looking for 800 million for training. What did you think of this . Well certainly look at things that need to be done within the whole context of the navy budget. But good to have that specific request so that we can act upon it. Very reassuring. Yes. Just to circle back on crs. You voted against the past few. Are you expecting to do so again . I am listening to everybody. So im going to keep my vote to myself until i go to the floor and press the button. It needs to be addressed. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. They would argue that an instance like this would require a court of inquiry as opposed to standard command. There are critics who said we dont know what happened to these people, because you dont talk about that. There is a lack of transparency and if they are njp and still on the ship. Why wasnt a court of inquiry thought of for an incident like this . Yeah. There is a lot of different approaches that you can take. Id have to take issue with your lack of transparency comment. I cant think of a more transparent approach that weve had. Also respectful of each of our sailors right to privacy. As we move forward though i think its important to remember that the consolidated Disposition Authority took an independent look at this. He had a very robust legal team supporting that. And that we are moving into what is really basically an article 32 hearing, which is like. Preliminary hearing. Preliminary hearing. So that article 32 process will take a look at these charges that are proffered. So i dont think how we can get more transparent. So you had consequence shall of what happened doesnt do it justice. But why not name these other people that are having charges . Each of them, like i said the hearings will be open. Lets remember how the article 32 works they are still innocent until proven guilty. Something associated with that. Given there is a whole bunch of stuff that came out basically in different reviews. But given all of that, is there anything to indicate that stuff in the reviews if you had done all that correctly, that the incidents would have been avoided with the fitzgerald and mccain . Absolutely. And the steps and reviews shown these could have prevented that . With respect to the proximate cause of the collisions, there was nothing that was outside the Commanding Officer and the crews span of control. At that second, they could have . Thats right. And they had, like i said, the complete span of control to control that. Thank you. If i could ask either of you if you want to weigh in about the funding aspects. So you mentioned 8 800 million s a result of recommendations in your two reports. Obviously, we are about to get the fy 19 budget. So i was wondering how much you got versus how much will have to wait until a year from now . Ill do step one and defer to the cno. When it comes to the review, we really dont have that much that needs to be funded. Ours is more again on the strategic level, minimal impact on the financial side. When it comes to the comprehensive review, thats where the money really does come up. Weve already had some of it in training. Yes, sir. In fact, some of it was even put in 18 so responsive as it could be. Then in 19 its in that budget submission already and throughout. So most of that money, actually i think closer to 600 million is our best estimate, but in that ballpark. Its trainers, right, so we talked about those during the hearing. Its also bridge uniformity and systems that will better integrate information. With the user centric approach, and sort of as the secretary said, a uniformity, so from going bridge to bridge to bridge in the United States navy there is some commonality. So from expectations management when the budget comes in two and half weeks we should be able to find some of those items . Absolutely. When the chairman was talking about things like going, and others going to the merchant marine about breaking up the world into more specialized tracks. You also said i got the impression you were having hives. Is that a set of ideas that you folks are steer usually considering . Are moving forward on . Or are they so incompatible that the way navy does business . Im not sure i would agree with you reading into my response. I think i gave them exactly the words i wanted to. Two more questions. You mentioned that the 30 year Navy Shipbuilding was forthcoming. I was wondering if you can go into more detail what well see in the next part . With that, well take the last question. Last question shouldnt count. I thought it was beautiful. I agree. Didnt seem like it did much. So you have a new boss today that just came out a few minutes ago. Im wondering, so you have a big mountain of to do list for the navy, 58 recommendations in the c. R. And what im wondering is, what is your direction, admiral brown . What are the things you want to get after first as he takes up the helm there . Because it seems like there is a lot of stuff to do. Right. I would say, ill start and defer to the secretary, when admiral brown and i talked, one, he has to get his feet on the ground and make his assessment and talk later on. But there is just such tremendous talent out there in the community. And they have been through some tough times here. Not only the physical tough times, but also sort of the cultural tough times. And so bringing that Team Together and unifying that talent so that unifying the plans so that we can all line up those vectors, that will be a very powerful force. I think that admiral brown is the perfect guy to take that and move it forward. If we get the team unified that talent will lift us up. I can only pile on its fascinating coming in. Heres my observation. If you look at the three primary disciplines, if you look at under the sea, on the sea, and in the air, aviation has a civilian rules, regulations and path to career. You look at the nuclear navy, when that was formed, a lot of the same constructs were put in place. Ships have been on the ocean for hundreds of centuries. And they have evolved in their own manner. If one of our goals here is to provide the construct around the Surface Warfare organization to leverage this talent thats out there. I mean one of the things we talked about is much like a logbook that a pilot carries, hell have a logbook for bridge time. A logbook for engineering room time. Whatever the case may be. But put a construct together where we lever up and find out what are the best practices to bring this together with the other communities. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. Thanks. I appreciate it. Tonight author Michael Wolff fire and if yourfury. And tomorrow is the anniversary leg legalizing abortion. Live rally coverage starts on cspan3 and with the free cspan app. Live on cspan starting 11 00 a. M. Eastern. Political roles for women in 2018. This weekend on American History tv on cspan3, saturday at 8 00 p. M. , eastern on lectures in history, Depaul University mark on president abraham lincoln. Mr. Lincoln, give me back my sons, meaning the soldiers lost in the war. This is the darkest hours of the civil war. 1864. And then lincoln who the artist shows with his legs slung over his chair like a country bumpkin, his reputation for being so in elegant and crude. He says, well, the fact is, by the way, that reminds me of a story, which was another part of his reputation, always telling stories, and whomwhom homilies. Intellectual diversity is where there are certain groups have felt they have received less active attention from the faculty and the administration. 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Before i begin i would like to begin with a border of silence who was killed ie