Transcripts For CSPAN3 U.S. Northern Southern Command Operations 20180216

Armed Services Committee on their respective commands. This is an hour and 45 minutes. We will call the meeting to order. Were going to receive testimony from two of my favorite people, general lori robinson. I have to say that i taught her everything she knows from when she was the Wing Commander in the ticker air force base in oklahoma, and from curt tid, commander for the u. S. Southern command. I think there is a lot of overlap. Week talked all three of us have talked about this between the north and the south command, and i think thats one reason that senator mccain would want to have these meetings together. The new National Defense strategy, the nds identifies protecting the homeland and sustaining american advantages in the western hemisphere as key priorities, even as the d. O. D. Focuses on the rising challenge of great power competitors. As we have seen from increasing economic and military efforts by china and by russia to gain a footholds in the americas, the boundaries between great power of competition and unconventional threats are increasingly blurred. I think thats one reason when general dunford made the observation that we have were losing our qualitative and quantitative edge on china and russia. General robinson, you are tasked with the addressing the missile and Nuclear Threats that we face, and while im encouraged by recent efforts to bolster our homeland Missile Defense system, more needs to be done to address the ballistic and Cruise Missile threats. Recently weve observed others gaining talents that we were not convinced that they already had, and admiral tid, on south com, you are on the front lines kbafting elicit networks and destabilize every country along the way. You also face involvement in external actors that present unique challenges in the theater that consouthwest and lack sufficient resources. And i think that we have a lot in common, and for that reason were having these together and we look forward to your testimony and appreciate the time that each one of you spent in our office talking about the challenges you guys have. Senator reid . Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Let me join and welcome our witnesses, general robinson and admiral tid, thank you for your Extraordinary Service to the nation and please convey our thanks to the men and women in your commands who as we all know do the job every day for us. General robinson, your mission is to protect the homeland, to deter and defeat attacks on the United States and support civil authorities in mitigating at infects of attacks and natural disasters. We saw this demonstrated in d. O. D. s support to the states and territories affected by hurricanes, wildfires and floods in this past year, and we thank you for that. Commander of the norad. To deter and defend against threats to our nation. Youre also responsible for the operation of our homeland ballistic Missile Defense system. We look forward to hearing about your priorities for further improvements to the groundbased Missile Defense system. This is particularly important in light of the growing threat from the north korea. Lastly, your relationship with the military leadership in mexico, along with your collaboration with admiral tid and other federal agencies is crucial to promoting security along our southern border. A number of problems at the border originate in the south com area of operations and efforts to address those problems require a whole of government approach. Admiral tid, you are on the front lines of a significant threat facing our nation. The Opioid Crisis. In 2016, we saw 64,000 deaths from drug overdoses, an increase from 52,000 in 2015. What has made the crisis worse is that more and more americans addicted to opioids are turning to other dangerous drugs flowing into our borders from central and south america and asia. The flow of heroin and cocaine and other drugs like fentanyl into the country is exacerbating this crisis. Cocaine production in colombia is up, as we spoke in our office, its destabilizing countries as it works its way to our border and destroys lives here. I was encouraged to hear you held a Conference Last Week to bring all the stakeholders together to work on this problem. While our military has an Important Role to play in the fight against narcotics in this country, well only win against this threat with adequate resources for domestic agencies, such adds the food and drug administration, the Drug Enforcement administration and the department of health and Human Services. Admiral tid, i look forward to hearing from you about the outcome of the conference and your efforts to combat the flow of narcotics into the United States. China and russia have been increasingly active in south america, committing millions of dollars of investment and partnering with latin american militaries. Admiral tid, as you noted in your written statement, china has pledged 500 billion in latin american countries and 250 billion in chinese direct investment over the next ten years. Increased Economic Cooperation and a continued provision of financing and loans that appear to have no Strings Attached provide ample opportunity for china to expand its influence and promote unfair Business Practices and labor practices. Im concerned because of the cuts to our state department and usaid we are not doing everything we can to position ourselves as a partner of choice for our neighbors in the region. Id like to hear from you how china and russia are investing in central and south america and how they pose a National Security threat to the United States. Finally, were all observing the humanitarian crisis in venezuela. Id like your perspectives on how much longer the regime can survive and how the crisis will affect neighboring countries. Im especially concerned about colombia, which is already struggling to implement its disarmament, and reintegration process and illequipped to deal with the longterm refugee problem. Again, thank you for your serves. Thank you, senator reed. Well go ahead and hear Opening Statements by both of our witnesses. Try to confine them to five minutes, if you can. Your entire statement will be made part of the record. Lets start with you, general robinson. Sir, thank you. I just found out that your husband was best friends and a fellow f16 pilot with my best friend in oklahoma, and i was not aware of this. I dont know how that went unnoticed. Well, sir, you know, when you bring him to the witness table, he has to tell the truth, nothing but the truth. You know . Ill share that with charles. Yes, sir. Please do. Please do. First of all, i would really like to say to we know that hes a figure here. To senator mccain and his family and that i know all of our thoughts and prayers are with him. Yes, of course. I just wanted to extend that. I think thats incredibly important. You know, senator inhofe, senator reed, all the distinguished members of the committee, im honored to join you today. David and i are honored to join you today to testify alongside my friend, my shipmate, more importantly my wingman, kurt tid. He and i do things arm in arm. 2017 was a challenging year. North com and norad addressed proactive efforts by our adversaries while simultaneously providing defense support to civil authorities during an historic series of natural disasters that required significant military capabilities and military manpower. However, i will say that those challenges were definitely handled by a team of absolute professionals and i cant tell you, sir, how much im proud to represent all of them here today. In my 21 months as the commander of norad and u. S. Northern command, ive been so impressed by the dedication and vigilance shown by the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, coast guardsmen, civilians, americans and canadians who stand ready to defend our nations and our fellow citizens. Looking forward, i see no reason to believe that the threats to our homeland will decrease. Our adversaries continue to extend their operational reach and are developing new capabilities to arrange targets to north america and canada. Our preparation for these threats relies on a dependable budget. We appreciate all that this committee has done to help reach the twoyear budget agreement. In 2018, National Defense strategy recognizes a return to Great Power Competition and lays out a longterm strategy for addressing provocative behavior by china and russia. In norad and u. S. Northern command, we understand the urgency of keeping pace with these evolving threats. We also recognize that north korea represents the most immediate threat to our homeland, and therefore remains north coms highest priority. In the past year, kim jongun has demonstrated several successful icbm tests. We continue to watch their developments closely and are prepared to defend the United States. And i want to assure this committee today that i am confident that i can defend the United States. While im confident that we can defeat this threat today, it is critical that we continue to improve the ballistic Missile Defense enterprise. With emphasis on the development of improved sensor networks, combined with intercepter capability and capacity and reliability. We continue to work with the Missile Defense agency, the Intelligence Community and other combat and commands to ensure our collaborative effort in outpacing the threat. Russia continues to modernize its longrange bombers and its submarines. Developed new Cruise Missiles with the capability to hold targets at risk at ranges we havent seen before. To defend against advanced Cruise Missiles, its important that we continue to make prudent and savvy investments in advanced sensors and defensive weapons systems. This strategic advancement in Russian Submarine fleets to demonstrate oh their capability to threaten our homelands for the years to come. The threats mentioned are the most serious, however, we remain vigilant against adapting threat of terrorism as well as unpredictable natural disasters. As we review the 2017 hurricane response and prepare for the 2018 season, we are working with our Mission Partners to include the active, guard, reserve forces to incorporate the Lessons Learned to ensure that we provide our best support to lead federal agencies. With respect to canada, we are building interoperablity. This arrangement allows further planning integration while preserving our ability to conduct unilateral missions. With respect to mexico, our militarytomilitary relationship with the mexican secretaries of National Defense is unbelievably strong. We focus on illuminating the pathways used to transit elicit goods with my partner here, admiral tid, with our interagency partners, south com and so com. Theater Security Cooperation is essential part of strengthening continental defense and builds relationships essential for future cooperation. And, by the way, this year we have the 60th anniversary of norad. Throughout its long history, this binational command has seen several evolutions in the air domain and we are proud of that. The men and women of United States Northern Command and norad stand united in a common purpose ready to face the threats of the United States and canada today and we are evolving to face the threats of tomorrow. I need all of you to know that we have the watch. But i also need you to know while senators today youre going to ask me about and about our capabilities and the things that we need, i want you to know that we couldnt do it without our families. If it wasnt for our families and our steadfast things that keep us grounded, we wouldnt be able to be where we are today, so i want to say thank you to my husband, who is here today representing all the families of United States norad and Northern Command because without them we wouldnt have this standard. So, senator, back to you. Thank you, general robinson. Admiral tid . Senator inhofe, Ranking Member reed and members of this committee, thank you for this opportunity to address you today. And i join my colleague and partner general robinson in extending our very best warmest wishes to senator mccain and his family. Hes in our thoughts and prayers today. Also in our thoughts and prayers are the victims and family members of yesterdays tragedy in parkland, florida. As you probably know, some of our Southern Command teammates have children who were present during the incident but were fortunately unharmed. We greatly appreciate the First Responders, the faculty members and other opportunities who actions no doubt saved lives. Now, as i said, im here with my good friend and my teammate, general lori robinson. We are products of the intentions of the legislation that led to an emphasis on jointness. This is not the first time that we have appeared together. This is not the first time that we have worked together. In fact, our Partnership Goes back over a decade. So id just like to say that it is absolutely very much appropriate and fitting that we have the opportunity to talk to you today about the western hemisphere security challenges. I like forward to discussing how our two commands Work Together and tone sure there is an absolutely seamless defense of our homeland. Over the past year, south com has focused on building a Regional Security network of principled, inclusive partnerships. Partnerships throughout latin america and the caribbean are working with each other and with us on a range of shared challenges. These challenges manifest themselves in our hemisphere in several concerning ways. Criminal and extremist networks continue to threaten regional stability and our National Security. We know of specific cases of individuals who are involved in plots to attack our homeland or our partners. Fortunately, they were stopped, but this remains a significant, persistent concern. Competitors like china and russia seek to exploit the perception that we are disengaging from the americas, and as they succeed in their efforts comes an increased ability for them to interfere with our security relationships and to hold our interests at risk. These challenges are less overt and sometimes more insidious than in other theaters. They are manageable with modest investment, sufficient attention and early engagement. For south com, that involves tools that strengthen relationships and builds capacity. Were not talking about brigade combat teams or aircraft carriers in our theater. Were talking about small teams of general purpose and special Operations Forces to maintain critical training engagements. Were talking about medium endurance ships with helicopters and particularly those that are interoperable with our partners. And with enough awareness to buy down risk against problems early and stop threats at their source before they become more costly. We appreciate the attention of congress to this region and thank this committee for its support to the mission and the men and women of south com and to our families. I look forward to answering your questions. Okay, admiral, thank you very much. Appreciate it. You just said in your Opening Statement, general robinson, that, you know, i can defend the United States today. And i know that true. You and i have talked about this. But at what level of risk . You know, when general millie said, quote, before this committee, said the most important of many challenges we face is consistent, sustained, predictable funding over time. Now we correct that a little bit with our with our 18 budget. So its kind of predictable between now until the year 2000, but then it becomes unpredictable again. So id like to have both of you just very briefly tell us what level of risk are we able to do have to do today that you can tie directly to the unpredictability of budget . So, sir, ill start and then ill turn it over to the admiral. To me, predictability is everything, right . As a consumer of readiness, as the one that has to use the things that the Service Chiefs have to organize, train and equip for, for me whats important is to understand what ive got out there for capabilities. So im telling you today i can defend the United States of america when it comes to ballistic Missile Defense. Given what we did what we have done from a funding perspective, but as importantly, what we did with the atr and adding capability and capacity in alaska and what we continue to do with discriminating radars. So all of those things im comfortable for, but we have to allow the services to be able to plan because theyre the ones that provide us that readiness. Okay. Admiral . Admiral . Sir, as you and i have discussed, anything that challenges the Services Ability to provide the forces that we request to be able to effectively secure the southern approaches to the United States is a challenge. Budget unpredictability has probably been the single greatest impact on their ability to provide those forces. The challenge that we have when it comes to awareness of what is going on in the environment, weve already discussed that isr, our isr requirement, we receive about 8 of what we have asked for. I was very appreciative of the fact that about half of that has been provided as a direct result of creative contract isr capabilities that the congress has so generously funded, but that still is an enormous challenge. Yeah, not just for you but for all commands, we hear that all the time and thats one that we really need to be directing. Senator reed brought up china, and i noticed i actually read your statement. Now, you didnt cover it in your abbreviated message this morning, but you made a statement in there that caught my eye. You said that china in particular is increasingly aggressive in courting students from the region to attend their military school. Ive never heard that before. Now i know in africa, the imet program is singularly one of the truly great programs we have. Once if we get them for with us, theyre there for life. We see evidence of this all the time. I was not aware that china is trying to move into that. Can you kind of share that . Senator, ive long felt that the imet program is probably our single greatest longterm investment value for the dollar that we put into it. I would just highlight that it is an investment that sometimes may take two decades or more to pay off, but when it pays off, it pays off with relationships with Strategic Partners that are absolutely critical. It creates the personal contacts that many of the military leaders from across the region that i work with on a daytoday basis have participated in the program. China watches that very closely. Theyve recognized the value of that strategic investment. So they basically have taken a leaf out of our book and they are very lavishly funding to bring senior military officers from a variety of Key Countries around our region to china for very lavishly expensed, all expense paid trips for them, for their families to be able to live very high lifestyle in the countries. It is there is still a recognition from our partners that the greatest value comes from studying in the United States. We believe our country sells itself, and when people come here they get to know who we are, who our country really is, the values that we truly represent, we think thats a very, very important weve always said, once we get them over here, weve got them forever. Thats been my experience, particularly in africa, because theyre there. So it was very disturbing to me to hear that statement or observation that you made, that they are actually going after those same individuals that weve already had. That is disturbing. Its given us something new to address. I appreciate that very much. Senator reed . Well, thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Let me concur. Imet is absolutely critical. You know, in a way i have personal connections. Two of my classmates later went on from west point to become chief of service in the philippines and in thailand. And they have been staunch defenders of their countries but also our relationship. In fact, i think the president of costa rica was a west point graduate, at least one of them. That program is funded by the state department, correct . Yes there, that is correct. And its another example of particularly in both of your commands where whole of government, you know, without funding state, there is no imet. So when we see some of these proposed cuts to state, it will play out in fewer opportunities for students to go to american war colleges, American Military academies, et cetera. Is that accurate . Senator, i would agree completely. In fact, again, both of you represent sort of in so critical ways that the need for not just the department of defense, the department of state, Homeland Security, coast guard cutters are part of your intercept plan for narcotics if theyre not there. In fact, what percentage of sort of destination, cargos that you know can you intercept . Senator, the challenge right now that we face is about 25 of vessels that we know have that are transporting elicit materials, we can intercept about 25 . So a quarter. If we could invest more in the coast guard, presumably we could set up 25 of the ships senator, i believe security in our theater is a team sport. It requires the efforts of many departments and agencies. Again, i think this both you and general robinson illustrate so dramatically how we have to get our Adequate Funding for every significant National Security component, whether theyre in the Defense Department or outside the Defense Department. General robinson, when you say you can defend the nation against missile attack, youre referring to a limited missile attack by a country such as north korea, correct . Yes, sir. Youre not making a generalized statement . No, sir. I want to make that clear for the record. Ill terrify all that to general hyten. Right. In that issue, and you raised it in your testimony, there is the constant tension between capacity and capability. Yes. We are investing lots of dollars in increased capacity. Thats going to take awhile. Five, six, seven, eight years to get some of the new fields up. But in the real moment, we have real issues of capability, whether we can effectively take down through sensors, through shot doctrine, through the kill vehicle anything coming at us, particularly, unfortunately, the offense in this game seems to have an advantage if they can deploy decoys or do you know, multiplestage rockets. Can you comment about this issue about where we should be focussing and how we should do it . So, sir, i have to tell you, im completely comfortable where we are. The fact that in the above threshold reprogramming that we added capacity and the redesigned kill vehicles, and i think its 2022 when well have those, but at the same time were looking at discriminating radar. So in 2019, were going to add the longrange discriminating radars to alaska. Were going to add radars to hawaii and were going to do a study on what we need as we look at, you know, coming down. Thank you to the committee for that funding until we figure this out, but im very comfortable where we are. Think as we look at the discrimination of radars, we look at the capacity of the fields in alaska, i think were in a really good place. Because when we sit back and look at what kim jongun has done, hes looking at capability. You and i talked about this. But he hasnt built up capacity yet. So right now our capacity is very good where we are and as we continue to move forward. Are you satisfied with the schedule the frequency and the rigor of the testing of the system, the actual testing . Im very comfortable. You know, one of the things that i say about kim jongun all the time is that hes not afraid to fail in public. You learn as much from failure as you do from success. So, you know, im very comfortable where we are with our testing and where were going in the future. And i rely very much on general grieves and where mda is going. He and i talk all the time. Thank you very much. Again, thank you both for your service. Yes, sir. Senator wicker . Admiral tidd, thank you both for your testimony and your service. But, admiral, our strategy now is Great Power Competition, first and foremost. Senator inhofe asked you to drill down on china, so let me ask you then to turn to russia, which you discussed extensively in your written testimony. You mentioned cuba, nicaragua and venezuela, is that principally where theyre playing . What are they trying to do there and where else do we need to be concerned . Senator, those are the countries in which previously the soviet union had a longstanding relationship and russia has continued that relationship. However, they continue to engage in a direct competition for influence with some of our key partners around the region. Our challenge is to be able to disprove the false narrative that russia peddles in the region, that the United States is withdrawing, that we are not a reliable partner. Many of the actions we engage in are directly intended to show our partners who are very much interested in working with us that we share common interests, we certainly share common Democratic Values and principles, which neither russia nor china share. Youre not a diplomat, youre a military person, but if the president s new openness to the Transpacific Partnership advances, would that be helpful to us in making making point that we can be a reliable partner . Senator, i dont profess to be either a diplomat or an economist. I would just observe the things that we do to show our partners directly, and we have pacificfacing nations within the south com region, anything that we can do to show that we are reliable partners is valuable. To what extent are we comfortable with the militaries of these countries subscribing to the position that we advocate and that were the that were the great standard of the military being answerable to the civilian leadership, and to what extent are the members of their legislative bodies Significant Players in this regard . Senator, i think each of the countries differ slightly. My relationships are with the military leaders of the countries. My observations and my conversations genuinely reflect that they recognize and are grounded in the same democratic principles that really are characteristic that were the founding characteristics of the americas community. I think as we have seen as a number of elections that have occurred throughout the region that led to changes in government positions, the militaries in each instance have played a very reasoned, responsible role, and they recognize that the ability to freely and fairly express democratic preferences is enshrined in the background of this of this theater have been respected. The one country i think that i would highlight, though, that has been singularly contrary to that has been venezuela, where recent elections have been neither free nor fair. Very good. Let me ask you quickly to shift to the ships, the role of the coast guard there, and maybe i can clearly its going for you its going to continue to be almost totally coast guard. If you could take a moment to say how you plan to integrate Unmanned Systems into your platform. Thank you. Senator, ive said before on a number of occasions, in the u. S. South com region, my Maritime Force has white hauls in orange stripes. Frankly, if it were not by the u. S. Coast guard and the significant effort by the commandant, we would not have maritime service. Thats not because the navy doesnt recognize the very significant importance to the region, it is just a matter of Strategic Priorities and availability of forces and we run out of mission excuse me, we run out of forces before we run out of mission. The coast guard cutters that have been participating are irreplaceable. The National Security cutters, terrific when we get them, but the real workhorse, you know, the cop on the beat vessels are the medium endurance cutters, many of which are past 30 years in age. Some were built in the 1960s. And so the recapitalization of those medium endurance cutters with the offshore cutters i view as extremely important to u. S. South coms ability to provide an adequate maritime presence in our region. Unmanned . Unmanned vessels. Unmanned airli unmann unmanned aerial vehicles. There are challenging to incorporate them in the missions were engaged in but were actively exploring efforts to do that. Thank you, mr. Chairman. To our witnesses, thank you for your service to our country. Thank you for being here today. General robinson, im certainly pleased to hear that you have great confidence in our Missile Defense capabilities. But i would also like to expand have you expand a little bit on how we can continue to strengthen those capabilities. We currently have obviously the site in california as well as in alaska. There is talk about having an east coast site that would provide additional capabilities, particularly given the potential threat from iran at some point in the future. If you could talk a little bit about what the advantages would be to add a groundbased intercepter capacity at another location, in addition to the two we have. Sir, thanks for that. So i tell everybody that i watch north korea with an eyeball and a half to north korea and then a half an eyeball to iran. As i continue to watch them work on their space launch vehicles, you know, i know that they can maybe quickly transfer that to an intercontinental ballistic Missile Defense capability. Right now theyre very regional and theyre staying within their area. As i work closely with the Missile Defense Agency Understanding what we can do from alaska and california. I ensure that i have the battle space that i need to defend from the east coast. So i Pay Attention to that each and every day and as the Missile Defense agency is working their way through, you know, what does it look like for an east coast site, i ensure that my words and the battle space that i need are there to defend the United States. All right. Thank you, general. Yes, sir. Admiral tidd, you mentioned in earlier testimony the situation in venezuela and one that youre concerned about. Could you elaborate a little bit as to how concerned you are with what were seeing in venezuela . Senator, i think the fact that it is a matter of very significant concern to the nations that neighbor venezuela is probably the most important piece to point out. As we have seen the impact on venezuelans who are fleeing the absolutely abominable Economic Conditions in the country puts a severe burden on the school systems, medical systems, the associate support infrastructures, plarl particularly of colombia, where over 500,000 venezuelas hans ha entered colombia. Its putting a particular strain on brazil, tens of thousands have come across. It also places a significant burden on countries like aruba as well as trinidad and tobago. And it is having a very Significant Impact on those countries and those countries recognize they are going to have to be able to deal with this humanitarian crisis. So it is certainly very destabilizing to many of our allies and friends in that area, and id like you to comment, if you would, on the involvement of cuba in venezuela. Things that i have read, there are commentators who believe that there are hundreds to perhaps thousands of cuban troops in venezuela. Some have said this is a play right out of the old castro playbook. What is your assessment of cuban influence in venezuela and how is that contributing to the instability that were seeing . Senator, i think weve read some of the same documents, both open source and other. I think and when i talk with, again, my counterparts in the region, they have been quickly to shaquickly quick to share that we see significant presence of cuban advisers to the Security Forces that continue to prop up the d maduro regime. So i just think its a matter of concern. Thank you. Appreciate your testimony. Senator . Thank you, mr. Chairman. General robinson and admiral tidd, first of all, let me just say thank you very much for your service to our country. Id like to admiral tidd, id like to go back a little bit to what senator wicker was discussing with you. Basically in recent years china, russia and iran have all increased their activities in the western hemisphere. From economic investments to military sales and engagement. Which of these competitors concerns you the most in your areas of responsibility and what are you doing to maintain and expand our position as a partner of choice to latin american and caribbean nations . I understand the desire, and as you said earlier, you recognize that youll do what is necessary. Im wondering if you can give us some specific areas that you either intend to move forward with or that you would need additional assistance with. Well, senator, without parsing, i think the new National Security strategy National Defense strategy has clearly articulated russia and china are significant concerns. They are global concerns. So they are they are of concern because they are very present and aggressive in the u. S. South com theater. Iran also is present. Particularly worrisome is their proxy, hezbollah, which is an area that weve been watching for many, many years and is an item of concern. When it comes specifically to russia and china, the very best thing that we can do is to be the best possible partners that we can with countries who are absolutely interested, committed, want to work with us. Sometimes there are things that make it difficult for us to be the best partner that we can. Sometimes its adequate forces for us to be able to engage with them, and so to be able to conduct meaningful exercises with them, but also sometimes our ability to be able to work with them and facilitate the kinds of informationsharing that is critical to having an effective common defense for the challenge we face. Let me work my way through it a little bit because im really curious about such things as Foreign Military sales or Foreign Military financing. For those military sales. International military education training, the impact and so forth. Can you talk a little bit about those specific ones with regard to our ability to not only provide them with resources but also the training as well . And where are we at right now with those same partners . Is that working or not working . Do we have the resources allocated there that we need . Well, senator, i dont know a theater commander who says hes got as many resources as he or she would like to have, but i would say that particularly with regard to programs that you mentioned, fms and the imet program, it is a small pie to begin with. The south com allocation of that pie is smaller still, based on global priorities, and so our challenge is to make that small slice of the pie go as far as it possibly can. Now sometimes programs that we offer, its expensive for our partners to be able to come and live in the United States and bring their families with them and spend the time here, so thats where we really try to maximize both the number who are able to come and the, i guess the quality and the quantity, if you will. Finding that balance point can be a real challenge, but i think as far as the particularly the imet program, if there was one program that i would say is a longterm strategic investment, and like financial investments, sometimes they take awhile to pay off, but when they pay are, they are absolutely priceless. Okay. Thank you. General robinson, our 114th fighter wing in sioux falls has been flying Alert Missions out of the march air base in california since 2012. Weve had four jets constantly deployed there and crews on a 24hour flying alert basis. That are really part of that critical defense team for our nation. Norad recently requested 72 upgraded radars through a joint urgent operational needs request and theyve been funded to include for the aircraft of the 114th. The problem is that there are over 300 Air National Guard f16s and were only going to modify 72 of them with this radar. Our worry is that it will put really heavy wear and tear on those specific modified aircraft and will only modify a handful of the aircraft, thus really wearing out that particular group. The cost to upgrade these jets is approximately 2. 1 million per jet, and compared to at adequate capability gained, its probably a pretty goodbye. C good buy. Can you talk about whether we should upgrade the remaining f16s so were just just focused on that 72 with the capability. Yes, sir. Im working very closely with the air force on this. First of all, im grateful to be able to modify those jets because that just happened recently. That i think is a good deal. I continue to work with the aviation as what does it look like as the transition to f35s look like. So i will look closely and ensure not only do we not rely heavily on just those, but what does the longterm transition plan look like. Thank you. Very good. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you both for your service and for your testimony today. General robinson, i especially appreciate your comments about the support that everyone in the military receives and at norad from your families. I know that sentiment is shared by everyone on this committee. So thank you both. Admiral tidd, i want to go back to senator reeds question, i think, about the 25 . Did you characterize that as 25 of the missions that you could do, youre able to do because of the lack of resources, not able to do more than that . Senator, i think the way that we describe it, and to clarify, we have pretty good Situational Awareness on an awful lot of the traffic that trafficking that is occurring. Thats based on very Close Partnership with a variety of countries in the region, most notably with colombia. Of the known tracks that we are aware of, and we think weve got a pretty good handle, we are only able to intercept about 25 , about one quarter. Well, im sure youre both aware of the challenges that we face with the opioid and heroin and drug epidemic in this country. It has hit New Hampshire particularly hard. What can you estimate if you had the resources that you could use to do all of the missions that you would like for all of the interdiction efforts that youre aware of. What difference would that make in terms of the amount of drugs youre able to interdict . Senator, you raise an excellent question, and the challenge that we have, particularly with regard to opioids, and thats this is thats the reason that we hosted the Conference Last Week was because we recognized that what we knew and the procedures that we had in place did not seem to be having the kind of impact, and its because the supply chain of that particular elicit substance does not travel in the same way that the supply chain for if you roll the clock back, marijuana originally and cocaine, where we have wellunderstood and identified source zones, transit zones, arrival zones and able to lay across those various pathways a variety of primarily Law Enforcement but also Intelligence Community and military resources to have an impact on them. The opioid problem is a fundamentally different problem. We have we understand its different. I would say the value of last weeks conference was bringing together many, many, many of the agencies that touched that problem, at least on the interdiction side, and recognized weve got to do business differently. Im not prepared to tell you we have an answer to it yet, but we recognize the scope of the problem, the seriousness of the problem and the work that remains to be done and our commitment to Work Together to put in place a more effective mechanism than what were doing today. Thank you. General robinson, are you seeing similar on the northern border with canada, are you seeing similar traces of drug runners coming across . No, maam. Not like what, you know, admiral tidd would talk about. Sure. But the one thing i would also like to add and give admiral tidd a lot of credit for is last month we had a meeting with he and i and the admiral from colombia and the admiral from mexico to talk about how do we as we watch things from the landbased transit to the oceanbased transit, you know, those two folks talking to each other about how do we decide how were going to combat this together . So, you know, in under his leadership, you know, we had colombia present a plan, we had mexico present a plan, we had the u. S. Present a plan and now the three of are going to sit down and go whats the best way we can do this from an openocean perspective to try to get after that . So, i mean, this is not a single dimension conversation, this is a multidimension conversation and its a multi combat and command conversation, which to me is really important, is the fact that he and i stand side by side doing this. Well, thank you. I think its very important, as you all know, and i hope that we can provide Additional Resources to make sure that youre successful. I want to pick up on another issue that senator reed raised with respect to funding for the state department. You both talked about the importance of working across d. O. D. And state in terms of what youre trying to accomplish, and we have seen a proposed budget that would cut the department of state by 30 . Can you quantify what that would mean in terms of your operations and your efforts to work with state if they saw that kind of a cut . Kind of a cut . So, i dont know if i can give you a number that would mean anything. Heres what i do know. Every single day we talk about anything, secretary mattis says diplomacy leads. So the fact of the matter that he says diplomacy leads, then i know my role and responsibility is to support diplomacy. So i cant say, is that 10, 20, 25 , but i can tell you that i know that i follow diplomacy. Thank you. I would just add, again, i cant put a number. But so many of the programs that are critical to building effective partners across the region actually, they come out of the state budget. We implement them, but we could not do it if they are underfunded. Thank you both. I think thats a strong statement in terms of funding as we think about increasing funding for the military and the department of defense. Were all on board for that, but we should also be on board for funding for the state department and our diplomatic efforts. General robinson, your Opening Statement discusses the increasing capabilities of russian Cruise Missiles to hold targets in the homeland at risk. Specifically you state, quote, these systems present an increasing threat to north america due to their long range, low radar Cross Section and limited ind caitions and warnings likely to be seen prior to a combat launch, end quote. Can you ewill laborate and characterize this threat in further detail, and how much does it concern you . Maam, heres what i would say, i tell everybody we should often look at the map from the north pole down. I know senator sullivan does every single day. And we should look the fact that russia looks different if you look at it that way. And then every single day i would tell you i get an operations and intelligence briefing that talks to me about where bombers are, where submarines are, and, you know, what theyre doing and what their activity is. And i Pay Attention to that every single day. And so when i sit back and i look at that, you know, i look at their capability, what theyre capable of, i look at their capacity as they continue to train both their bomber pilots and their submarine pilots. But i look at intent in the air domain as the commander of n norad, i know from an intent perspective, they dont see that. From a strategic longterm perspective, as we talked about in the National Defense strategy, what russia is out there doing. But i have to tell you, i have to tell you, so one of the things that were doing is a northern approach is surveillance analysis of alternatives with canada to understand whats coming across the northern approaches, both canada and alaska. Because i look across the entire part as the commander of norad. And what ive said to everybody is i want to be able to detect, i. D. , track and engage, if necessary, at ranges to defend our homeland. And so those are the things that i think about when i think about russia. Your final comments there, about being able to detect early, and then engage in necessary, do you think we have enough of that capability right now . I know that in the fy2017, the air force began upgrading the radars on the 72 National Guard f16 fighters. Is that going to be sufficient . Because isnt that really our last line of defense at that point . Yes. So, maam, what i would say is thats part of our Homeland Defense design phase 1 and phase 2. It allows us to use our fighters, and tactics, techniques and procedures to move out further than we were able to before. So we appreciate the committees support in that. But this is now the longerrange part. If i look at the northern approaches, specifically to be able to do that. And i happen to believe that our Missile Defense system provides really an immense capability, and the expansion of that system is going to help us to continue to defend the homeland as this threat increases. Yet over the weekend, general, we saw the New York Times Editorial Board publish a column titled the dangerous illusion of Missile Defense. And in it they described our Homeland Defense system as riddled with flaws, and repeated what i consider an old, tired claim, that tests were not conducted under realistic conditions. So to be clear, do you have confidence in the ability of the gmd system to defend the United States from a north korean Ballistic Missile attack today . Maam, im 100 confident in my ability to defend the United States of america. And do you believe the actions taken by congress and this administration to expand the systems capacity and improve discrimination will enhance north coms ability to defend the homeland from ballistic attack in the future . I appreciate the above threshold reprogramming for the capacity that we gave, and i think thats helpful as we look at adding onto that, the redesign kill vehicle. In addition to continued work, which we need to do with the discriminating radars. Between all of those three things, i think we continue to outpace everybody. And it gives me more and more confidence, continued confidence of our ability to defend the United States. Thank you, general, for presenting valuable information, and very clear answers. Thank you. Thank you, senator. Thank you, mr. Chairman, i want to thank both the witnesses, thank you for meeting this week as well. I want to talk to you about what we talked about in my office, which is the Opioid Crisis. Last week the center for Disease Control reported Overdose Deaths in indiana, increased by 28 from july 15 to july 2016. Over 1,700 hoosiers died from opioid overdoses. Only six states had larger percentage increases. But this is a national epidemic. Its getting worse, not better. And your commands are on the very front lines of this battle. How would you prioritize the Opioid Crisis in your command priorities right now, general robinson, and then admiral tidd . Sir, i take this Opioid Crisis as a personal issue. You know, when you sit back and you talked about it, and its about families, and its about people, its incredibly important. I sit down every month and i talk to the secretary of dhs. I work very closely with my subordinate commanders who work very closely with mexico on all of this. So this crisis is not something that i set aside. Its something that i take very personally. And so whats important to me is that i understand the support role that i can give to dhs, and the support role that i can and information that i can give mexico, which then translates to the things that i can give to admiral tidd. Because the ucp line on the map doesnt exist for admiral tidd and i. So its a very personal thing. Admiral tidd . Senator, i share general robinson, this is a crisis that has come to touch us all personally. The challenge that we face is that how do you handle it . How do you deal with it . What became clearer at our Conference Last Week was the United States department of defense cant solve this problem on its own. The department of Homeland Security cant solve this problem on its own. Health and Human Services cant solve it on its own. It will only be through all of us working together in a collaborative manner. Thats why our approach at u. S. South com is to apply a threat networkbased approach. And we see thats our number one priority is Threat Networks. I apologize, because i have limited time. But as we talked about, these drugs are coming across from mexico, not through unguarded areas or anything, but through check points, in the back of trucks. And so were in a position of seeing the very check points we have in our country, allowing trucks in, many of these trucks loaded with drugs. Theres two questions. Number one, detection systems, in regards to fentanyl, tracker dogs die because of the effects of fentanyl on their mucus systems and other things. How do we where are we in finding new detection systems so we can determine whether these are in the trucks . And are we in a position where we simply need to say, look, your refrigerator is not coming in today because were checking every box and every truck because its more important that a young person in logans port, indiana be able to stay alive instead of having your refrigerator coming in on time. First is detective systems, and second, should we change the business we do at the order and check every single box that comes in . So, sir, i will tell you in the support role that we do for dhs, we have the opportunity to provide them some biometric detection capability. We have the opportunity to provide marine sensor platoons at the border, capability. As you know, you and i talked about yesterday, its very much in a support role in the things we can do for a technology capability. Last year, in front of this committee, as you and i chatted about yesterday, senator mccain asked us to talk about what are some of the technologies, and well come talk to you about some of the things were doing to provide and to support dhs. Admiral . Sir, all i can say is theres no single Silver Bullet that will solve this problem. It will take the very best efforts across the entire team to be able to work effectively. Is there a discussion about how were handling crossings at the border . Thats where its coming through. Not that you know of. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you both for being here. Ive got three quick questions. Admiral, to finish up on what senator shaheen was talking about before i do that. Id be remiss to the apologize to both of you, on behalf of the United States senate, today were officially sitting in a continuing resolution again. And you have my personal commitment, and resolve, that before i leave the United States senate were going to do everything we can to get away from this budget process that puts us in this detrimental high risk situation. Were doing more to harm the security of our country than any of these people were talking about today outside. Sorry. Admiral, real quick, and general kelly talked about this too, but youve talked about, what there is an asset that you could use in your aor to actually interdict more, we dont know what percentage we can get to, but i understand that. You could close that gap without spending a lot of money. Is that true . I think there are some platforms out there that would be enormously help us to us, yes, sir. What would that look like. Mission space that we are rotary Work Capability as well . Absolutely. Its a package, a vessel thats capable of operating in the eastern pacific with rotary wing, with interceptor boats as a package, coupled with maritime control aircraft. In latin america, russia is supporting 40 of the arm sales, and china is second largest trading partner. Iran is there through hezbollah. The question i have when our mission of the last 17 years, you were underfunded in south com we were pushing resources out to the battle. Are you being resourced in order to support the nds, and is the nds focusing enough on greater pure power threats in our own hemisphere . Not yet. The nds recognizes these challenging nations, and i think we apply that we must move beyond applying resources to the home zip code of where those specific countries are and apply the resources to be able to deal with them wherever theyre found across the globe . General, thank you for being here again, and thank you for being on the wall. China, just last month, issued a statement. Russia has been actively building resources in the arctic. We see in the arctic region increasing at an exponential rate. I think admiral may be able to answer, but i dont know how many ice breakers we have, we dont have very many, russia has a multiple of them. Can you talk about the threats in the arctic, or the increasing, what is russia is chinas strategy, and you updated us, you told us last year about your strategic estimate, can you give us an update on the strategic estimate in the arctic . Absolutely, sir. So i did a strategic estimate. Out of that estimate, i have directed my twostar planner to provide a mission analysis. As ive said to people, weve had our toes in the sand, its time to put our feet in the snow. And its time to understand more and more whats going on up there. So out of that mission analysis, were going to do a couple exercises, we did a vigilant shield last fall, were going to do an arctic edge and will be able to understand certain tasks out of that. But at the same time, we know that we need to look at the infrastructure, the communications, and the domain awareness to understand whats happening. Both of you very quickly, limited time, our strength against these near peer competitors is our network of allies, and i know secretary of state tillerson has talked about that actively, secretary mattis as well. In your aors, what are we doing with our allies to leverage our military expenses and capabilities . We are working together to help train them, building their capabilities in the areas they are most interested in, and we are showing, by our actions, that we trust them. So, if i can tell you earlier this year, secretary mattis held a north america defense ministerial with canada, the United States and mexico. To talk about how do we, the three of us, Work Together to show that we have the longest borders in the world . And that were a shining beacon of trust, and cooperation . Thank you both. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you to our witnesses for being here today. General robinson, i know youve said that you are confident in our Homeland Defense. And i was glad to see that the most recent test of our homeland Missile Defense system in may of 2017 was successful. It brings our record to 9 out of 18, which is 50 . I know that testing is important. Whether tests succeed or fail, we gather a great deal of information, and it helps us. As the missile threat from north korea increases, and we invest additional interceptors to meet the threat, it seems to me that its more important than ever that we accurately assess the reliability of this system. Physical tests are expensive, and they cost hundreds of millions of dollars each. Predictive modeling is one Cost Effective way to increase our data. But in his 2017 annual report, general baylor, the director of operational tests and evaluation criticized, and im going to quote him the lack of independent accreditation of modeling and simulation for performance assessment of our ballistic Missile Defense system. He recommended that Missile Defense agency prioritize investments in modeling and simulation. General robinson, as north com commander, youre the primary customer for our homeland Missile Defense system. Do you agree with general baylors recommendation would increased modeling and simulation improve your confidence in ground base Missile Defense system . So, maam, its good to see you again. Good to see you. And so thank you for that. So i would tell you two things. You know, modeling and simulation is good as what you put in is what you get out, right, so i think its very important that we do modeling and simulation. But i also think that the importance that Missile Defense agency does with its live testing helps answer into all of that. So when you take both the live part and you can input that into the modeling and simulation, that helps you with the overall understanding. But i want to say to you, again, im confident today in our ability to defend the United States. And so i think its important not just the live testing, but the modeling and simulation, and put all of that together to make us understand where were going. So thank you, general, you know, weve spent over 40 billion on the homeland Missile Defense system. So i dont think its asking too much to expect it to work 100 of the time. If thats not possible, to rethink our overall approach. Dot e has been making the same recommendation that we invest in modeling since 2010. Thats eight years ago. And i think its time to take that recommendation seriously. Not as a substitute, but as a both and. If i can, let me ask you one other question. That is, general robinson, your responsibilities include coordinating defense support civil authorities in the event of a natural disaster. And in 2017, hurricanes harvey, irma and maria and nate and ophelia. Thats right, strained our federal response nearly to the breaking point. I recently visited puerto rico, along with the massachusetts congressional delegation. And we were able to see the damage firsthand. One sector that was particularly hard hit was health care. We previously talked about your decision to send the hospitalship comfort for about seven weeks. I visited a hospital and a Community Health center that were still struggling without clean water, without reliable power, months after the storm, and more than a month after the comfort had departed. And now, even though they havent recovered from last years storms, theyre all starting to prepare for the next round of Hurricane Season. So im about out of time. But general robinson, can you very briefly list, say, your top three Lessons Learned from maria, and whether theres more that d. O. D. Can do to support the Health Care Sector specifically . So, maam, i would tell you, we just finished, very quickly, we just finished an internal north com Lessons Learned conference. Were going to go out to osd, the conversation that we had is, is there a difference between texas, florida and puerto rico . So youve got state, state and island. So what can we learn out of that and can we think about that differently . I would tell you that would probably be the first thing i would say back to you. Good. Once we finish through inside the department, id be happy to have me and my staff come talk to you about the things that we learned, and interagency quite frankly. As you know better than i do, we are very much in a support role. To fema and the governor. And so wed be happy to come talk to you. Good, i appreciate that. Yes, maam. I appreciate that you responded to my letter. Yes, maam. With a lot of detailed information about the comfort, and its use in puerto rico. And mr. Chairman, with your permission, id like to submit the letter from the general for the record. And just to say, puerto rico has still not recovered. Yes, maam. And health care has been a particularly hard hit area. D. O. D. Can move resources, often much faster than anyone else. And i think we need to think much harder about the role that d. O. D. Plays in future hurricanes because we know theyre coming. Yes, maam. Thank you, thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, general robinson, admiral tidd for your appearance and continued service. Admiral tidd, the president announced at the state of the Union Address that we would once again be moving detainees where appropriate to guantanamo bay, that falls under your authority. Could you tell us more about that plan, and what you have in store for the facilities there . As has been the case our responsibility is to ensure the safe, secure, legal detention of our detainees. Im highly confident we have been doing that and will continue to do that. You know we have 41 detainees who are there right now, were prepared to receive more, should they be directed to us. As of today we have not been given a warning order that new detainees might be heading in our direction. Our responsibility will be integrate them effectively into that mission. What about the facilities there, and your personnel rotation plans . Thanks to the generosity, obviously, of congress and spearheaded by this committee, we appreciate the support for barracks that are capable of withstanding the environmental conditions of the caribbean region, especially during storm season. We look forward, once the the money is in hand, to be able to Start Construction on those barracks. I can anticipate, although i dont have a plan for you today, there are a variety of buildings that were temporary in nature when they were put up that have deteriorated beyond their useful life. We will be taking a hard look, and prioritizing those buildings that will need to be replaced with facilities capable of withstanding the environmental conditions in guantanamo bay. Okay, thank you. Lets turn our attention to the south. Youve already spoken with a couple senators about the situation in venezuela, rapidly deteriorating. Can you talk to me about the implication it has for colombian elections coming up . Yes, sir, senator. Venezuelans who have come across the border into colombia, overwhelming their social support infrastructure, colombia has, i think, a grave concern. They are also beginning to see, and this is based on conversations with my colombian partners, they are concerned that there are a large number of venezuelans pushed across the border being encouraged to vote in elections, dual citizenship, and there is some concern that that may skew the elections, that will be critical taking place this spring and summer in colombia. Its a matter of security concern to colombia. Those security concerns, i think, are largely shared by brazil. Numbers are not as great yet. Its beginning to overwhelm the states that are directly across the border from venezuela. And were seeing it affects other countries across the region. The humanitarian disaster is in progress. And our partners are very concerned about it. Okay, thank you, admiral tidd. General robinson, i want to ask you about a story that was in the news recently, the you spy Service Members of smart exercise devices, for instance fit bits or smart watches, particularly overseas, but you obviously underneath your authorities have a lot of sensitive sites in the United States. Can you tell us what steps, if any, north com has started to take to address this Security Risk . I would tell you as i watch and work through the Service Chiefs, and to see what theyre doing, you know, while i worry about force protection in all of the installations, i work it through the Service Chiefs. Im paying attention to the steps theyre taking to make sure i understand, to ensure that i can implement anything they need me to do. You feel comfortable at this point with what the services are pursuing . Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you both for your testimony and for your service. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Admiral tidd, since weve been talking here this morning, four people in this country have died of overdoses, just in the last hour. As many people have died in the last month as were killed on september 11th, including one today in my state of maine. I cant believe were having the same conversation today that i remember having with general kelly two or three years ago in getting this figure of 8 of isr resources, and 25 of known drug shipments interdicted, 75 get through. I think youve identified the problem. If we give you a mission, you will deal with it. The problem is nobody has this mission. And i hope you will go back and auk to this Interagency Group and talk to the white house. It is inexcusable to be sitting here three or four years later and still only being able to interdict 25 of the drug shipments that we know about. And we would know about more if we had adequate isr. This is simply a question of allocation of resources, and this is the most Serious Public Health problem this country faces. Four people have died in the last hour. And were still talking about, and youre giving many ethe same figures that admiral that general kelly gave three or four years ago. Can you commit to me that you will move this to the highest level of priority, and kick some behinds, and take some names in this interagency cooperation . Please dont come back here again next year with the same testimony. Senator, i can commit to you that not only will i, but i have continue today communicate the challenge that we face. I will observe the services, the biggest challenge they have, to being able to provide Additional Resources, which they recognize very clearly are required, are challenged by the inability to have budget predictability, to be able to produce more forces, to make them available. This is the team sport. This is a team effort. We have to Work Together, as constructively and collaboratively as possible. My commitment to you is that i will do everything within my power to do my part. Hopefully weve just passed the twoyear budget authorization, we will hopefully have the final numbers within the next two or three weeks. And then we will be able to move forward. But please make this the highest priority. And im not im not attacking you. Im attacking the failure of our structure to adequately get it a problem when we have it right in front of us. It would be one thing if we didnt know, but when we have it right in front of us. General robinson, lets move north. First question, we all know that theres a russian buildup along the northern border, along the arctic ocean. Whats their purpose . What can you discern, what is their strategic reason for doing this, defensive, offensive, are they looking to get closer to be able to attack us . Are they simply protecting their shore . So, sir, i would say i think what you just said at the last is great, protecting their shore. You know, as you and i chatted about the other day the opportunity that for them to move their infrastructure around to their different bases is incredibly important, just like i do. I move capability from anchorage to isles and from isles to manuvic to toolie. We move things around. Its so they can move things at the time and place of their choosing. You made an important point earlier, two elements of national strategy, one is capability and the other is intent. Yes, sir. The other thing is they may have a benign intent or lack of maliciousness. Yes, sir. Theyre building up the capability, which requires we have to be alert. Are there assets you need in the north you dont have, for example, an ice breaker . So, sir, you know, ill defer to my colleagues in the coast guard. But what i will tell you for the ice breakers, but what i will tell you is that i very much get isr capability in global hawk and other things i share with you, com and pay com to understand whats happening in the region. And but i will tell you that im very good at advocating for needing other capabilities such as as an example, if you want ice breakers, i talk with my coast Guard Brothers often about this. Because i think about it in the summer when crystal serenity goes through. And well see more of that. Yes, sir. Final short question, if you had to choose, if you could only have one priority in order to improve our Missile Defense system, what would it be . I want to thank the congress for the capacity that we just got. But we have to the go keep our eye on discriminating radars. Thats what i that i thought you would answer. Thank you both. Thank you, admiral and general robinson. General robinson, yesterday we had the opportunity to talk about the counterweapons of mass destruction activities we have going on here in the homeland. So com now has the responsibility for countering weapons of mass destruction. It is something, once it approach it is homeland, we need to figure out how to respond to that. You have a great role in that as well a number of other combat and commands departments and agencies. One thing i want to point out is we tend to focus a lot about north korea and the threat that their Nuclear Program might have on the United States. But we have to remember there are other things involved with weapons of mass destruction. Chemical, biological and radiological agents as well. And we know that north korea does have the potential to develop some of those other threatening means to the United States. So can you talk a little bit about how north com works with all of these other cocoms, various federal agencies, how were protecting the homeland, not just from the Nuclear Threat, but some other threats as well. Yes, maam, thanks. First of all, i think what one of the things that i really enjoy is my opportunity and privilege to work with dhs, fema, and all the other intelligence agencies here in the homeland. I have joint Task Force Civil support in virginia, an amazing guard unit that works very focused on the chemical and biological reaction. But i have other task forces in the guard that help respond, one of them is yours. So for me that whole relationship with the governors, and with the tags to bring the forces to bear when we need them to be there independent of the niche capability that jts civil support provides to me from virginia, but in addition alal other guard forces that others provide. Its amazing. Its understanding whats going to happen here. You heard me talk about earlier about our exercise ardent century, and you heard me talk about understanding what the Nuclear Capability can do. So its understanding now the forces we would need to support and defend governors and states. Uhhuh, thank you. And weve mepntioned yesterday, too, those civil support scenes that work behind the scene, the quiet professionals. Yes, maam. Admiral tidd, thank you also for sitting down with me and going through a number of really concerning issues. Youve heard a lot of passioned speeches from our senators today, we are all very concerned about the Illicit Trade that goes on, and terrorism throughout the region. We know that theres the trade of drugs, tobacco, weapons, illicit, and sometimes in cases, human trafficking. And sometimes they are generating revenue for terrorist organizations like hezbollah. Can you explain how you are trying to tighten down on that, on that nexus . Can you specifically address our wonderful partners throughout the region, some of the countries that have helped step up and combat some of these problems . Senator, thanks for your question. I think the way that we have reoriented, the way we do business, and our main effort being countering Threat Networks is specifically intended to maximize the tools that we, within the department of defense, bring to bear into this interagency and International Partnership to be able to counter these Threat Networks, regardless of what commodity they are moving. Partners like colombia have been absolutely irreplaceable, willingness to work with us, to be partners, not just within colombia, but also working side by side with Central American neighbors to help them build their capacity to be able to deal with track down, apply pressure and disrupt the networks. I would highlight the terrific work thats been going on, that general robinson and all of her work with the armed forces of mexico, mexico is now exerting, i think, a Significant Interest in helping to improve security in central america. And so we Work Together in partnership, north com and south com together to facilitate that particular type of activity. Many other partners throughout the region. Capable partners. I would highlight a few. And just working around the continent, brazil, argentina has now come on strong and played a critical role. Chile has been one of the Security Partners in the region. Peru is a significant partner. Thank you very much. I think its important that we realize we do have solid partners in the region, its not all on our shoulders. We cant do it without them. Far from it. I appreciate your service, thank you very much for being here today. Thank you, senator. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman, thank you both for serving, and thank you for being here today. Im not going to plow ground that has already been gone over as it relates to open yoidioids. I want to echo the threat of black market fentanyl to the safety and security of americans tops anything were facing right now. I do think its an all hands on deck moment for every part of our National Security apparatus. I wanted to specifically ask about sea burn. For people that might be watching this that arent used to all the acronyms, obviously thats chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear, schools we have in the military. As we look at north korea and what theyre doing, clearly there is an issue about readiness as it relates to the training that we need to have in terms of dirty bombs and biological weapons, and obviously the potential that there could possibly be a Nuclear Threat to our country. What i wanted to ask, general robinson, dont you think it might be wise if we started using our military schools on a Space Available basis, our cburn Training Programs to begin to put civilian First Responders of into that training that could be a force multiplier . If we are actually in an Armed Conflict with north korea, we are really going to be stretched, because theres still trouble spots through the world. It seems to me if weve got Space Available and weve got the infrastructure, it would be a really good idea that we would begin opening those doors more widely to Police Departments and Fire Departments and other First Responders in our country to get this really important response training to that kind of attack from our enemy . Maam, when i first took over command at at north com and norad, it was a week we were there, and we had this exercica ardent century, i5 corridor, earthquake, all those things happening, when i walked in the room, 200 people, 300 people in this room, i looked at one of my predecessors, who are all these people . I discovered in this exercise was the fact it was local, state state and tags from folks from Emergency Managers from all the states involved in that. Last year we had the same exercise, and it had to do with the ten kiliton Nuclear Event in new york city. The same thing, we had local, state, Emergency Responders and all of that when secretary kelly took over, lori, lets think about how were going to do this in north korea, and most recently secretary tillerson. We all understand. I would like to consider, with the chairmans hopefully support and bipartisan support, consider something in the ndaa, that would open up training spots to First Responders on a Space Available basis. Maam, id be happy to work with the committee. That would be terrific. We have a great one in fort leonard wood. But there are times that the infrastructure thats there is not being fully utilized. It seems to me this would be a hand in glove fit for the threats we face. Come talk to me, ill have my staff talk to yours, and id be happy to work with the committee. Thank you very much, general. Republic inson, i asked questions to make a point and sometimes to educate the public about something i think we already know, but i think the public should know. My question is going to be in that category, educating the public about something important. Within the last month, about a month or so ago, we had two news reports on successive days that caused some real alarm among citizens in hawaii, there was an Emergency Alert suggesting incoming missile attack, improper Emergency Alert retrieved, a couple days later, there was a Japanese Agency nhk without out a warning about incoming had these things caused a whole lot of public i was in a classified hearing i hope you can get there. I had to ask i was able to ask the question of our military leadership when these false warnings went out did our military immediately realize how quickly did the military realize these were not attacks. I think thats the kind of thing that gives comforted to people that there might be a false warning that our military understands it quickly, accidental provocation, accidental military action, from your perspective as the commander with norad under your jurisdiction, can you talk about those two incidents, how quickly we were able to confirm that these, in fact, were not missile attacks. Sir, in this unclassified hearing, i can tell you comfortably and confident we were quickly to confirm that nothing happened. Thats, i think, an important thing for the public to know. But i do want to say, at the first indications of a missile launch, norad and north com command centers, well initiate process the event and make an attack assessment and fema op center is a part of that call. Theres a lot of folks reaching this same conclusion that is comforting for people to know. You talked in response to senator perdues question about the training we do with south com partners, it is the case that nations in your area are purchasing more from russia, activity by russia, iran, by china, but talk more about the training side. Ive had a chance to see some of the training in action, and im very, very impressed with the kind of training we do, the degree to which these nations want us to be their partner, the relationships you build, somebody youre training might be the defense minister in ten years, the president in 20 years, but talk about some of the nations, and the training exercises currently under way between the u. S. And nations in your command. Senator, theres no doubt in my mind the countries we work with unanimously prefer working with the United States because we Work Together as equal partners, we Work Together defending the same interests, the same values, the same piece of the hemisphere together. And so we try to find ways to make it as easy as we possibly can, we could not do that without the enormous support of our state partner program, National Guard units active in virtually every country throughout our region. They provide the longterm contact personal relationships many times with these countries that is valuable and builds the capacity. I mentioned previously the enormous importance of very, very small special Operations Forces that work with part near nations. They are highly respected, for their ability to Work Together understand how to meet the needs of particular countries. I have told general tony thomas, he is oftentimes my most important provider, and special Operations Forces are my major maneuver force, small numbers, but critically important throughout this region. Other reserve forces, the regent alliant force and last but absolutely not least, our Marine Special tasks force that six months out of the year during Hurricane Season come down, work with partner nations, build their capacity, resilience to deal with Disaster Response and when the need arises, when a disaster occurs, they have been directly employed in Disaster Response operations throughout our theater. Ive had the opportunity to witness some of these in h honduras, deployment of remote medical clinics that have a humanitarian purpose, to train our own folks in combat if we need to. Ive watched training in colombia where ive watched training on military tactics, respect for ive seen the value of these trainings. I also know sometimes its these kind of exercises that get squeezed in budget pressures, one of my hopes with the budget weve recently announced, we have the opportunity to continue to build those relationships in a much stronger position. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank, mr. Chairman. General robinson, ive been to puerto rico twice, and ive been impressed by the complete ina inadequacy to americans there as we speak. I think a third of the islands population lacks electricity. The economy is struggling. In fact, its on the brink of bankruptcy. If not there. The army corps of engineers and fema have worked hard, people on the ground are devoting themselves valiantly. But my sense is that theres a lack of resources from the federal government. I recognize that north com is in a support mission there. But i wonder, and i know senator warrens asked about it, youve said youre conducting a review, do you have any preliminary insights or observations for this committee about what could or should have been differently. So, sir, one of the things i talk about every time is every hurricane has its own characteristics. So one of the characteristics of this Hurricane Season was there were five hurricanes, people forget about nate, and we forget that ophelia was out there. But the fact of the matter is, puerto ricos an island. Thats different than texas, and thats different than florida, thats different than other things that we have seen. So one of the things that were going to go back and look at, we did an internal review inside of my command, were going to do inside of the department is how do we think about that differently, do we have force structures set up appropriately . Do we have the things we need . At the end of the day we support the governor and fema and we provide niche unique capabilities that at that place, as an example, that the guard might not have, and ensure that we have it positioned at the right place at the right time to be there when its necessary. Do you think that fema and other federal agencies made full use of the resources that you could offer . Sir, i would say it this way, secretary mattis told me i could have whatever i needed whenever i needed it. Whenever it was asked for, i had it capable. Did they make sufficient use of the resources . We havent had the ability to have an interagency top down conversation about that. I think thats a different conversation. I think whats important is the fact that secretary mattis said i could have what i needed when i needed it. He said to this committee he would make available whatever was necessary when it was needed. Yes, sir. I have no doubt about the availability and your readiness and willingness. Im asking about resources that were unused because they were unasked for. So i since we havent had a Lessons Learned across the interagency, i would not want to answer that conversation. Admiral tidd, my understanding is that hezbollah is very active in a number of south american countries, particularly in money laundering, drug trading. Is that your observation as well . Yes, senator, it is. What actions are being taken against hezbollah . Sir, weve been watching hezbollah for a number of decades now. Because, as you well recognize, they have been in this hemisphere for a long time supporting activities abroad. They are the ateam that had been mentioned from time to time. And so were watching what theyre doing, working with our partners in the Intelligence Community within our country teams and increasingly with partner nations to be aware of what they are doing. And to not be surprised. Should there be more action as opposed to watching, have we reached the point where the United States needs to be more actively engaged in light of its interests in the middle east . Senator, these actions are taking place in sovereign nations that have their laws they are applying. We are making sure theyve got the best Information Available to them to apply their laws. Thank you very much, thank you, mr. Chairman. This doesnt yeah, this may fall into the category of senator kaines educating the public. But weve had a lot of various experiences with puerto rico, i can remember one that was not pleasant. And that was when i personally lost the battle of vakis. They had the only area of joint training capability, and searching worldwide we are not able to replace that, and we did not get the cooperation we should have gotten and it had adverse effects. Following up a bit on senator cottons comments about gitmo, admiral, what id like to do, i was very critical of president obama when he was trying to close gitmo. One of his alternatives, what are you going to do with these guys, put them in incarceration in the United States, one was fort sill in oklahoma. Obviously you cant put those these are not prisoners. These are not criminals. These are enemy combatants. You cant put them in with the prison population. Their job is to teach other people to be terrorists. And so im really concerned, as we follow through with this, i was happy when the president in his state of the Union Message talked about keeping open that great resource we have there. But im very anxious for that to happen. What id like to have you do, admiral, is kind of monitor that, let us know why were not using it more, just already because i know there have been placements that took place, if you could do that for me id appreciate that very much and follow through with that. I will, senator. One last comment to make. Why dont you go ahead, senator reed . No, sir. This would go to the gentleman sitting behind general robinson, who we share a best friend, whose name is sublet. He had a lot of missions in vietnam, i think about 300 of them. When he got out, they changed the 570s, and youre aware of this, from the f16 mission to a refueling mission. When that happened he took retirement from the reserves. And i was his speaker at the retirement. And he wanted to keep flying it. Im still a flight instructor. What i had to do, i say to you, david, was i took the awesome responsibility, you know, anyone can fly fast. I had to teach charles sublet how to fly slow. So i had to Say Something you were not aware of, and thats it. Any further comments . I cant top that, mr. Chairman. All right. Anything more . We are adjourned. And i appreciate very much your willingness and your straightforward answers to the questions. You both did a great job. Thanks so much. You bet. Former president ial candidate mitt romney will speak at the lincoln day dinner in utah. Live coverage begins friday night, 9 00 p. M. On cspan. This weekend, on American History tv, on cspan3, saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on lectures in history, former virginia governor, gus wilder. I have a one word definition i use for politics. Can anyone guess what that is . Ive said one word that would define politics. Money. Give me something thats a proposition before any tribunal that doesnt involve money. Sunday at 10 00 a. M. Eastern, henry hank thomas, a combat medic during the vietnam war. My grandfather served in world war i. My father served in world war ii. Always for a black man. Whenever you served, it was your military service you hope would confirm your bona fides as a first class red blooded american citizen entitled. At 4 00 p. M. On real america, with a cpac conference in washington, d. C. , we look back to 1988 when president reagan spoke at a cpac dinner. The american know what limited government, tax cuts, deregulation and the move toward privatization have meant. Its meant the largest peacetime in our history. They wont want to throw that away in return for