Transcripts For CSPAN3 Gen. John Hyten Confirmation Hearing 20240714

The meeting will come to order. What were going do do is have our Opening Statements of senator reid and myself and then well recognize dr. Wilson for a very important introduction. All right . We the Committee Meets today for the nomination of general john e. Hyten to be Vice President of the joint chiefs of staff. We thank him for being here today. We welcome your family who is here and your friends, dr. Hyten. They can be introduced at the time you are recognized for your Opening Statement. And we have our boring seven or eight questions you have to respond to first. Have you adhered to applicable laws, recognitions or any conflicts of interest . Yes, sir. Do you agree if confirmed to appear and testify before request before this committee . Yes, sir. Do you agree to provide documents including copies of electronic forms of communications in a timely manner when requested by a duly constituted committee or to consult with the Committee Regarding the basis of any good faith denial or delay in such documents . Yes, sir. Do you agree when asked to give your personal views even if those differ from the administration in power . I do, sir. Will you ensure that your staff complies with deadlines establish for requesting communications including questions for the record in hearings . We will, sir. Will you cooperate in providing witnesses and briefers and in response to congressional requests . Yes, sir. Will you will those witnesses be protected from reprisal for their testimony or briefings . Yes, sir. Have you assumed any duties or undertaken any actions which would appear to be resume the outcome of this confirmation process . I have not, sir. The world is more dangerous than its been in my lifetime. I honestly believe that. I talk to you about that. And after years of sustained Armed Conflict under funding and budgets uncertainty, our military has fallen behind. Competitors and readiness in key capabilities. Without adequate sustained and predictable funding, all the work we do on this committee to implement the National Defense strategy would be for nothing. Thats why i think President Trump and congressional leaders for reaching a bipartisan budget agreement, it is critical to support our military and veterans and their families. While i would have liked to see more funding for defense tend of the day this budgets agreement provides minimal growth to give our military what it needs and will allow the department of defense to plan strategically in the future. Allegations have been band ond about in the press with little regard to the truth. This committee has held five executive sessions studied over 1,000 pages of investigative records, and reviewed statements of more than 50 witnesses. The members of the committee have devoted countless hours reviewing general hytens service and nomination through a fair, thorough and methodical process. We have done this with respect for the privacy of all involved. Each senator was able to ask questions, receive answers, review documents and other material, listened to testimony, conducted analysis, and expressed their opinions. Todays hearing is the next logical step in the deliberation, disciplined in detailed process this committee uses to determine the suitable suitability of the nominating candidates. Addressing these allegations is critical, not just for you, general hyten but for every nominee Going Forward. We take allegations of Sexual Assault seriously. It is unacceptable this committee will not act on unproven allegations, allegation thats do not withstand the close scrutiny of the committees process. General hyten, you have been leading strike com with discipline and integrity for the last 2 1 2 years. And you served honorably in the top leadership positions in the air force Space Command in the four years before. That i kmenld tcommend the will of you and your family to continue your service to our military and country. As we form a new United States space force, we need your Strategic Insights and guidance to move the Key Initiative forward including how to improve space acquisition. British Army Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery said, if we lose the war in the air, we lose the war and we lose it quickly and we can say the same thing about space now. When i say the world is the most dangerous position it has been in my lifetime, one of the areas im talking about is the proliferation of Ballistic Missiles and cruise missiles capability. Russia, china, iran, north korea, use missiles as strategic leverage and we need strateg te imagination to count they are growth. As the former secretary of defense said, we need urgent change and significant scale to implement the National Defense strategy and i couldnt agree more. Senator reid . Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Let me join you and welcome general hyten his wife and his children to the hearings. The purpose of the hearings is to focus on the duties of vice chairman of the joint chief of staff and to extruscrutinize wh he is qualified to serve as vice chairman. Over the past few weeks a number of Media Outlets including the New York Times and Washington Post reported allegations that you sexually assaulted a suborder nant under your command as the commander of u. S. Strategic command. These are serious allegations and, therefore, consistent with the committees long standing practices we have held five executive sessions related to your nomination, totalling over 15 hours of testimony and deliberation. During those sections, members received sworn testimony on extremely sensitive matters and able to ask questions and review documents and background material. Members have been afforded to the opportunity to request Additional Information from the department which we have done. These executive sessions with the appropriate form to consider this information which enabled them to use long standing procedures that served it and the senate well for decades. The sessions allowed each member to hear the viewpoint of our colleagues even if that per inspect sieve different from our own. That dialogue helped inform our committee and i appreciate the thoughtful consideration of every member during this process. Finally, i want to thank the chairman for ensuring the committee had sufficient time to conduct our review of these matters. Youve been extremely cooperative in this regard and i appreciate it. Nevertheless, we must recognize the public nalt ture of the allegations will likely raise questions today that are appropriate to an open session of this committee. The imenternational order is unr threat. The new National Strategy or nds is help the United States compete with china or russia. As department per sues this new strategic direction, there are countries dangerous and the threat posed by organizations is not diminishing. Furthermore, the Department Must continue to recruit and retain high caliber individuals by restoring readiness and pursuing new high end capabilities for the force. General hyten, youll be working closely with general milich to address the issues and i hope you will share your views with this committee. Youll see a key role in the interagency process that requires working closely with senior policymakers within the department and National Security council on critical National Security issues. The committee looks forward to hearing from you on the effectiveness of the interagency process. The vice chairman assigned a number of responsibilities within the department. First, they oversee the council which is a critical process. Senior member of the Nuclear Weapons council, the vice chairman plays a role in ensuring the safety of our Nuclear Arsenal and finally, giving your recent services, if confirmed, i would expect that you play an integral role in space. We look forward to hearing your testimony and how you prioritize these duties if you are confirmed as the vice chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator reid. And thank you, dr. Wilson, for being here. Your service to our country has been exemplary. We hope you enjoy your next chapter. Youre recognized now for an introduction. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Im here to introduce general john hyten, nominee to be the next vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. I graduated from the air force academy in the third class to include women. And served for seven years as a junior officer. In the 1909s, i was a former member of the house afk services committee. I know well that Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault happen in the military. It must be con fronted, investigated, and punished. While i have now left the defense department, i was the secretary of the air force and directed the investigation of allegations made against general hyten by a rm toer suborder nant. That investigation was overseen by the air force Inspector General and was peer reviewed. The task was to conduct an exhaustive investigation and to find the truth. Ive come before with you Great Success stories. Ive been here with the air force missed the mark. Ive taken responsibility and been straight with you when we got it wrong. This investigation was thorough and the allegations were taken sear quusly and it was handled appropriately. The team investigated 63 people in three countries and 14 states. They reviewed over 196,000 emails and 4,000 pages of documents. They reviewed 152 travel records and portions of phone records dating back to 2015. They interviewed members of the general staff at Strategic Command as well as members of his staff when he was at Space Command. General hyten is one of the most chosely guarded officers in the military because he commands the Nuclear Deterrent. Inspector general also interviewed his personal security team. The result is a final report of over 1400 pages. The military does not automatically suspend the peoples clearances or remove them from command when there is an allegation of impropriety. If the initial facts gathered justify it, we can and i have done so in other cases. This Committee Also has handled this matter with respect for the accuser and for general hyten with discretion and sensitivity. After all of this, i believe the senate will come to the same conclusion i did. General hyten was falsely accused and this matter should be set aside as you consider his nomination. I accept that it is entirely possible that his accuser is a wounded soldier who believes what she is saying is true. Even if its not. That possibility makes this whole situation very sad. We all know that Sexual Assault is a highly charged issue, more so today than at any time in our history. Difficult in any environment, it is even more so when your decisions as senators are public but not all of the information will be public. None of us want to appear as leaders to be breaking faith with victims of Sexual Assault. All of us want to encourage victims to come forward. But with very to do the right thing in this case with these facts, maintaining the credibility of this committee and this body. Aligned with the American Peoples deeply rooted sense of justice. I hope you will agree with me that general john hyten is worth all of the time that you have taken to consider his nomination. Hes the right leader to be the next vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. There is no other active duty officer today who combines the intellect and breadth of experience of john hyten when it comes to three areas of vital importance to our National Security. Space, cyber, and the nuclear deterent. John has the credibility and experience of a Combatant Commander yet he began his career in acquisition. He has experience setting requirements for complex Weapons Systems which is a process he will lead as the vice chairman. General hyten stewarded the requirements for command and control and has been a driving force behind the need to modernize the nuclear deterent. He is an exceptionally good compliment to general millys skills as the chairman. More than his expertise, john hyten has a well earned reputation for speaking truth to power. He gives frank military advice without much sugarcoating. I know that from personal experience. Like it or not, he will tell you what he thinks. And what you need to know. Not what you want to hear. He is passionate about the security of this country and i encourage you to support his confirmation. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, there wilson, very much for that excellent introduction. With that, general hyten, well recognize you for an Opening Statement. Chairman, members, distinguished Committee Members, it is a privilege to appear before you as the vezs nominee to become the 11th vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. I want to recognize secretary wilson for her long and devoted service to this nation. It means everything to laura and me she came all this way to speak on our behalf. I thank her for that introduction. To begin, id like to introduce my wife laura to the committee so thank you for that opportunity. Laura and i met when i was stationed in los angeles and weve been married now for almost 32 years. We met by long term aspirations did not include a lifetime of service to the United States air force. But over and over again, opportunities continued to come along to do what i love and laura always encouraged me. During this time, her own passion for the men and women of our nations military has grown. Today she is an advocate in our communities and works to empower and care for military families. She is an amazing woman. The best person i know. She is ready to fight for this country alongside me one more time. And together we also have the joy of raising two incredible children. Katie and chris. Both successful in their own right. Each with wed thgz year. Katie is here with us to day from boston but chris couldnt make it from colorado on such short notice. But sitting next to them is my brother scott representing my mom, dad, and my sister in alabama and ive been lucky to have them by my side every step of the way. This last christmas i was asked to talk over with my family whether or not i would consider serving in another position if i was if it were offered. I wasnt sure what i would say but this was clearly family decision. Thats when katie made it quite simple asking me if you love this country and you love the people you work with and you still feel you can make a difference then why stop . Period. Simple. So thats why im here. I still love what i do. If confirmed, i look forward to continuing my advocacy for the civilians of the department of defense when the nation provides them the right tools they have proven time and time again theyre the greatest advantage over any adversary. But as i sit here today, as has been discussed, im intensely aware of the allegations made against me concerning one of the most Serious Problems we have in the military, Sexual Assault. It has been a painful time for me and my family. But i want to state to you and to the American People and the strongest possible terms that these allegations are false. There were there was a very extensive thorough investigation that dr. Wilson described which revealed the truth, nothing happened, ever. And im also thankful for all the time you took to study and understand the facts. I really think the integrity of both the investigation and the nomination process are critical, not only for everybody involved but for our nations citizens as well. So i stand by the truth. And i thank the committee for its unwaivering commitment and support to our National Defense as well as to the men and women who serve. If confirmed, i look forward to working across the department of defense with our friends and allies, interagency, members of congress to address an ever widening spectrum of challenges con fronting our nation. We have not seeded our advantage, were faces direct challenges across all the lands particularly in areas of space and cyberspace. Were in a position where we must address resurge enlt peers who have long term strategies to sur plant the global influence of the United States and our allies. T we cannot lose focus on this challenge in the challenge thats they represent. In order to address these challenges, the Department Must continue to field the best in the world force number son or daughter of ours should ever go into kboot with second best equipment. We do not ever want a fair fight. We must be prepared to meet the threats directly head on in order to deter and dissuade aggression and if necessary, fight and win our nations conflicts. To do this, we must maintain our ready and lethal force and we cannot break the bank doing it. So if confirmed, i committee to you that ill work to find effective and Effective Solutions to the challenges leveraging the best of know how. So chairman, ranking remember reid, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to day. I thank the president and the secretary of defense for their confidence in me. I also wish chairman and mrs. Dunnford godspeed on the spending retirements. Theyll be missed. If confirmed, ill work hard every day to carry on their legacy. Maintain the highest standards of the joint staff of the department of defense and of our nation. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Thank you, general hyten. Were going to begin with five minute questions around and im going to do something a little differently in my case. There is one among us here who spent more time than anyone else looking into allegations against you, general hyten. And im going to use a small part of my time and then yield the rest of my time to that individual when her time is appropriate. So first of all, let me hold this up here. This is something we talked about a lot. Youre very familiar with. This im sure you read it over many times. This is something that we have used as a blueprint for our actions. And i think it will be i would like to get from you, number one, your do you agree with me in terms of the significance of this document and secondly, do you agree that you would use this also as a basis of blueprint from your activities . Just to make sure, senator, youre holding up the report of the commission on the review of the Defense Strategy . Thats correct. Yes, sir, ive looked at that and i think the National Defense strategy is an important document. I think that the commission did a great job in walking through exactly what our challenges are. Clearly our challenges are the reemergence of russia and china. We have to be prepared for. That it goes tlo all the other things we have to be worried about as well, emerging technologies, challenges we have. Thats a very good document. I think you used the word blueprint and we need to final. This is put together by equal number of democrats and republicans. But all of whom were experts in this field. And the second thing is really i dont need an answer for this. But i do need to make sure we get an answer for the record. And that is a little different what were doing now. We have china and we have russia in a situation. They actually have some things better than us. We have a gap that is out there. A credibility gap against these two countries. And for the record, id like to have you outline in detail where that gap is. All right . Senator, id be glad to do that. And with that, im going yield the rest of my time to the senator at the appropriate time. Senator reid . Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. And thank you, general. You stated in your opening comments that you categorically deny all of these allegations. And you have done so under oath, is that correct . Yes, sir. Yes. There is regardless of the outcome of a proceedings that issues that surround you now that would not surround you months ago. And if you are confirmed and you assume the responsibilities of vice chairman, how will you deal with these issues correctly or incorrectly . But they will be there . Senator, i thought about that a lochlt i thought about that a lot with my family. Many i wife and i talked about that really for the last couple months. Laura actually says it best. She says this is the United States of america. The truth has to matter. And we believe that the truth will come out. And the truth will tell the story and well be able to then continue to serve and do the things we need to to continue to defend this country. So, senator, its been a difficult time. But we fundamentally hold to the truth. One of the aspects of this case that has involved you has been problems within your headquarters, frankly. This is in your immediate headquarters. This raises the question which a leader must address. Why werent they identified sooner . Why werent they corrected more, i guess, quickly, but also more less disruptively might be the way to describe it . And do you think you took the appropriate action and responsibility for what happened in your headquarters . So, senator, as the commander, i assume responsibility for everything that happens in my command. Thats the nature of command. And we had a toxic leadership problem inside the command. And i did not recognize it for a significant period of time. The army has had that problem for a while and they published a relation in 2017 to help train the Army Leadership to help identify toxic leadership. The problem with toxic leaders is they look absolutely brilliant to the leadership. But its no the that way below. And so it took me a long time to understand that. When i did identify it, i acted quickly, decisively, investigations were thorough. And we did the right thing through that entire process. As both my Opening Statement and the secretarys comments indicated that as the chairman of the jroc, you have a Critical Role particularly as we find ourselves with programs that grow in cost remarkably so and schedule slows down. Can you give us just a small idea of what youd like to do to accelerate the schedule and to decrease cost . Thats senator, thats 38 years of experience i got to cram into 30 seconds. Ill just say that i thought a lot because ive watched it for a long time. And i think general has moved the ball forward. I think this committee and the congress as a whole moved the ball forward in terms of acquisition reform looking at the right things to do. I think what we have to do on the requirement side is always make sure were focused on the requirements and capability. Not the solution. In the past, the jroc got into very, very specific system of requirements. General sulva worked to pull that up, i think. The leadership worked to pull that up. If confirmed, ill continue to drive that forward and make sure that the jroc looks on capabilities and what capabilities we have to have and make sure that theyre real, achievable, rational but not spes f spes f specifying a solution. Thank you. Senator reid . Mr. Chairman, i yield i entire time to senator mcsally. I understand that i may be recognized for five minutes in her place later on in the hearing. You will be recognized for five minutes in her place as if she you are recognized, senator mcsally for your five minutes plus my four. Thank you, mr. Chairman and senator wicker. When i disclosed in a hearing earlier this year that i too was a survivor of military Sexual Assault, i never saw myself in this position. As a 26year veteran and member of which committee charged with confirmation of nominees for senior military positions, i do not take the allegations made against general hyten lightly. I take them extremely seriously and treated them as such. Over the past three weeks i focused nearly solely on this issue in an effort to seek the truth. Im grateful that chairman, the Ranking Member and this committee took a methodical approach and conducted a thorough review. As a result of the exhaustive process and extreme due diligence, i have full confidence in his ability to be the next Vice President of the joint chiefs of staff. Hes the right leader at the right time for this important position. And im confident he will continue to serve in uniform with honor, humility, and integrity. I look forward to working with general hyten on National Security issues. I will also value his partnership along with other military leaders on efforts to prevent and improve the response to military Sexual Assault. Including support to survivors and due process for the accused. I support the serious issues being worked out through thorough and due process and not in the court of public opinion. All the information, evidence, and testimony are not fully known. I am confident in the outcome. To be clear, this wasnt just a jump ball. Not a he said she said. Not a situation where we just couldnt prove what allegedly happened. I too believe that truth Still Matters in this country. And the full truth was revealed in this process. The truth is that general hyten is innocent of these charges. Sexual assault happens in the military. It just didnt happen in this case. I pray the accuser gets the help she needs and gets the peace she is searching for. But kit cannot be by destroying general hyten with the false allegations. I didnt coming to this conclusion lightly. I know the message kit send to those survivors that havent seen all the information to the case that i have. To them, im honored to be a voice for you. Dont take the wrong message for how this is played out publicly. The process i just witnessed was strong, fair, and investigators turned over every rock to seek justice. I will continue to fight to ensure the best possible outcomes and to fight for real victims. All Sexual Assault allegations should be treated seriously and ve investigated fully. All victims should be treated respectfully. All of that occurred in this case. False allegations like these are not without collateral damage. Male military leaders may avoid choosing females for key positions, ultimately hurting Service Womens opportunities for career enhancing jobs. Male commanders may think twice about disminuting female subordinates for fear of Sexual Assault allegations and retribution and this precedent could act like a cancer on our good order and discipline. Male senior military leaders may choose to retire instead of accepting higher positions. Finally, general hyten and his family were unfairly put through this terrible ordeal. Im sorry that you, laura and your family had to endure this trial. Im grateful you didnt back down. You continued to carry yourself with integrity, humility, and respect through this process. Something many of us would struggle to do. Sadly, its becoming increasingly common in washington for people to try to destroy each other for their own political benefit or some other selfish purpose with no regard for the truth or lives damaged in the process. This committee has traditionally tried to stay above that fray. Focusing on the National Good and our collective duty. And we each have a choice now. That choice will determine whether we further encourage and insentivize politics of destruction or whether we make a clear stand for the principles of justice, decency and truth. I implore my colleagues to rise above the pressure of the moment and do the right thing for the country, our military, Sexual Assault survivors, this institution, our values, and general hyten and his family. If it were you or a loved one falsely accuse of these crimes, you would hope that those of us called to serve would find the strength and courage to do what is right and what is just. The decision that we make here hopefully this week will reverberate for a long time to come. General hyten, i look forward to supporting you and working with you as vice chairman and i encourage all my colleagues to join my. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. Thank you, senator. Senator . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, general hyten for being here and to your family as well. Senator reid outlined the responsibilities of the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. If confirmed, you would be the second highest individual in the military. We heard from dr. Wilson who oversaw the investigation into the allegations of Sexual Assault. She reported that the investigation cleared you of any wrongdoing. But the allegations come at a time of increased instances of Sexual Assault in our military. 50 increase of assaults in women in the survey released in may by the department of defense. Despite the conclusion of the investigation, im sure and im sure you would agree with me that there will be those in the public and those in the military who will say that your clearance was just the department of defense and the top military brass coming together behind one of their own over the survivors of Sexual Assault. How do you reassure those that youre committed to addressing this issue and doing everything you can if you are confirmed to address this issue . So, senator, one of my fundamental precepts of my life and career, one of my lines i announce at every change of command ive ever taken, all the way back to 1996 when i was a Squadron Commander is that everybody that raises the right hand and swears to support and deaver the constitution of the United States of america deserves to be treated with respect. I will continue to push for that. I know we have a serious problem of Sexual Assault. It became, you know, emotionally powerful for me when the problems that basic military training happened about a decade ago. Thats when i knew that we had a real problem. And weve been trying to get after that of ever since. We have not done a good job. It is not gone the right direction. It is a problem on our military. I did read the report. I fully support those. I think thats a good start. I think we have to Work Together to try to figure out how to do better with this. I think there is a role for the congress, a role for the department of defense, a role for the executive branch. We all have to get after this problem and i pledge that i will do that and i will do everything i can in my name to always everything in my power to always do the right thing so that Everybody Knows that we have were watching that issue closely and doing everything we can. Given that thats been a consistent response if the leadership of our military now for several decades, and we still see the numbers going in the wrong direction, should we be thinking about taking this issue outside of the chain of command, the military, and dealing with it in different way . So i dont believe that the chain of command can be removed from any problem in the military and solve it. I think there is other things that can be brought to bear. But ive seen big problems. When i came into the military, i came in from alabama, into alabama and racism was a huge problem in the military. Over racism. It is still a problem in our society. But i watch commander after commander after commander take charge, own that, and any time they saw it and eliminated it from the formation. When that happens, huge improvement happens now. Now when im in uniform, i feel color blind which is amazing. That hasnt happened with Sexual Assault yet. It has not. The chain of command has to be involved for this problem to be fixed. Every commander has to embrace it f they do with support from the congress, support from law, support from all the kind of pieces, we can get after this. But we have to do it together. Well, clearly we need to do a much better job of Holding People accountable . Yes, sir yes, maam. I want to switch topics to afghanistan. Because recent reports indicated that the taliban and the u. S. Have agreed to a road map for peace. And the statement calls for an end to civilian casualties and the froection protection of woms within an islamic framework. When i visited afghanistan in april, i met with afghan women who were very concerned about being left out. What do you think we should be doing to ensure that any peace in afghanistan continues to provide the human rights that all afghans were guaranteed under the constitution that was adopted after the fall of the taliban . So, senator, ive i havent been in afghanistan since i was deployed in 2006. So im not as current as i will be if confirm. I certainly have watched that issue. I read the news of the meeting on 7 9. I know that military right now is in a very important position of establishing the conditions for diplomatic solution between the taliban and the government of afghanistan. That has to be the solution. I think we need to continue to support the process and understand and make sure that the terrorism does not raise its head again where in afghanistan our country could be attacked again. So those are things we have to balance as we go through. I think we can. But were clearly now supporting the diplomatic process and trying to encourage a proper solution that will take care of all the rights you discussed. Thank you. Thank you. Senator fisher . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Good morning, general hyten. Welcome to your wife and daughter and family here with you to day. Thank you. I think that you are especially well qualified for this role. And your experience as commander for the last three years will be particularly valuable since the vice chair of the joint chiefs sits on the Nuclear Weapons council and usually functions as the joint staff senior subject Matter Expert on nuclear deterence. We have spoken a lot about low yield, submarine launch warhead on several occasions. And as we prepare for the ndaa conference with the house, i think its important that we revisit this issue since a number of what i say are misleading arguments have been put out there. First, do you believe deploying the warhead or any of the potential employment scenarios would put our submarines at greater ris snk. I do not. Do you think our second arsenal of low yield is sufficient and this additional capability is not needed . I strongly believe the capability is needed and particularly to deter russia. And third, can you give us a sense of the importance you attached to this program . So when you have an adversary, i think we have to look at russia as an adversary, you have to look at what they say and what they do and watch them very closely. You dont want them to become an enemy. When you look at what russia said, they say they will reserve the right to employ a low yield Nuclear Weapon on the battlefield some day if their National Security requires it. Right now we have low yield Nuclear Weapons. That is the most flexible leg of the triad. Nonetheless, takes a while to get to the target. When we look at Nuclear Posture view, i made a recommendation. And the recommendation was discussed broadly among the National Security community and agreed that we should have a very small number of low yield Nuclear Weapons on our submarines that can respond quickly to that kind of scenario by russia. I think it is doing that. Im confident in that because president putin doesnt like it. So i think thats its also important to note that well deploy that under the new start treaty. Russias low yield Nuclear Weapons are not inside the new start treaty. Were going to well still have 1550 deployed strategic weapons. Some of them are very small number will be low Nuclear Weapons. I think thats important to understand too. Turning to pet production. Somehow this notion is developed that we should focus solely on achieving a 30 pit per year production capability and not undertake any effort to develop additional capacity until that goal is accomplished. And its been my understanding that due to the scale and also the complexity of the projects, we need to reach that 80 pits per year production and we need to do it right now in order to meet that 2030 deadline. If we decide to defer action on any capacity until we achieved that 30 pits per year production level, do we have any hope of meeting that requirement of 80 . So it will be a challenge. Its something i work closely with the department of energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration as a commander, thats been a high priority of mine. Ive been to Savannah River and los alamos in carnolina. I understand that the challenge thats are faced there. But i think the department of energy put together the best plan we have to get to 30 by 2026 at los alamos and 80 by 2030 across the entire enterprise. One thing i know is we have to get los alamos right. We have to get to 30 in 2026. If we cant do that, theres no chance we can get to 80. And the requirement is 80 by 2030. Weve seen renewed discussion on whether we need to have pit Production Capacity at all. And its my understanding that this long standing goal has been repeatedly validated. It was certainly the position of the Obama Administration as well as that of the current administration. Can you sympathy he to that . One of the most sobering things ive done is hold a plutonium pit in my hands. That is the Nuclear Weapon. And you think of what that small sphere can do and what damage kit do. When you think we already have some of those pits that are 50, 60, and approach 70 years old. And we dont know exactly, exactly whats going to happen. We watch that closely. I look at it every year. I have to certify it. But when we look at those numbers, i dont want to get to the point where were counting on 100 year old pits as the backbone of our thats why we have gone through that Detailed Analysis as we have get to 30 by 2026. We have to get to 80 by 2030. Critically sporn for o critically important for our security as a nation. Thank you. Senator . Thank you, mr. Chairman. As part of my responsibility as a member of this committee and to ensure the fitness of nominees, i ask all nominees the following two initial questions. First, since you became a legal adult, you have ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature . I have not, senator. Have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settle. Related to this kind of conduct . I have not faced any discipline or entered into any settle. We discussed the this ish you. General, although your answers to my standard questions are no, you have been accused of serious Sexual Misconduct. And you have given your reactions already this morning and for me this has been as for so many of us, i would say everyone on this committee a difficult process. The allegations against you are serious. And while we have not been presented with any corroborating evidence, the lack of does it not necessarily mean that the accusations are not true. Women are assaulted all the time and dont tell anyone. Men assault women all the time and dont leave behind any evidence. Of course, you have denied the allegations and between the military and this committee it appears after a rigorous investigation has been done. Women do sometimes make false accusations although id say it is rare. Each of us has to weigh all of the evidence and testimony and make our own judgement about whether or not you should get this promotion. In light of all of this, is there anything else you would like to tell us that could help us make this decision regarding you . I think, senator, that the executive sessions or the executive sessions you had with me last week is a very important piece to continue to look at. I stand by my testimony in the executive session. Much of which was very difficult to talk about. But i spoke openly, candidly, and i shared all of the information that is applicable to this case. I would encourage the committee if you have questions to go back and look at that, to look at the evidence that is there to look at the information i provided to the committee and make your judgement based on the evidence that you see. The fear that men in command or men in positions of authority will be subjected to false accusations because of the fear that women spend time base being i had sitting around accusing men falsely is a dangerous view in my opinion. Because the fact is women who are sexually assaulted more often do not report. Now you testified this morning that it took you a significant amount of time to recognize that there was a toxic leadership issue in your command. Why did it take you socommand. Why did it take you so long to recognize this with regard to the lieutenant . To be clear, i take full responsibility for everything in my command, but the nature of a toxic leader is that they are brilliant to the boss. They absolutely are. Thats how many toxic leaders have made it all the way to the general officer ranks and flag officer ranks because the bosses dont see those kind of things. You have to have people that come to you. When people started ghog me because she was so brilliant in her work, i thought that there was an issue with rough edges around an army officer. We talked about that. Rough issues about language. We talked about that. But it took me to do an inquiry, not into that specific behavior but into the entire climate of my headquarters before i actually saw the evidence that there wasix toxic leadership there. When you indicate it took you a significant amount of time to recognize there was a toxic leadership situation, it sounds as though you had gotten some indications that there were concerns and so its not as though everyone came to you and said this person is a toxic leader. So would you say that perhaps you had a blind spot with regard to the colonel because you considered her brilliant and you kept giving her good reviews, even during the course of the investigation . I had a small number of people come to me. And people that i trust, and i talked about those in detail in executive session so i wont share their names and what they told me in the open hearing. But i think that, again, toxic leadership is a very difficult thing to identify. And once i did identify it, i moved quickly in order to deal with that. But it still took me awhile to do that. I do not deny that. General, youve been asked questions regarding the scourge of sexual trauma in the military and most of the time everyone who comes before us says theyll do sbhg it. Something about it. I would be very interested to know what you would do to end the scourge of Sexual Assault in the military and in our sexual academies. Do you have something youd do . If im confirmed as vice chairm chairman, thats something ill have to look at very closiely. Weve only had a small number of those incidents in stratcom. Two incidents of Sexual Harassment. We dealt with those quickly. I talk about those up front. I published the my policies on how to deal with that, but clearly that hasnt been sufficient. Im going to have to get with people that know more about this than i do. I think thats actually one of the challenges is that i have had experiences with people close to me that have been victims, and theyre i mean, its just a horrible, horrible thing. But i really dont feel like im an expert in that area and i could tell you what we should do. We have to speak to the experts that know these issues, that know what to do, and then listen to them and implement improvements in order to make the process. And then all commanders have to be educated on that and then make changes. Thats when change will happen. Thank you, senator hirono. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator cotton . General hyten, thank you for your appearance today. Id associate myself with the comments about the threat we face that senator inhofe said or Nuclear Deterrent forces of senator fisher. But we know this hearing would not be so widely covered, in fact, it would have happened weeks ago if it wasnt for the nature of the allegations against you. So on those, i want to associate myself with secretary wilson, former secretary wilson, who has resigned from the administration and returned to the academy, who is under no compuncture to appear here today and senator mcsalley who realized Sexual Misconduct any of kind have no place in our military. But the facts do matter, and we should judge every case on its facts. This committee has spent dozens of hours, weeks, really, reviewing your case. And as senator hirono said, there has been no corroborating evidence of the allegations against you. As secretary wilson said, you have been falsely accused. So i just want to touch on a few of these details that i know are in your personal knowledge. As the commander of Strategic Command you are in the Nuclear Chain of command, correct . Yes, senator, i am. If russia decided to go for the jugular and launch an allout Nuclear Strike on the United States, how long from the time you warned the president of the United States of that strike to his decision to launch or lose our missiles would the president have . In the worst case, its a small number of minutes. In most cases, though, the president has a significant period of time. However, because the worst case is only a small number of minutes, we have to be connected all the time. Minutes, not hours should be sure. Minutes. So at no time can you be off the grid . I cannot be off the grid. In fact, i bet that you are prepared at this very moment in this hearing to step out to advise the president on just such a contingency, is that right . If something happened, i would my Communications Team is right there with the communications i have to have, and id step out and get on the phone. So you are guarded and tended to by your security detail and Communications Detail 24 hours a day . Unless im on leave. In which case you assign that authority over to another person . I delegate that authority to my deputy commander. As secretary wilson said, your details were interviewed in the process of this investigation. Are you aware of them giving any corroborating testimony to your accusers allegations . No, i read all their testimony. I only got a copy of the investigation a week ago. Ive only had a chance to go through it once. But every member of the security detail that was interviewed saw nothing like that. Second, as the commander of Strategic Command, you are a juicy target for cyberattack and for hacking by countries like china and russia. Do you have a phone besides a government cell phone . I do not have anything besides a government cell phone. Was that cell phone searched as part of this investigation . It was searched. To your knowledge, did it include any corroborating evidence of the accusations against you . None. Third, there have been some who have claimed the air force mishandled this investigation, that you should have been temporarily removed from your job or had your security clearance temporarily revoked. Would you temporarily remove or revoke the security clearance of any subordinate who was accused of misconduct with no corroborating evidence in their interim . So a twopart answer to that question. Number one, i would not take any action unless the information was corroborated because i think that presumes guilt, but i would take action to remove an individual if they are in the same office space, temporarily, until we got to that point. The nature of the Sexual Misconduct allegations against you have been widely reported in the media. I wont rehearse them. Has your accuser ever accused you of other nonSexual Misconduct . Yes, sir. What was the nature of those accusations . Since she was relieved against my command and me before this investigation, i think there were 34 different accusations. 24 against my chief of staff. 6 against me. 2 against my deputy commander. Two against the investigating officer of the investigation. Were any of those accusations of a nonsexual nature against you or others in your command corroborated or substantiated. None were substantiated. I would say again, i want to commend in particular senator inhofe and senator reid for the way theyve conducted this review. Weve spent dozens of hours reviewing the 1400page report, hearing for hours from your accuser and general hyten, yet there is zero. Zero corroborating evidence of these accusations as senator hirono acknowledged. Every bit of evidence, just some of which weve touched on today, more of which i hope will be released soon in a redacted fashion as appropriate. Tends to credit your denials. And i think its very important that we confirm you because i think youll be great for the job. But its also very important that we maintain the basic American Standard that the facts do matter. And when someone faces an accusation, whether its general hyten or the thousands of lieutenant and sergeant hytens out there watching this hearing today, they understand that the facts do matter. Thank you, senator cotton. Senator king. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Secretary wilson touched on this in her introduction. Youve got a lot of responsibilities or will, would have, were you to be confirmed, as vice chair. But theres no more solemn responsibility than when youre in the oval office with the chair talking about the military situation and the results of taking military action. Would you commit to this senator and to this committee and to this to the American People unequivocally that in that situation, you will give nothing but your unvarnished, truthful analysis based upon your 38 years of experience and based upon your wisdom and knowledge of the circumstances that would result from military action . I have the last 2 1 2 years with the president , and some uncomfortable discussions, and i commit that if im confirmed as the vice chairman, ill continue to provide best military advice as you describe. Thank you. I think thats the most important responsibility that you have aside from all those others. The oval office can be an intimidating place. And its human nature to tell the boss what he or she wants to hear. But your willingness to tell the truth, whatever the circumstances are, is at the heart of your responsibility to this president and to this country. Completely different topic. Do you believe it would be in the National Interest of the United States to aced toe the u. N. Law of the sea treaty . Im not a legal expert on the law of the sea treaty. So i dont know the pros and cons, senator, of the benefits of that. I do know that the law of the sea is an appropriate standard that nations look at, including the United States when they consider freedom of navigation, when they consider borders. When they consider all those kind of pieces. But i dont have enough legal knowledge to talk about the issue about that treaty. Ive not looked at that, senator. Thank you. How do you define the National Security interests of the United States in the arctic, which is one of the most strategic areas in the world . I think the National Security interest of the arctic have been critical to north america. I have been a member of norad, the north American Aerospace defense command. Ive watched general shaughnessy talk about it this year in particular and talks about it very well as the commander of northcom and norad. As the climate changes, and that part of the world does open up to navigation, the threats up there will be much more significant. But you go back to the 50s when we built the distant Early Warning line all the way up north. In order to watch the threats from the soviet union at the time to make sure we could see the threats in time to respond, that has always been a critical piece. Its going to become more critical as the sea lanes open up. I agree. I have friends in maine who say why are we spending all this money to upgrade . Why are we spending money to talk about upgrading them . Give me the argument to take home. So in 2029, its going to become very have difficult to maintain the minuteman force in its current configuration. Just because of the nature of rockets. I wont go into the details there. Just because of their age . Just because of their age. The same the same is going to happen with the b2 because the seltz characteristic of the b2. Its going to have to be replaced. At a certain date in the future, and i wont go into that here, the ohio class submarine that we currently operate will not be able to go into the water anymore. And, therefore, we have to have a new submarine to replace that. Whats behind all of that . Why do we need all those things . Because we have adversaries building a triad to challenge us. In order for us to effectively deter them because, remember, the primary use of our Nuclear Arsenal is to prevent the use from Nuclear Weapons on the United States of america. Exactly. The purpose of having the weapons is to never use them, isnt that correct . Its a dichotomy. Its also to have to be ready to use them. We have to have ready forces and our adversaries have to know that. If theyre not ready, not capable, then theyre not an effective deterrent. Thats exactly right. Thank you, chairman. Thank you, senator king. Senator rounds. Thank you, mr. Chairman. General hyten, first, i want to thank you and your family for 38 years of service to this nation. I know that the events of the last few months have been hard on you and on your family. But i also am certain that you understand the reason why you need to move forward. I just want to say, first of all, thank you to chairman inhofe and Ranking Member reid for conducting a very thorough and a very fair inquiry. And i have appreciated the hours which a lot of the members of this committee have put in. And i appreciated your testimony as well before us in executive session. Id like to focus right now on some issues that i think we dont talk enough about. And that is with regard to the readiness of the armed forces today and what needs to be done about it. Im just going to describe a couple of issues that im aware of that i think have to be resolved in the near future. Let me just give some examples. And we have b1b bombers. The workhorse of the air force today. Right now, of all of the b1 bombers, six are fully mission capable. One is a test aircraft. 15 b1s are in depot. The remaining 39 of 44 are down for a variety of discrepancies and inspections. Thats the workhorse of the air force. When it comes to the navy, we have fa18s which at one point only 40 of them were mission capable. 60 were not. Weve moved up from that. Were perhaps closing in on the 60 range now. Were making progress, but certainly sequestration was devastating. Within the navy itself, just on Nuclear Attack submarines, the uss boise is an example of what happens when you dont have the resources or capabilities. The boise a uss attack submarine, nuclearpowered submarine, paid for by taxpayers was at dry dock or at dock, not even in dry dock for a period of years. It will have been at dry dock or at dock not even capable of submerging for six years. Three other Nuclear Attack submarines we find in exactly the same predicament. It means our depots are not ready for them. When it comes to the f15s, weve had that have been held down because they havent met structural requirements. Weve got f22s right now that are the premiere Fighter Aircraft in the world today and yet their age is showing. Time and again its not just been sequesteration, but its a matter of depot and the capability to put equipment in the depot and get it out in a timely fashion. Were going to look at this year our committee is recommending or at least were prepared to vote on a 738 billion Defense Budget. Id like you to just very if you could in two different areas, number one, what do we got to do to get the depot systems so that they actually work the way theyre supposed to . And second of all, can you imagine a scenario in which we could do any justice at all to these men and women who wear the uniform and need absolutely good equipment if we end up with a 576 billion Defense Budget rather than a 738 billion Defense Budget as required by sequesteration if were not able to move the existing defense proposal forward found in the bba this year . So i think the big answer to your question, senator, is the same for both questions, and that is stable funding. When you look at the challenges with the depot and our readiness problems, many of the readiness problems date back to the first year of sequestration. Thats when we impacted readiness across the board. That combined with continuous atwar capabilities, you put those together and it puts a huge stress on the force. When i saw the agreement on the 738 billion in the bipartisan budget act, because my biggest fear was a return to continuing sequestration or a longterm continuing resolution. Both those scare me, first from a readiness perspective. Certainly from modernization. But were just now starting to come out. You raise the b1 issue. Thats in my portfolio. We took a hard look at that after the problems with the fitzgerald and mccain in the pacific to see if across our force we saw anything. We saw issues in the b1 because we were just beating the heck out of them deploying them, deploying them. We had to pull back a little and get after fixing those issues. The depots can do that if they have stable funding. This is a critical issue, senator. I appreciate you raising it. Thank you, general. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator rounds. Senator heinrich . General hyten, as you know, i am concerned about the risk that nsa is taking by splitting the production of plutonium pits between los alamos and the mixed oxide fuel facility in south carolina. I wonder if youre concerned about that risk with meeting the timelines but also with respect to the potential for splitting the expertise and potentially creating a brain drain between the center for excellence at los alamos and a facility that has yet to be set up at mox. So, its the stratcom position, my position, that we cant split the expertise from los alamos. We have to focus on los alamos. Get to 30 at los alamos. When you looked at the longterm plan, however, it was going to be dealt at los alamos to get to 80. It would still be difficult to get to 80 at los alamos. But the key to everything is getting to 30. What we cant do in order to get to 30 is pull people out of los alamos and send them to Savannah River in order to build up that capability. We cant do napt as a stratcom commander, ive had my staff continually go out there. Im sure that bugs the d. O. E. Folks a little bit, but i want to make sure were watching that and understand what that is. I have a great relationship with the administrator. A great relationship with the secretary of energy. Were not going to make that mistake, and were going to watch it closely. If im confirmed as vice chairman, ill still get to watch it from the Nuclear Weapons council perspective. I appreciate your bugging. I think thats my concern exactly. I appreciate your focus on that. Weve had some conversations in the past about the modernization of our space assets. And, in particular, on the importance of preserving our successful investments, the things that are working well and not reinventing the wheel as we stand up new capabilities. So as you well know, the Space Rapid Capabilities office, space vehicles director, advance system director all play a Critical Role in researching and developing our nations space systems. I just want to ask you if i have your commitment that youll push for the fuel utilization of those existing assets, even as we modernize our overall space capabilities. I commit to that, senator. Theyre an important piece of the answer. One of the things i was pleased with this year is the growing interest and investment in hypersonic r d. Over the last several months, the pentagon actually requested a transfer of 50 million to cover the cost of the design and development of a prototype mobile launcher for a longrange hypersonic weapon. Can you talk a little bit from your perspective about this reprogramming and more broadly where you see the future of Hypersonic Development going for dod . As a combatant command ir, im not involved in the details of moving the money around, but im a huge advocate for pursuing hypersonic technology. Im also a huge advocate for looking at hypersonic defenses and sensing. Thats what i can do as the Combatant Commander. This is crit dool our nations future. We have adversaries growing extremely rapidly in this area. Weve had fits and starts on the hypersonic technology, which i believe is a mistake. We should have been going after that technology rapidly. If im confirmed as vice chairman, well advocate inside, oversight counsel and other places in order to ensure we continue to focus on hypersonics. It seems to me there are a handful of these capabilities like hypersonics, like directed energy, that really are going to define the nature of the relationship between us and our near peer adversaries in the coming years. Another one of them is Artificial Intelligence. Secretary esper said explained his belief that Artificial Intelligence will likely change the character of warfare and whoever masters it first will dominate on the battlefield for many, many, many years. I tend to agree with that estimation, and would just like your thoughts on the importantance of ai. So ive got to speak on that a few times in the past in public. Once in halifax with eric schmidt of Alphabet Google talking about that impact. It is going to be significant. No doubt. I believe the United States has got to have a leadership position in that area. But we also have to have a leadership position, understanding how you integrate that capability into our concept of operations and we havent really done that yet. If we dont get that right, we could make some big mistakes in terms of giving command authority to a computer. We cant let that happen. Artificial intelligence has got to help us do the job better but cannot tell us what to do. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you, senator heinrich. Senator ernst . Thank you, mr. Chair. General hyten, you have been nominated to be the second highest ranking military officer in the United States armed forces. This position demands the highest levels of trust and responsibility. Of course, sound judgment and an impeccable moral compass. You have been accused of Sexual Misconduct by a subordinate officer. I have reviewed the evidence, as well as your performance while serving as the stratcom commander. We have heard numerous times members of this committee have stated to focus on the facts and yet the facts have left me with concerns regarding your judgment, leadership and fitness to serve as the next vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. So i do have several questions for you if you would just answer yes or no or keep your answers very brief. A recent investigation revealed that several subordinates reported their concerns directly to you regarding the alleged toxic leadership style of the Commander Action Group director who is an officer under your command. Now you stated that a small number of people had brought concerns to you. About how many people brought concerns to you . I would say approximately less than half a dozen. Less than half a dozen. What were the ranks of those individuals . Civilian, major, navy capt n captain would you say theyre fairly high ranking, experienced i would say pretty much the entire stratcom headquarters is a fairly senior people. Absolutely. How many serve in the Commander Action Group . None. Just you only have one how many people serve . Im sorry. I misunderstood the question. Approximately eight. Okay. So you said about half dozen folks brought forward concerns and you have eight people that serve. So it sounds like a large number of the cag brought concerns to you and these are leaders that are fairly experienced and have a good number of years of service . Nobody on the cag brought me those complaints. These are outside folks bringing concerns to you . Yes. Thank you for that clarification. Now if you just to clarify. If you go back to the executive session, youll see i described one individual who came to me to speak for people on the cag, and that was the one that was the instigator for me to take action. Okay. Despite the fact that you were cited numerous times throughout the investigation as enabling this alleged toxic leader within your command, you didnt take the inquiry outside of stratcom for an impartial commander to review or adjudicate, correct . No, maam, i did not. About a month before the start of this investigation on november 14th, 2017, you gave the cag director a phenomenal officer evaluation report, rating her number one of 71 colonels within your command and vau evaluated her as having multistar potential. Is that correct . Yes, it is. Yet about 90 days after the investigation was completed you approved a written reprimand. I was aware of the written reprimand that came from the army Element Commander, but i was aware of it. During the time that the cag director was under your command, did you ever formally counsel her in writing about the deficiencies in her leadership or performance . I only counseled her verbally about her language. Okay. Even though other members had brought forward allegations of a toxic leadership . I translated that to the language that she was using. Okay. But never for any other actions . No, maam. Okay. After the 156 investigation initiated, you actively advocated for her by emailing and calling several other general officers to secure a followon position for her. Is it safe to assume at this time you still thought highly of her as an officer . So i had questions about her capabilities then, but when i when the army Element Commander and i sat her down to inform her of the 156 investigation and we walked through all of the events, and i talked about those in executive session significantly, i told her that i would allow the process to play out before i did anything else. And i asked her if these allegations were true. She told me clearly, specifically, concisely that they were false, that they were not true. She would be found innocent, and i committed to her i would not treat her any different until i had Firm Evidence to the contrary. Okay. I am very concerned that during the process of your time as the stratcom commander there had been this cag director within your command that other people, multiple times went to you, voiced their concerns about the toxic leadership, but you did not acknowledge that. You did not do written counseling statements. You did not advise her any differently. You serve in one of the most important positions within our United States military overseeing our Nuclear Arsenal. However, you could not bring yourself to admit or recognize toxic leadership within your command. You did nothing to change that course until the 156 investigation was brought forward. And you continued to endorse her. You only did something about it when concerns were raised about your own leadership. And the investigation was not forwarded onto your higher echelon command, which i see as a clear conflict of interest. So all of this suggests a conflict between your personal inclinations and your professional responsibilities. There are professional responsibilities associated with being such a highranking leader. And that is to make sure those within your command are following your directive and not engaging in toxic leadership. So this leaves me with concerns about your judgment and ability to lead in one of the highest positions in the u. S. Military. I will listen to the rest of the confirmation process, but i do want to share those concerns today. So thank you very much. Senator manchin. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you, general hyten and your family for the services youve given. If i could ask the first question. What do you consider the greatest threat america faces today and in the near future . From my perspective, the greatest longrange challenge is china because they have the economic power and theyre building the military power to challenge us regionally and ultimately globally. Well, back in 2010, we had at that time general admiral mullen and asked him the question. He said the debt of our nation is the greatest threat we face. Were going over a trillion again. They ask how were spending the money for the military and im going to use around 700 billion is what our budget is give or take over and under. And then you look at china, about 250. And then you look at russia, about 60, 65 billion. And we try to justify, why are we so costly. We look at the people we have in uniform and i think we have u. S. , 1. 3 active. Another 860,000 reserves. China has 2. 2 million active. 510,000 reserves. And russia has a million active and 2. 5 million in reserve. But we use probably more contractors at higher cost than any country, all countries put together. And i look at basically National Guard and reserves and things we have specialties in that we could utilize a lot greater. Have you identified that and found ways to justify and maybe have better control of the cost were spending . Ill give you specific examples, senator, because i think the point you raise is a really good one. We have to Work Together with the congress to balance the number of people we have in uniform versus how well use contractors in particular. But in the next generation, icbm, for example, i have twice in my career weve basically said we dont need engineers in that program anymore in the military. Well just hire it out to contractors. Two things happened. You use the expertise inside the military. And number two, ill just say you end up with the fox guarding the henhouse. And im very concerned about that. Im concerned about the way we had to put that program in place. We had to structure that program because we did not have the expertise. We need to continue to build that technical engineering support inside our military and continue to work that forward. Because thats critical to our ability to do that. But ive seen twice in my career where everything is fine. Well just get rid of the engineers. We dont need that. You apply that to the guard and the reserve. Theres things we can do that we havent even scratched the surface of because theyre would that be a high priority of yours . Looking at how we utilize what we have and the potential to use it better . Yes, senator. Absolutely. I appreciate that. Just in overview, it seems like were reluctant to really support taiwan because were afraid it myself caught a rumble with china. Yet weve said and done ghoith chinas aggression in the south china sea, aggression in moving further out in the pacific rim. What are we concerned about, if we dont show strength to them, and i know russia and how sometimes they react when they dont understand that were going to be resolved in showing strength against them. What is your evaluation there . So, you know, i am a big believer in president s reagan and president reagans peace through strength. We have to show strength. My command has had bombers deployed in the pacific, and we send bombers from the United States into the pacific to the Korean Peninsula in support of japan, korea, a number of our allies there. We have to continue to show strength because we want peace. And the only way to guarantee that peace is to make sure that our adversaries understand that we will not allow certain behaviors. And the other thing i want to talk about is the space force. And i think just directly asking you, do you believe that the space force commander, that general in charge of space force should be elevated to the joint chiefs of staff . I do believe that. I really appreciate the work that the senate has done and the house in terms of defining that future. I think im a little concerned about the level of responsibility were going to give general raymond here shortly, if he becomes the head of the space force as well as the head of the new Space Command. I think theres a good transition in the senate plan but zeiwell have to work toget and if im confirmed, i hope youll reach out to me and help you to work through that. Thats going to be a complicated arrangement. Were in a very good place now across the legislation thats proposed. And you believe, as far as breaking out from the air force, the Space Program is the right thing to do . I think it has to be under the air force. I think the space force should be under the air force. Its not big enough to bring out thats exactly my point. I just cant get there. I cant get there with the joint chiefs of staff. If its going to be under the air force and the air force has done one heck of a good job, why cant we continue with that type of support and command under that . I think its going to be a similar model to the marine corps where the commandant of the marine corps is a member of the joint chiefs of staff but under the department of the navy. I think the head of the space force is going to be a member of the joint chiefs of staff at some point but under the department of the air force. I think thats how you keep that small. Thats how you keep the bureaucracy from going crazy. Thats why you dont have all the replication of support youd have to have across the board. Thank you, again, general hyten. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Senator tillis. Thank you, mr. Chairman, Ranking Member for the process that weve played out here. General hyten, thank you for being here. Congratutions to your family for your nomination. I want to get an idea of your headquarters staff. How big is it . How many direct reports do you have . The headquarter staff is about 3500 people. Direct reports is a fairly small number. I would say roughly 10 to 20. Okay. And 10 to 20 direct reports. Over the course of a day, how much time do you spend with your direct reports, and how much time with you spend with your cag . So over the course of a day, i would spend more time with the j directors, the joint staff of my staff than i would the cag. But when we do travel, i spend more time with the cag director than the joint staff. That would be the balance. Now you responded to a prior question that you had five or six people come to you expressing concern about a toxic environment with the cag. You said all of them were outside of the cag so it wasnt the eight people working for the colonel. And then one of them came to you and expressed their concerns on behalf of people who report to the cag. Can you give me an idea of timeline . When did that discussion was that the last discussion you had before you ordered the 156 . No, that was the last discussion was late fall of 2017 and its when i ordered a preliminary inquiry into the overall climate of the front office. Not just the Commanders Action Group but my office, the deputys office, the chief of staffs office, the lawyer, the doc, Public Affairs protocol, everybody that was in the front office because, to be honest, i was still looking at the issue from, this might be an army, air force, navy issue because Army Officers tend to be a little more aggressive, a little more rough around the edges, and i was you need to understand, she is brilliant. She was doing spectacular work. You gave a very strong evaluation, but based on your knowledge of the past history has that been typically true of other assignments that the colonel had . She had up and down in her background. I dont know much about her time as an earlier officer, but i do know that there were up and down times in her background. I should have started by saying, i want to fully associate myself with senator mcsalleys comments. The work that shes done here. Literally, the public needs to understand the hours of research that have gone in ahead of this committee. Nearly 1300page report that weve reviewed. Every allegation thats been studied, pinned down and proven to sflot any corroborating testimony. I think all of that information will continue as we move forward and hopefully vote on your confirmation this week. And i want to shift to some local issues in North Carolina and really the housing situation across the country. Are you aware of some of the military housing problems that we have, and can you give me a quick thumbnail on what we need to do to improve it . I am fully aware of those problems. Ive seen those problems. We have very good housing where i live right now and a great contractor that supports that. But that is not the case in a large number of bases across the country. I really, when we started down this Privatized Housing path, i really did not like the model we were putting in place. We were putting in a lowcost model, looking for low bidders to provide the housing that will take care of our families and can i get your commitment to make sure this is a priority to get it right this time . Yes, sir. Absolutely. You know, were going through the discussion right now on the budget cap still, and if im china, im hoping that we fail to get this approved, right . If we move into threemonth sort of scenario on funding and theyre into decadeslong scenarios on funding. What does that do to your ability to achieve any of the dwoe goals in the National Defense strategy . It impacts the National Defense strategy has an assumption of stable budgets. Would it be fair to say it would be devastating . It would be devastating. Even a cr that goes for a few months is going to be impactful. A yearlong cr would be devastating. Sequestration would be beyond that. I look forward to supporting your confirmation. Thank you, senator. Thank you, senator tillis. The next one to be recognized will be senator duckworth, however, we have three votes that are starting. Im going to go down to catch the first one, come back and senator reid will be following. So you are recognized, and senator fisher is presiding. Thank you, mr. Chairman. General hyten, id like to talk about the nds and looking at force projection. We have spent money on f35s, money on new capabilities. Talking about the nuclear fleet. But i do think weve overlooked the logistics capability or lack of there within our military. I dont think we have the sea lift hauls at capability or heavy lift airlift capabilities to sustain our forces abroad for any extended period of time. Would you agree with that assessment, and can you give us your opinion of that . So i do, senator. If you look across the entire transportation command portfolio, youll find some of the Biggest Challenges we have in the military. Its not just the lift side. Not the sea lift side, its the tanker piece as well. If you look at what we have to do in order to move around the world, we are tied to the logistics train. If we cant effectively move quickly, reliably and effectively, we cannot do what the National Defense strategy says we need to do. And were slowly coming on with the kc46. We have challenges on the lift side. If you look across their entire portfolio, there are big issues there that need to be worked. Will you commit to working those issues through . If im confirmed, well take i guarantee that general mi millie is aware of them, too. Looking to the indopacific region, if confirmed as vice chair, would you make sure that our daytoday relationships with partners and allies are Strong Enough to withstand friction with china . One thing i learned when i went to china was that many of our, not necessarily allies, but friends in the region, feel very much that they are unable to stand up to china because we are not there. And just having our presence in the indopacific region allowed them to say, hey, we cant do everything you want us to do, china, because the americans are here. And not necessarily forcing them to choose, but really just being a presence and increasing that presence. Would you agree with the assessment that we need to improve that presence in the region . Senator, i when you read the National Defense strategy, its clear that china is a priority. And we have to treat it as a priority which means we have to be present. Present in the right places. Partner with the right nations and build those partnerships over the years. You cant build partnerships if youre not there. Thank you. I do want to touch on the allegations against you. Is it true that your official cell phone that was reviewed for text messages, that you turned over very willingly, was wiped in an upgrade process . I read that in the investigation. I was not aware that it was wiped. I guess it was part of a normal update, so i have an official phone. I use the official phone. It gets Software Updates and other updates all the time. To me its just the unclassified phone. Okay. What i learned from the investigation and the report was that indeed your both yours and the colonels phones were wiped and they were only able to review a couple months of texts. So there were quite a few unable to be reviewed. In your answer to my colleagues about what will you do to demonstrate leadership in the area of Sexual Assault in the military and solving this problem, your answer was really vague. I really wanted to hear so much more and for you to say, i dont know enough and im going to wait and talk to the experts really bothered me because youve had such precise answers on Everything Else and this is a cancer within our military. This is a cancer within our own ranks. And you said that you have been concerned about this since lackland. Youve had tenplus years in leadership to think about this and you cant tell us one of the first things youre going to do is appoint someone to your personal staff whose job it is to deal with this. Create a panel thats going to look at this. Go out to the air force academy and personally figure out whats going to . You cant come up with any ideas like that after ten years of concern . Im really i worry about your leadership on this issue. As the vice chairman, ill need to work with the chairman and the services. Most of these issues have to be handled in the services. Ill have a significant role in reaching out to work those issues. Theres no doubt. In the United States air force, weve gone through multiple programs. Green dot programs, respect programs, a number of and they havent worked. They have not worked. So, clearly, from my background and perspective and what i said earlier, ive thought about it a lot. Ive worked with people close to me asking what should we do. Its a very vexing problem for me because every time i see the numbers, they seem to be worse. They dont seem to be better. And were taking all these actions. And if i was going to i think those are all good programs, too. I think those programs are effective. Ive got good feedback from them. But the numbers dont change. So it is a vexing problem, senator, and i can commit to you that i will do everything with general dunford, general milley to put the right team in place. Ill support working with the congress, work, with those issues. Weve tried so many things in the military. Ive implemented them and they well, the numbers say theyre not working. Thank you. I yield back. Senator kramer. Thank you, senator fisher. Let me add my voice to the chorus of praise for you, senator reid and chairman for conducting an incredible process for all of us. I have prayed that god would give you both wisdom, and ive prayed to thank him that he has. And so i can express that to you. And thank you, general hyten for your service and to your family for your incredible sacrifice and service for all these years and your willingness to continue to do it. I want to follow up on a couple of the things brought up here. In fact, real quickly with regard to senator duckworths question about text messages. That same technology of wiping the phone clean does not apply to emails, is that correct . All of the emails that were referenced were available . I mean, i think weve looked at 195,000, the inspectors have. All of the emails are available. Want to make sure thats clear. With regard to senator ernsts issue of judgment, and the toxic leadership issue, im going to bring up a few things and let you respond to them. First of all, she referenced a conflict of interest that i dont believe you had time to respond to, but i caught the distinction that the 156 was an army channel, right, inspection or investigation. Your air force maybe you can help clarify that and with regard to the conflict of interest claim. And then if you could also tell me, is there oh, did anyone else provide these glowing reviews of the colonel that, you know, that youre being now somehow chastized for . I want to make sure that its not just you with some infatuation . And thirdly, maybe just to round it all off is it unusual for toxic leadership to be more easily identified by subordinates than by superiors . In other words maybe that clarifies it simply enough. I throw those out and let you answer that and then save a minute for a question about gbsd. She was a white house fellow. Very few people in the military ever make it to be a white house fellow. Thats one of the highest accolades across the entire executive branch of government, to be a white house fellow. Thats significant. That shows you the power of her intellect and she had fourstar commanders in the past that pushed her to be a white house fellow. So my predecessor when i took command had nothing but great things to say about her. When i look at a white house fellow and my predecessor is one of the finest gentleman ive ever met. Im assuming this is a spectacular officer. And thats probably i saw that and then saw the continuing great work and all of those pieces coming forward. And thats how the situation started. And thats how we walked down that path. And i assumed that the army had sent me the spectacular officer and i saw that in her performance. Is it unusual for a boss to view a subordinate through a different perspective than a subordinates subordinate . This was difficult for me to understand as a commander. The Army Regulation 600100 that became part of the 156 investigation became very important for me to understand, and i read it in detail. And it was published in 2017 because commanders were having just this problem. They were having problems identifying toxic leaders. And i had never read that before, but when i went through the documentation, i saw exactly what was happening in my organization, but i did not recognize it at first. Then just shifting gears to the one main issue that ive raised with well, in the last couple of weeks with general milley and secretary esper. Theres been a new development and that relates to the timeline and importance of timeline of the Ground Base Strategic Deterrent and the replacement for the minuteman 3 which we have, of course, at minot, as you know. And there are some that, of course, think that were going too fast, that the whole thing should be delayed, that the air force is moving too quickly with the rfp. Now with the back out of boeing from the process, does that raise concerns for you and is there any reason that that should deter us, if you excuse the expression, from continuing on the path that were on . Well, i always get concerned when competition disappears from america. Any time were in a competitive environment, that puts pressure on schedule, pressure on cost and we have a higher likelihood of getting delivery of the capability. Thats why i was so disappointed when boeing decided not to compete for gbsd. Im not in the acquisition world. I havent talked to the air force acquisition or duty acquisition leadership about the impacts of that. I know that we have many programs that are well run with a single contractor at this point in the competition. I think that the remaining competitor could be that person but i have not looked tat eed detail. If im confuirmed as vice chairman, ill look into that. I look forward to supporting your nomination. Thank you, senator cramer. Senator jones . Thank you, for being here. Thank you for your service. Thank you to your family for your service and everything youre going through. And i especially want to, one, thank chairman inhofe and senator reid also for the way this has been handled throughout the investigation. But i also want to thank dr. Wilson for being here. I will tell you that dr. Wilsons opening introduction pretty much encapsulated my feelings about all that weve heard, all that weve seen. I dont think theres any better summary than in reaching the same conclusions. And i especially talk about the investigation a little bit because for 38 years, i practiced law. And i was both a prosecutor that sat with victims and sat with witnesses and tried to assess not only credibility but also build investigations around what they said because thats really where you lead. Thats where and in terms of future Sexual Assault cases and all, you have to think about that. And i think thats exactly what happened here. But ive also sat with people who have been accused and have done the same thing for my own investigation. So the fact that this has been such an exhaustive, extensive, professional investigation speaks volumes to where we are today and what weve got to assess. So i think dr. Wilson, for giving that summary, i thank the chairman and Ranking Member for allowing us whatever time was needed as members of this committee. So having said that, lets talk move on to some of the things that are pressing that you will find in this job should you be confirmed. General, china, russia, north korea, iran, theyre all becoming more and more competent and challenging the United States, just below the level of military conflict. What many refer to as the gray zone. And theyre doing it with various tools that include cyber, information operations, proxy support, political coercion and just other means. So my question is, do you believe that the United States has a clear and comprehensive strategy for gray zone competition . By competition, i dont mean just reacting when something in the world happens. I mean anticipating and deterring that gray zone competition as well. Senator, i dont believe the nation has a Clear Strategy for dealing with that gray zone competition right now. I think its a very complicated issue because it is a whole of government issue. It is not just a military issue. Its not something that the military can sit down and say, okay, how do we deal with the gray zone conflict because it impacts commerce, homeland security, it impacts almost every element of our society. So we have to figure out how to do that together as a whole of government. And its a different world that we live in. And the way our country is structured, it becomes a little problematic to move quickly there. Whereas adversaries can move quickly in there because theres a single decisionmaker that moves down that path. So we have to sit down and figure this out. I know that we have teams doing that right now. Ive asked a team of stratcom to look at what the stratcom role in gray zone conflict should be because it is a learning experience right now. The department is looking at that. But its a whole of government issue. Thank you. And i take it, though, that i take it from your answer, though, that thats being done. Its a priority that you think we need to do for the future. It absolutely is a priority because its going to be part of our world for as far as i can see into the future. Right. Last thing i want to just ask. I saw where secretary pompeo announced that this week that the president has said that we need to draw down troops in afghanistan by election day 2020, which, quite frankly, i find a little bit disturbing that it was based on an election as opposed to some military decisions. I was in afghanistan with senator reid, senator shaheen recently. Do you see a drawdown that will completely remove all troops out of afghanistan . And the reason i say that is because i asked the question because it seems pretty clear to me that isis is still a serious, serious threat over there, and we cannot take our foot off of their neck while at the same time dealing with china and russia and their influence over there. What do you see how do you see the troop drawdown that the president wants playing out in the next few months . So again, senator, thats not the stratcom area of expertise, but i have talked about that a lot inside the Senior Leadership of the department. And ive been in those discussions. And i think the challenge there will be a draw down of troops in the future. I dont think theres any doubt of that. But i think it has to be conditions based. Not necessarily just a specific date. Its got to be the conditions are right on that specific date and then we can get there from there. I havent talked to the president or secretary pompeo, but the conditions have to be set in afghanistan before we can fully leave. Otherwise the challenge will be the taliban, the isis threat, the various terrorist threats can raise themselves up again. We cant let that happen. Thank you, general. Thats precisely the answer i was hoping to get. Thank you for your testimony. Senator blackburn . Thank you, mr. Chairman. And, general, thank you so much. And secretary wilson, we appreciate that youre here. And we like having you back in d. C. So thank you for being here. And to your family, i want to say welcome. We appreciate that you all are here, and we are thankful for your time and your willingness to work this. I want to stay right where senator jones was looking at, i call the new axis of evil, which is russia and china and iran and north korea. And when we talk about russia and china, they are putting quite an emphasis on their strategic and nonNuclear Weapons, one of which is cyber. And i want to encourage you as you take on a on the new role, end this perception that they are going to have the opportunity to be a player in this great power competition. I think youre exactly right to say this is a strategy that is in need of talking this out and developing a strategy and having a game plan for how we move forward there. I thank you for your emphasis on that. I want to talk for just a moment about republic of korea. And have you comment a little about the value that relationsh relationship, the importance of our joint exercises as we look at that region and readiness of forces. Also a little about the negotiation of the new special measures agreement in 2020 and the importance that has to us. When i look at the republic of korea, i see one of the most important allies. We have a liaison from republic of korea because of the nature of United States and korean relationship. In terms of readiness, general abrams has stated recently the level of exercises hes been able to do, unit level exercises that hes fully ready to handle any support. I think you should know strat com is ready to handle any threat that might come from north korea as well. So i think when you look at korea, you have to make sure were always fully ready. 2017 was a scary time at strat com with what was going on with north korea. So many missiles flying, nuclear tests. We werent sure whether they were going to pair Nuclear Weapons on top of that. We had to posture forces, strat com hasnt done that in a long time. When the Political Leadership started having talks, it got a lot better. 2018 a whole lot better, 2019 good. Everybody in the military hopes the diplomatic process actually works. But we also understand we have to be ready if it doesnt. Our forces have to stay ready, forces in indopacific, admiral defends, korea, abrams, strat com all have to be ready to respond if diplomacy doesnt work. Were here in support of diplomacy right now. Thank you. Look forward to supporting your nomination and seeing you in the leadership role. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. General, welcome. I want to applaud as others have the full process this committee has undertaken to explore the Sexual Assault allegations leveled against you. I believe at the hearing last week, i also applied your thorough answers, your answers to followup questions, and i especially want to applaud your demeanor which we as Committee Members got to see. You firmly denied the allegations against you but you did not speak in any way disrespectfully toward your accuser. That was not easy. Nor did you speak disrespectfully to the committee. You did not say we were engaging in a witch hunt or criticize us for asking you questions that we needed to ask you. And your demeanor today continues that pattern of recognizing this is important and youre here to answer the questions we ask. That goes a long way with me. I want to just ask you one question before moving on. You would agree with me, wouldnt you, that if the allegations of Sexual Assault leveled against you were true, they would be disqualifying. Yes, senator, absolutely. Let me move and ask another question. Did you advance policy questions were submitted to you and the answers to those questions were delivered to the committee saturday june 27th. I worked all of those answers. That was a significant effort for me and my staff because of the timing that was involved. Let me read you one of the questions and one of the answers. Do you support the United States secession to the United Nations convention on the law of the sea. Here is your answer. Yes. Like my predecessors, i support joining the convention. Being a party to the convention enhances the United States Security Posture by reinforcing freedom of the seas and rights vital to ensuring vital force posture. The prevention provides Legal Certainty in the Worlds Largest maneuver space. My colleague senator king asked you the question about whether you supported United States joining convention on the law of the sea, and you said im not a lawyer and i dont have an opinion about that. Has anyone at the department or the administration encouraged you to soften your support for the convention between the time you reviewed and submitted that answer on saturday and your testimony today . They have not, sir. How would you explain to me the difference between your unequivocal support for the convention in your written answer and your Statement Today that somebody who is not a legal expert you would not have an opinion about the question. All i can say, senator, we were going too fast over the weekend. We were just going too fast, and i blue by that one. I read through them all. I looked at them to make sure i understood what they were, but i blew by that. My belief is that answer has sort of been boilerplate position of the department of defense for many years. That every current and past isnt of defense and isnt of state has said they support the convention on the law of the sea. The only time ive ever heard anyone sort of suggest maybe backing away from it is you today. I just wanted to make sure we are not seeing either an administration or department that is changing the position. No. Thats not true, senator. Like i said in my answer to senator king, i support all the elements that are in there. You support it and practically abide by it whether or not we join the convention. Absolutely. I agree with everything thats in there. I just i clearly went too fast on my apqs. Its relevant because i was worried if somebody had suggested that you might take a different position today it would be relevant to another question senator king answered are you going to give unvarnished advice to the boss whether or not they agree with you. I will always give my unvarnished advice. When i screw up, ill tell you i screwed up, too. Ill tell you i screwed up. I hope i follow that standard. Let me ask you about china and you talk about it a little bit. When the general was here, he said for his confirmation hearing that in his view the most important relationship in the world in the 21st century is the relationship between United States and china. When the history of the century is written that relationship is going to be critical to this. I agree. Not only military but diplomacy, humanitarian aid and otherwise that if we engage in questionably necessary military activities, or focus our attentions elsewhere, we could do so at the risk of allowing china to catch up and exceed us in their capacities, military and otherwise. I think we have to always watch closely exactly where china is, understand. I hope we continue to have a closer military to military relationship with china so we can understand each other. I think transparency in those areas is important, building stability as we go in the future. Weve tried to do that with the soviet union, tried to do that with russia. I think china is a big piece of that and i hope we work that in the future. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you senator kahne. General, thank you for being here today. I have been part of all five of the executive sessions this Committee Held related to your nomination and heard you testify at quite some lengths in executive session. I heard the colonel, your accuser testified at some length in executive session. I reviewed extensive report on these allegations. Ive also reviewed some of the transcripts of your testimony and the colonels from our executive session just to make sure i understood exactly what your answers were. I want to give you an opportunity to respond now to some of the allegations very specifically that have been made in public. In particular the New York Times i understand you deny all the allegations. Let me give you the opportunity to respond specifically. The New York Times reported on july the 26th that the colonel a little that on december 2nd, 2017, the evening of that day, you came to her room this is while youre at reagan National Defense in simi valley, you came to her room and sexually assaulted her. That specific allegation, september 2nd, 2017, did that incident happen, general . That never happened. Did you go to her room that night . Ive never been to her room, senator. I just want to clarify that. Your testimony is youve never been to her room not only on the 2nd but ever. Never. Any trip you took ever. Never. The New York Times reports military itinerary the reporter said they reviewed for that day during the relevant time, your movement was accounted for as just executive time. How would we verify, general, you said you didnt go to her room that night, ive never been to her room, how might we know thats true . How might we verify that . I think you have to look in the evidence submitted and interviews with personal security detail and look at the interviews with the communication team. The only location of people when im traveling that i know about is my personal security detail, which is always right next to me, and the communication suite. As we talked about earlier, i have to be able to get to Certain Communications at a moments notice, so i know where those people are. I have no idea where anybody else on the team is at any point in time. They could be close by, spread out across the hotel, at a different hotel. But Everybody Knows where you are. Everybody knows where i am. My security detail, their job is to have eyes on me all the time. Now, they have gone through their procedures with me. They did that with laura and myself from earliest times, earliest days at strat com. This is how we do that. Realize well alhave a key to your room, alaccess you. Well do the following things to always have eyes on you at all times. It will be a little bit overwhelming but noted thats our job. One thing reported in the New York Times, that article also a little there may have been physical evidence that could have been subject to dna testing related to that incident on december the 2nd. Do you know, has was there any dna testing done that youre aware of. Thats in the investigation. I know that it was. I know there was nothing found. Your understanding, the last point, the dna test found there was nothing related to you . Is that your understanding and what you just said . That is correct. When i was interrogated by the investigators, i had to give a dna sample. So i know they had a current dna sample and i know there was nothing there. Let me just ask you finally, different subject, on the nds, which you testified to today, which i think is so important, the need for new operational concepts under nds. Wrote u. S. Urgently requires new operational concepts that expand u. S. Options and constrain those of china, russia, and other actors. Of course, many of our existing joint war fighting operational concepts were developed before the nds was written and issued. If youre confirmed will you update those concepts, work on updating and brief us about your progress there so we can appropriately budget . Absolutely, senator. I think the thing to realize is that the joint staff, the chairman, the vice chairman today, the combat commands, weve already recognized thats an issue. One of the things were building now is what we call globally integrated base plans. When you look at these challenges, its not just my plan, indopacific, u com, the key is how do those plans come together in unity and how do we fight in multiple do mains at different times with different commands and authorities and time and tempo of operations. This is going to be a significant challenge Going Forward but weve started that process and were looking at it. That seems like a significant work. Im glad youve done this and what youve outlined is important. Ill have more questions on the record on this and other Nuclear Deterrents and other important matters but thank you for being here today and thank you for your willingness to serve. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator mcsally, you do have 3 1 2 minutes remaining if you desire. I have said my piece, mr. Chairman, i appreciate it. Very good. How far out is he . One minute. One minute away. Oh, dear. Senator blumenthal is supposedly one minute away. Im about to miss the second vote. You tell me were going to wait a minute. He has not had his first . I anticipate well have some other members who have voted and want to come back here. I will rundown and vote when senator blumenthal gets here and come right back. Yeah, i think ill do that. Okay. Senator mcsally residing. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Well wait for senator blumenthal. Senator plum thole, youre recognized. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you general hyten, four your service to our nation and your family and you being here today. Im probably the last to ask you questions, and i just want to say for myself that i appreciate your willingness to cooperate with this committee and to answer the questions that you have. Many of us i think feel there remains serious unresolved questions and factual issues that have not been completely answered on the record. We will be submitting questions for the record. I know youll be responding promptly. Out of respect for the courageous men and women who serve in our military and who will answer to you, if you are confirmed, we need to seek those answers and make them public as much as possible. A number of my colleagues have made reference to the truth that has been revealed to the committee in the course of the seniors work weve done and the hours weve spent and the documents weve reviewed. All of it has been serious, and i want to say i admire the work that my colleagues have done. But the public has no access to a lot of this information. I am hopeful that you are support our making public as much as we can the proceedings of this committee that will show the public what has been done to seek the truth. I hope you will support that. I support that. The men and women who serve our country in the military as well as the public will be watching that committee closely and looking to see how we treat survivors and how seriously we take this issue of Sexual Assault. I know youve been asked what you think should be done. You have declined to give specifics. I understand its not your area of expertise but youve been at a very high level of the military for a substantial period of time. Id like to ask you now, or in the responses that you give to those written questions, to be more specific about what can and should be done. We have asked general milley about it and i know hes attentive to this issue. I would like you to be more responsive to these questions about what can be done by way of programs and efforts to value and respect survivors, to take action promptly and fairly, in response to complaints about Sexual Assault, what can be done throughout the military, because you will now have a position of trust. If you want to be more specific now, i robocall it. If not, i hope in your questions for the record you will be. I will respond in detail in the follow on question, but let me just say a couple of things, senator. I think, first of all, the most important thing i can do as strat com commander, Space Commander, vice chairman of the joint chiefs is to always hold people accountable. I think that has to be the fundamental precept that when we have issues, we have to hold people accountable. I strongly, strongly believe that. I have to state clearly its unacceptable behavior and everybody has to know that, and it is. I have to make sure that victims understand they can come forward and they will be treated with respect and dignity. They will have special victims advocates that will help them through the process. Their accusations will be treated seriously. I can tell you having lived through the last few months that any victim should be confident in coming forward that their accusations will be treated seriously by the investigators, because these were very, very serious allegations and treated very seriously. As for specific programs, i do not have plans for specific programs as we sit here today. I know we need to develop those programs. I think theres people in this building that actually know more about this issue than i do. Im not going to i know a lot about space and cyber and nuclear, and i know a lot about leadership. I understand a lot about structure. I understand i have strengths and weaknesses but im not an expert in Sexual Assault. I have to find those people, and i pledge to you i will do th thank you. Thank you. Senator scott will be here shortly. Im sure you know, general, were in the middle of votes, so thanks for your patience. Senator, i understand completely. Senator scott. First i want to that you for being here and thank you for all your testimony. I had to preside, otherwise i would have been here the whole time, so apologize for that. I want to make clear Sexual Harassment will never be tolerated. Not in the military or anywhere else in the country. Imronator mcsally to help end Sexual Harassment in the military. I want to thank senator mcsally for all of her efforts during all the Committee Hearings weve had to make sure the truth comes out. The claims made against general hyten are very serious. Its important we hear every side. We have a process in place to thoroughly investigate and review any misconduct. Im glad we followed that process. The air force did an investigation and found no the air force left no stone unturned in the investigation and the senate has been thorough as well. Based on what i know of the complete investigation, i believe general hyten was falsely accused. Thats what secretary wilson said. This Committee Heard firsthand from general hyten and his accuser and we reviewed all the available information. We have to focus on the merits of the nominees that come before us and have to focus on evidence when accusations are made. General hytens record of service to support accusations are compelling. I hope we can find a way coming forward to reject the heightened partisanship for our current political environment. General hyten, i want to focus on areas that affect our state. The biggest is why is russia doing what they are doing in cuba and especially venezuela and what do you think the end result will be . What should we be doing that were not doing right now . So i think, senator, the thing you have to look at from what russia is doing is that this is not just a regional strategy about cuba and venezuela, this is a global strategy about influence. Russia honestly does not have many friends in the world. The friends they do have tend to be trouble. But they tend to reach out to try to influence nations and to partner with nations that can counter United States and nato in particular for russia. The influence and global structure weve developed since world war ii. So everything that russia is doing is in line with that. If you look at what they are doing in europe, its in line with that. So this is just a natural part of the strategy they are pursuing. So with regard to this hemisphere, especially cuba and venezuela, what should we be doing to counter act what russia is doing and even what china is doing. China is involved not as far as i know in cuba but clearly involved in venezuela. I think we have to work with our partners. Its really a question for u. S. Southern command and admiral fowler but weve certainly looked at it as all the combat commands looking at russia. I certainly spend a lot of my time looking at russia. I think what we have to do is always reach out to our partners and build that partnership. We have to have a Good Partnership with colombia, a Good Partnership with a few other nations down there. Admiral fowler is working hard to build those partnerships. Then we have to just point out what is happening, point out venezuela is a disaster. Cuba, because of the partnership with soviet union and russia is struggling, struggling nation if you partner with russia, it usually does not turn out well for you. We have to point this out. I think we have to be patient. We understand this is an area where military is in a support role of that structure. We dont want conflict in our backyard. We have a role to play to make sure were always there. I took a trip, it wont panama twice colombia and clearly china is making investments down there, Big Investments in panama and argentina. Does that concern you . Thats the chinese strategy. That chinese strategy seems to be new on the world stage and people are surprised by that, but they announced that strategy in the 1990s and they have been going down that path for a while. They are using their economic power as international influence. They are building those connections. They are building ports. They are stranging the structure of the way the world has been for a long time. We have to be cognizant of that, aware of that. Again, they are a strategic adversary but they dont have to be an enemy. We have to work with that. The military has a huge role to play. We always have to be ready. We always have to be present. The last thing in the world we want would be a war with china. Thank you. Senator sullivan. Thank you, madam chair. General, i want to thank you for your service and your familys service as well. I know this habit been a easy process for you. I do want to ask at the outset, i know youve already been asked that the closed hearings as well, but can you state publicly whether you categorically deny all the allegations that have been levied against you with regard to Improper Conduct and Sexual Assault by a subordinate. All the allegations are completely false. You made that same statement under oath in a closed hearing to this committee, correct . I have. I made that statement to the air force investigators. I made that statement to the committee. Had they are categorically untrue. And have you throughout your very distinguished career ever been accused of that previously . Never. Okay. Thank you. I want to talk about Missile Defense. I know you are certainly one of our nations experts. You may have seen the news. I actually just got off a plane from alaska, so i apologize for being late. As you know, my state is the cornerstone of our nations Missile Defense. Also increasingly important testing ground for our nations Missile Defense and those of our allies. We had a reported, very successful Missile Defense testing that was out of kodiak, alaska, reported over the weekend. Can you talk a little about that and how you think that plays to the strengths but also protecting not just United States but our allies, particularly israel. There was a the israeli test, kodiak southern part of alaska. Very successful test. A very important from a Missile Defense perspective in general. Any successful test is good. Actually any test is good. You learn from testing. Also builds our partnership with the Israeli Defense force and that structure. Missile defense needs to be an international capability. We need to be able to partner with our allies in terms of how we defend ourselves, too. Missile defense requires a spectrum of capabilities. It requires sensors, climatic controls, interceptors, direct energy, new technologies. We need to be pursuing that because were going to have significant missile threats and emerging missile threats were actually not dealing with yet in the very near future. One piece of good niece thats come out of the committee over the last three or four years is the bipartisan advancements that our country that made with regard to Missile Defense both as reflected in the ndaa and also the trump administrations focus on this. You might recall the president unveiled the pentagons Missile Defense review, the Vice President , secretary, i believe you were there a couple months ago. If confirmed, will you commit to continuing to work with this committee and the congress on continuing to advance Missile Defense, whether its more capability as we have at fort greeley, in terms of fields, or radar sites or spacebased sensors. A pleasure to do that, senator. Absolutely. Let me ask another issue, ive raised it with general milley and now secretary esper. I want to get a commitment for you to come back to alaska and tour what Billy Mitchell referred to as the most strategic place in the world. Can i get that commitment . Sir, if i could go to alaska tomorrow, id be there. Good. Okay. Well, well take you up on that. I see secretary wilson here smiling. But one issue i do want, i do want to mention is we will have by the end of next year 105th generation fighters, f22s and f35s. Were looking at air force looking at deployment, kc 46s. So we have very old tankers in alaska, 50yearold tankers. When i asked secretary esper during his confirmation hearing what kind of signal that could send to our potential adversaries and adversaries north korea, china, russia to have 105th gen fighters and new generation of tankers, kc 46, he said that would so extreme strategic reach. Can i get your commitment to work with me on this committee and air force if confirmed on the ocones deployment of kc 46s . I think pairing kc 46s with 105th gen fighters in the most strategic place in the world would be an important signal. Can you comment on that and get your commitment as well . I think that is extremely important. Ill commit to working with you Going Forward. I think we have to have some mix of capabilities in alaska. If im confirmed, ill continue to work those forward. Alaska is an interesting place. Next time were in a classify hearing ill talk about classified exercises we play in europe where alaska can be very, very interesting game changer and how people look at the United States posture because of the unique location it is on the planet. Both to the west of alaska and north of alaska. Its an unbelievable strategic location. We have to figure out how to effectively do that. Theres always going to be a force balance we have to work through. That will be challenged. Theres no doubt alaska is this unbelievably important Strategic Asset for the United States. Thank you, general. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thank you, general, and thank you, laura, your whole family. Were adjourned. The Senate Armed Service committee wrapping up here its confirmation hearing for air force general john hyten to serve as vice chair of joint chiefs of staff. If you missed any hearing, of what it tonight at 9 05 eastern on our companion network cspan2. 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