Transcripts For CSPAN3 Chief Of Naval Operations Confirmation Hearing 20240714

Admiral michael gil roys confirmation, he has been nominated to become chief Naval Operations. Conflicts of interest . There we go. Yes, senator, i have. Will you ensure your staff complies with deadlines for request of communications including questions for the record and hearings . Yes, sir, i will. Will you cooperate and provide witnesses in response to the congressional requests . Yes, sir, i will. Withl those witnesses be protected for their testimony and briefings . Yes, sir, they will. Testify upon request of this committee . Yes, sir, i will. Do you agree to provide documents, including copies of electronic forms and communications in a timely manner when requested by the constituted committee or to consult with the Committee Regarding the basis of any good faith delay or denial in providing such documents . Yes, senator. And have you assumed any duties or undertaken any actions which would appear to. The outcome or the process . No, sir, i have not. Directs our nations military to prepare for the return of strategic competition. This means we must be prepared to deter and, if necessary, decisively defeat potential near adversaries like china and russia. Its a different world now that weve had before. I mean, most American People just assume that we in america had the best of everything and we have watched whats happened over the last decade. In fact, thats not true. With their alarming speed and modernization of conventional and nuclear forces, china and russia now present formidible threats to america and our allies. One example of this is that according to the office of naval intelligence, the chinese navy is growing more than 20 times faster than our navy. 25 times faster than our navy. At a rate of 11 ships annually and the capability of those ships is increasing as well i mean, stuff they have is new stuff. Its pretty scary. Our navy has a key role to play in this competition, which requires it to be maintained and equipped appropriately. Howev however, im concerned that the navy may be out of balance in each of these areas our ships appear undermanned with destroyers manning roughly 85 , undermaintained with more than 60 of ships running long in maintenance and more than 1. 8 billion in maintenance needs are funded. And the third area, underequipped key capabilities like fully functional 40 class carriers and combat ships, missions and modules are significantly delayed in getting to the fleet. Overall, it seems to me that theyre having trouble maintaining the ships and it will only continue as it surp s surpasses 310 by 2022 on the way to 355ship navy. You werent involved in all this stuff. Youre inheriting it, though, with this position. In my view, the navy must first sustainably man and maintain our Current Fleet in terms of modernization, technical risks, must be better understood before hearing major new systems without better acquisition performance and erosion of u. S. Competitive advantages that they will accelerate. So this is a critical time for our navy, and your leadership is coming along just about the right time. Thank you, sir. Secretary reed . Thank you, chairman. I want to welcome admiral gil y gilday, particularly his mother, his wife, one of his sons. Youve served with exemplary service. We thank you for that, and we thank you for your willingness to continue to serve. Admiral gilday, you have an exemplary record. If you are confirmed as chief of Naval Operations you will be tasked with recruiting and maintaining a quality force and ensuring that force contains the necessary structure and readiness levels and able to respond to tomorrows threats. Needed ships and aircraft on time and on budget and this challenge will be compounded by the need to recapitalize the Ballistic Missile submarine fleet built in the 1980s. The navy is also struggling to maintain the ships and aircraft we already have in the inventory, including having some attack submarines untable to complete attack missions due to maintenance needs. In the navy fleet to avoid preventable accidents like the mccain and fitzgerald. Im interested in your vision of the navy and how you would go about making that vision a reality. A major focus of the committee this year has been the state of privatized military housing. I saw this firsthand in rhode island. Admiral gilday, acceptable housing for all its Service Members and changes the system that oversees housing, that Navy Commander commanders have a responsibility. We live in Tumultuous Times and many core values are being tested. Such times can have a corps owesive effect on our military personnel. Its never been more important that our navy have principle leaders with respect throughout the ranks and adhere to a moral code that can serve as an example to all our sailors and marines. Admiral gilday, we all expect and demand and are confident you will be that leader. Thank you for your commitment to the nation. I must apologize. I must go to the Appropriations Committee hearing that i cochair but i shall return. I think a famous west pointer said that, but i shall return. Well be waiting your return. Thank you, members of the committee and Ranking Member reed and chairman inhofe. Im grateful for the confidence of the president of the United States, secretary of defense and secretary of the navy in nominating me. Most americans associate the strength of the navy with ships at sea. But the true sources of our naval power are the people and the loved ones who support them. My family is no different. My father enlisted in the navy right out of high school. My mother, who is here today, raised five sons along his side until my dads passing a few years ago. For the past 24 years, my wife, linda, has been a constant source of inspiration. Despite moving around the world with me, she has maintained a successful career in both the private and public sectors while raising our two sons. Our oldest is a sophomore at the university of virginia and could not be here due to rotc training. His younger brother, michael, soon to be a freshman at auburn, is here today along with other members of our family. Like countless military families around the world, my familys love, resourcefulness and their support have made my Naval Service possible. I owe everything to them. Our country and our navy face many challenges, both now and in the future. If confirmed, i intend to ensure our navy remains focused on our role within the joint force and protecting the American Homeland and defending americas interest. The priorities of the National Defense strategy are clear. True north is Great Power Competition against russia and china. It is our duty to fight and win across the spectrum from peaceful presence to violent conflict in all domains. In a word, it is about lethality, producing and fielding a combat credible naval force with global reach, capable of deterring any potential adversary and protect our nations interest at all times. If confirmed, sustaining our readiness and modernizing our navy will be my top priorities. Thoughtful, focused decisions to rapidly mature, acquire and field cuttingedge technologies, integrating them into joint operating concepts will be key to ensuring our navy always fights for our advantage, unmatched by any rival as a preempt nent navy in the world. My commitment to you is a navy ready to respond to the nations call both now and in the future. To that end, our competitive advantage is our sailors and Service Members. We owe them sufficient resources to do their jobs effectively. In that respect, continuing unwavering support of our navy team by providing adequate and sustained funding. I am truly honored to be part of the greatest navy in the world and if confirmed, i will work closely with this committee and with this congress. I am great frful for my nomination and look forward to your questions. Thank you, admiral. Well have fiveminute questions a round. Im going to begin. Im going to begin. Ill ask you a quite lengthy question and then shorter questions that require lengthy answers. Incomplete, nearly two years late in 2017, 2 1 2 billion over budget and 9 of 11 weapons elevators still dont work with costs continuing to grow. The ford is a numerical replacement decommissioned in 2012. Since then weve had 10 operational Aircraft Carriers, despite the requirement for 12 and this mismatch continues to place a heavy burden on the fleet to do more with less. The ford was awarded to a sole source contractor on a contractplus contract with four new immature technologies that had next to no testing and had never been integrated on a ship. Resting gear and weapons elevators, which i mentioned in our opening statement. The navy entered into this contract in 2008, which combined with other contracts have ballooned the cost of the ship more than 13 billion without understanding the technical risk, cost or schedule. This ought to be crennel. I first became exposed to this when i was down there, on sight. Its a great ship. Weve got to do it. Weve got to keep up with as we mentioned other countries such as that are creating a problem and becoming very competitive. So we have to do it, but we have to do a better job i sense at that time that was the sole source, that there was a level of arrogance that didnt really make any difference that the elevators dont work, you know. If youre carrying ordinance in elevators and they dont work, thats not much good in the field. So since that time, the secretary of the navy told the president , quote, elevators will be ready to go when she pulls out or you can fire me. Remember that . Well, they still dont work. At that time, the ford was supposed to pull out from its Maintenance Period this month. The departure has since been delayed to october. Even with this delay, only two of the 11 elevators will be ready in october, nine elevators will not be ready and likely not complete until 2020 or later. The secretarys promise to the president months ago either acknowledges poor facts or poor judgment, the latest example of navy leaders not being straightforward when it comes to the program. Thats quite a charge, isnt it . When you see this happening, and seemingly theres nothing we can do about it. This is going to be dumped in your lap and i would like to have your thoughts on my opening comments about that particular ford class. What are your thoughts . Mr. Chairman did we do a good job . Sir, so i share your concern and i agree with your assessment. Including the fact that we will likely only have two, perhaps four elevators operational by the time ford leaves for availability in the fall. Its still unacceptable. We need all 11 elevators working in order to give us the kind of redundancy and combat readiness that the american taxpayer has invested in that ship. Of course, you know its more than just the elevators . Thats right. The other inefficiencies ive mentioned. 23 new technologies introduced to that ship as you know. Of those four were immature when we commissioned ford in 2017. We have seen progress in the launching systems, arresting gear and also with the dual band radar. So, the reliability of those systems is trending in the right direction and actually where we want them to be. Its the elevators, i think, that is the remaining big hurdle to get over to get that ship at sea and finally deployed. Okay. On that one, when you are confirmed, i believe you will be, would you agree it would be wise to report to us on a monthly basis as to the progress thats being made . Yes, sir, i commit to that and complete transparency as well as taking what we learned from the ford and ensuring that we dont commit those same mistakes again in the columbia class. Appreciate that. We mentioned opening statement. The navy seems to be out of balance, maintenance delays and unvented work and major delays. For the record i would like you to respond as to your view of the overallstate of the navy. Is it balanced . Were positioning ourselves to 355 ship navy which many of them will come out in the course of this hearing. And the second question for the record would be by 2023, the fleet is expected to grow 314 ships with several new lead ships. This addresses the lead ship performance problems that weve been under. And i would like to have you kind of give an answer for the record on your view of the recent lead ship performances and what youre going to do differently to adequate to ensure adequate technical prior. If you would do that for the record, i would appreciate it very much. Senator shaheen. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Congratulations, admiral gilday, and thank you to you and your family for being willing to consider this position at this critical time in our countrys history. I also appreciated your visit last week. One of the things we talked about is our Public Shipyards. I am very concerned what happens at Portsmouth Naval shipyard. You have been invited to visit. We hope youll do that. But one of the things all our shipyards need is investment. I support the Navy Shipyard opt medication plan released february of 2018, and it focuses among other things on increasing dry dock capacity and improving facility layout. Again, Critical Issues for the Portsmouth Naval shipyard. Do you believe the navys Public Shipyards require significant Infrastructure Investment in order to increase capacity and modernize our force . I absolutely do. It is a Critical Partnership with those public yards as well as the communities around them. So that skilled work force obviously comes from those communities. That partnership runs long and deep from within the navy, our requirements and acquisition specialists all the way to partnerships we have with the shipyards and people that provide the Skilled Labor. And youre committed to doing everything you can to moving forward with that Optimization Plan . Yes, maam. Thank you. The other issue was secretary spencers visit to the shipyard, reassurances that Construction Projects there on the dry dock would continue to move forward despite the president s Emergency Declaration to take military Construction Funding for the border wall. Can you give us an update on the status of. I am not aware of funds now at this point that are diverted to the border wall that effect the portsmouth ship tleep yard. I appreciate that. One of the challenges looking at the sub yard class and continuing to modernize them, we dont have parts needed to continue to do what we need to for the virginia class. We are cannibalizing parts from other ships to update them. Can you talk about what else the navy can do to address limited availability of virginia class submarine parts . Yes, maam. I think the challenges that we have in virginia extend to some of the other ship classes that we also have problems with parts availability on. It is the focus of the department to ensure we have the right parts and requirements identified well before ships go in the shipyard so we dont have delays. Which is part of the problem with production line the past three years, and trends the chairman indicated in his opening statement. I will look at virginia class and other ships, as part of other limiting factors to look at to ensure production line continues to flow as it should. Right. Without small bitsz, we dont have the other pieces we need to keep construction moving and big part of that is making sure that those Small Businesses have opportunity to get contracts. I hope youll also do everything you can to ensure that that continues. Senator, i will. I consider them part of the team. I take your point, it is well taken on ensuring there are no constraints to being able to contribute to where we need to go. Thank you. Now i would like to ask about the tensions have escalated, shooting down our drone and attacking other vessels. Can you talk about what you think the situation is in the persian gulf and what we might do to deescalate tensions there . Yes, maam. The department of defense is firmly in support of a department of state led effort to bring iran back to the negotiating table on the nuclear deal. The focus of u. S. Central command with the navy in support as well as other services is to have sufficient resources in theater to both protect the forces that we have in theater now and be able to respond should the iranians do some type of activity against u. S. Interests. We have taken great care not to be provocative against iran in operations and our very moderate force build into the region, again with focus on protecting. The diplomatic effort needs to have off ramps to bring iran back to the table so we can dehe is deescalate, get a better deal, send resources back against the russians and the chinese in terms of our global posture. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I agree. I think diplomacy is the best resolution of the situation there, and war is not in our interest or irans interest. Yes, maam. Thank you very much. Senator cotton. Admiral, thank you very much for your testimony today. Congratulations on your nomination, being willing to serve again. Lets continue to talk about submarines. At the last Posture Hearing for the pacific command, admiral davidson said continuing to build submarines is critically important to the force because some of our as he put it most significant advantage in all domains is in the sub surface. Do you agree the submarine forces may be the most significant advantage over adversaries like china . Yes, sir, i agree the submarine is an advantage against the chinese and the russians. Thats one reason why those countries, and also countries on the periphery are racing to get more of their own submarines, correct . Yes, sir. Thats why we need to continue to outpace them. Fair to say in words of the National Defense strategy that submarines playing a critical row, key intelligence functions and other essential war fighting missions . Yes, sir. Thats why the navy singled out the Columbia Class Submarine Program as top priority for fiscal 2020. I remember my first Armed Services Committee Hearing with one of your predecessors, they brought in a stoplight chart, and the maintenance of the Ballistic Missile submarine deterrent was the only one that was green. I assume that remains the navys top priority under all conditions . Yes, it does. If i could expound. Columbia is the number one acquisition priority. Secondly right now we believe that we are on track as we enter production stage in fy 20 to have 80 of design done. Double what we have with virginia class. We have taken lessons as chairman inhofe pointed out with the ford in terms of ensuring new technologies we introduce to the submarines are properly prototyped, modeled, gone through simulation before we go to production. You said in advanced policy questions on that related topic, most significant risk to cost schedule and performance requirements for columbia class is strength of the industrial and ship builder performance. I assume that it is probably correct that if that is the most significant risk to the columbia class, it is also the most significant risk to the virginia class fast attack submarines . Yes, sir. I believe it effects all yards that service the navy, both public and private. It is a competition for talent. Thats why i mention that local communities are so important as part of the team that we have to ensure we sustain so we have skilled workers in place. My advanced policy question, i was speaking to the point that that partnership with industry, we need to make sure Skilled Labor is there in numbers and qualifications level we need to work on the critical assets. Given that, ought we maybe consider exvaliant and expanded fast track submarine as part of the naval deterrence strategy . Senator, i would prefer to speak to that in a more classified setting. Sure. I notice on the biography, you earned a Commendation Medal with a b device. Yes, sir. What were the circumstances of that, it is not very common. Yes, sir. I was on a cruiser during the gulf war, we struck two mines. So i spent a lot of time as a result of that in a shipyard, repairing that damage. I feel that i have unique perspective when it comes to shipyards, great work they do, particularly with a combat damaged ship that we saved. What rank and billet were you . I was a lieutenant at the time, and tactical action officer on the ship. It is good that your sailors know that vice admiral gilday was once lieutenant gilday. They know what it is like to be a sailor and leader on the frontlines. Thank you again for your service. Congratulations on your nomination. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Senator peters. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Admiral, congratulations on your nomination. Thank you for your long, distinguished record of service. My first question, i want to focus on what appears to be a troubling trend that we are seeing it the Navy Special Warfare command. I am Ranking Member on the threats and capabilities, i have responsibility with senator ernst to oversee special operations. A platoon of s. E. A. L. S was sent home midway through deployment after reportedly abusing alcohol and other violations of good order and discipline. This issue was brought to light days after another report was released, detailing s. E. A. L. Team 10 operators, abusing cocaine and other banned substances, stated they often defeat military drug tests, told investigators those tests were a joke. In a recent trial of a navy s. E. A. L. , revealed unsatisfactory culture within s. E. A. L. Teams, including heavy drinking on the battlefield and unlawful behavior. These seem not to be isolated to one team, reported from units stationed in california and virginia which certainly raises a level of concern. My question to you, sir, if confirmed, how do you plan to assist Navy Special Warfare command to deal with what appears to be a troubling culture that may need attention. Yes, sir. So those incidents you mention are still under investigation, i have not seen the result of them, although i am eager to understand what the root causes are. I will say that ethics is a particularly important point for me and that begins at the top of my leadership and extends through all of the flag officers as well as our commanders and right down through the chief petty officers who i consider a Critical Link to ensure every day we go to work, we bring our values with us to work. It is especially important in combat that those values be maintained for all of the reasons that we understand so well. I commit to getting a better understanding of the issues, to Holding People accountable, if and where they need to be held accountable, to getting after root causes and ensure if there is a problem with culture of the community that thats addressed very quickly and very firmly. All right. Thank you, admiral. Thank you, sir. The marine corps commandant planning guide anls emphasized greater integration of capability between the navy and marine corps. I want to read from the document and get your thoughts on this quote. He writes we must engage in a more robust discussion regarding Naval Expeditionary forces not resident in the marine corps, coastal, marine forces, Naval Construction forces, mine Counter Measure forces. We must ask whether it is prudent to absorb those functions and capabilities to create a single Naval Expeditionary force. If confirmed, you will obviously work closely with the commandant and future Marine Corps Operating concepts. Could you talk about opportunities where we could strengthen joint ties, explain why that might be important for future fight and how you work with the marine corps . Yes, sir. I met with the commandant last week, theres no daylight between us. I am fully supportive of his plan of guidance, the direction he wants to head in. I think the idea that we better integrate navy and marine corps only makes sense, particularly with adversaries we face today. I think weve symmetric advantage if we come together in a synergistic way. To your point how we get at this quickly, through exercises, war games. We both agree to attend a war game at newport, rhode island later in august to begin to explore how we change our operating concepts to get better performance out of the teamwork from both services. As youre thinking it through and working it, do you think there will be impact on sea lift and support functions that the navy currently provides to the marine corps . I dont see that now, sir. I think were on a pretty good track with respect to sea lift in terms of focus that weve cross three lines of operations to sustain the ships that we have, and their service lives. Congress has given us authorities to look at purchasing used vessels, and we have some investments going in new ships as well. Thank you, admiral. Appreciate it. Z thank you. Thank you, admiral for being here. I want to thank your family members for joining you. Thanks for years of wonderful support that youve been able to provide to the admiral. Admiral, senator peters and i Work Together on emerging threats and capabilities subcommittee. I would like to get into some of that information if i might. In a statement to the committee you said you would continue on a path toward a more lethal, agile sustainable force. If confirmed, are there emerging technologies you believe the navy should be prioritizing ahead of other emerging technologies . Yes, maam. Top of the list, i would put Artificial Intelligence. I think there are capabilities resident today in industry that we can harness to our advantage. And what im particularly interested in is how we use data in a more innovative way to give a quicker flash to bang from Decision Making to action. Theres a lot of information at our fingertips every single day, it is getting the right information to the right people at the right time to make the right decisions faster than your opponent. And i think theres great promise there. Were doing experimenting now that im excited about, it will be a priority. Ai is one area. Hyper sonics is a must that we have to get after quickly. I think were on a good track. Industry is our best partner working through this. Third is unmanned. Thats the future. We have to look more deeply at how we would operate with unmanned vech unmanned vessels on the sea, under the sea or in the air. To the point with senator peters, i would look at war gaming, concept development, and with experimentation. Weve almost doubled the amount of exercises were doing in the next year from 97 to 171. Thats a test. Were going to look at new technologies, if we fail, they can fail fast. If theyre something to invest in, put heat on it and field it quickly. Those are some of the areas im most enthused about going forward. Im excited about that. And thank you. I look forward to working on those specific areas with you and with other branch chiefs. You mention ai. One area we have seen significant savings, especially in the navy, is with Predictive Maintenance by using ai. I look forward to that. There are ways to utilize emerging technology not only with Autonomous Vehicles and other platforms but also the mundane things we dont typically think about as war fighters which would be logistics and everything admin behind the scenes as well. Thank you for your input on that. Would you be able to leverage expertise in Cyber Security as well as we move forward . I hope to, maam. I think it is an area that we have to leverage from current day operations all the way to future planning. It is intertwined in everything we do, whether in our personal lives or certainly in the military. I do have some ideas on things i would like to accelerate. Whiem i worked at fort immediate at u. S. Cyber command and, i had partnerships with Small Companies, turning out great products that we could use and scale very quickly. I am interested in finding the Innovative Companies and to leverage them to make us more lethal. I appreciate that. You mention working with those companies and others. Thats important. A number of nominees that have come before the panel have repeatedly called for collaboration with academia and the private sector, and thank you for doing that. The collaboration does lead to innovation in not only emerging technologies area that im very interested in but also resource and timesaving methods we discussed. Academic innovation is coming out of all our states. For my home state of iowa, we focus on this with university. I know you mentioned some modernization goals. How do you plan to harness the talent you talked about in the private sector and maybe more specifically in academia to get us where we need to be . Maam, are you referring to how we recruit and retain . More so with the technologies that have been developed and that we can utilize from private industry as well as from our universities. University of Northern Iowa has partnered with the military on a number of different types of strategies, paint technologies and so forth. Are there ways to reach out and work better with our universities and talent within the universities . Yes, maam, there are, and there are great examples, particularly when i worked in cyber, we had great, i dont want to mention the specific universities, many of your states are represented in those partnerships that we have. I would say with respect to the direction were going in, u. S. Cyber command just created a shark tank like environment with double digit number of Small Companies bidding quickly on projects and developing prototypes quickly. It is a very exciting direction were heading in. Acquisition authorities received from congress allow us to move more quickly with the new technologies that we need. Excellent. Thanks very much. I look forward to supporting your confirmation. Thank you, maam. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chair. Congratulations on your nomination. We talked about the ford in my office the other tayday. I want to dig into it as a case study. Three major issues have come to the committees attention in addition to just time and budget which preoccupied us a few years ago, and progress on that in the second in class looks to be going well, but issues we grappled with have been success of the launch, catapult system, newly designed system, success of the arresting system which is newly designed, and now this issue with the elevators. Am i correct that both the catapult and arresting systems have now checked out and are working according to spec to your satisfaction . Yes, sir. For the electromagnetic launching system and advanced arresting gear, we have had almost 800 launches. For three successive days we had 100 in each of those days. It is right at the level we see from existing class. We think were on a good path with respect to reliability and sore tee generation rate. The other technology you didnt bring up but troubled us after the ship was delivered, the dual band radar. Reliability above 90 in that. The focus now is on the elevators. You and i talked about the issue of shore testing. The launch and arresting gear were developed by contractors not at the shipyard, shore tested, put on, worked it through, now they seem to be working, but the elevator system was not shore tested, it was built there in place . Correct. I met this week with the secretary of the navy staff to ask the question why. So of the 23 new technologies that we introduced to ford, they did not consider the elevator system to be high risk. So it wasnt prototyped to shore. Some of the 23 new technologies were shore tested, the elevator wasnt. Yes, sir. And it is critical when you talk about complex war ships and systems design, if we introduce new technologies that they are proet typ prototyped and proven before production. Who made the decision of the elevator, was it the navy, the contractor . Not talking about a person, but which entity made the decision that the elevator would not be shore tested . Ultimately thats a navy responsibility. We own the risk and the Risk Mitigation strategy to keep the ship on time. So ultimately i would consider that a failure of the navy. Let me dig into it. Do you have the Research Dollars you need . Was it a research problem, was it a contract oversight problem, was it trying to introduce too many new technologies in the first in class . What lessons would you learn from that . I think money was a factor in speaking with the secretarys staff, but i dont think it was the overriding factor. I think as engineers looked at the existing design, they saw the risk as lower. They saw the risk as acceptable. But when you introduce something but it was a new design. It was a new design, but that technology exists right now commercially. Warehouses and so forth. But ships that move, thats a different need to be water tight. In a warehouse, the elevator you can imagine to main water tight integrity up seven or eight decks is a challenge. I think we want to dialogue about lessons learned, how theyre being implemented, not only internsh ship two, but if didnt shore test, thats relevant to other platforms. Let me switch gears, ask another question. The new commandant berg and i have spoken at length before his nomination about making sure theres close collaboration between the navy and marines on future operating concepts, procurement plans, and making sure that everybody is on board as we try to get to 355 ship navy. We have to make sure theres coordination. I want your commitment as were working on these issues, i dont want there to be a left hand right hand not knowing what the other is doing problem, to be mismatched. Can you tell me that you have that kind of communication relationship on the marine side and will work with general burger in that way . I worked with general burger before. Our meeting last week was extremely positive. I am absolutely committed to you and to him to Work Together with the marine corps as a close team. Thank you very much. Thanks, mr. Chair. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Congratulations on your nomination. I look forward to supporting your nomination. Thank you. I do have on the gerald ford, projects about 14 years in the making, transcended three different administrations, endless crs, sequestration. I would like to see back to what senator kaine was saying, i would like a root cause analysis of the project from start to finish and to the extent that our actions in some way effected the movement to the right, it is important to understand that. With funding uncertainty, other changes in policy, i have dpgoto believe, some of it was mistakes by people running the project. Wouldnt surprise me if some of the risk and delay was a result of congressional action or inaction. I think that would be helpful to us so it is instructive for future actions. Not necessary to respond now, it would be helpful for that and i personally would like to see it. General burger talked about a new fleet design, talking about smaller more lethal platforms. What does that fleet look like, particularly i think he was motivated by his view of what we need to match up against china. What does the new fleet look like, how do you balance that with a target of a 355 ship navy . I dont mean to be evasive in this answer. We have an ongoing force Structure Assessment that will give better insights into that. I mention with experimentation and war gaming and exercises, to think about how we operate differently than we operated before, how do we make things fundamentally more difficult for any adversary we face. I think we need to learn together. I think we need to build together in terms of capability. So i dont have the answers yet, but i think we have a blank slate with the marine corps in terms of thinking differently how to partner together moving forward. Thank you. I want to focus on North Carolina a bit here. I think youre familiar with the damage we sustained at camp le jeune. Yes, sir. And cherry point, the river with the hurricane. Had 3800 military housing buildings effected. Weve got a backlog of 3. 7 billion at last count. Do you consider it priority to accelerate that recovery in North Carolina . Yes, sir, i do. Frc east, we made progress with the lift fan facility, state Legislature Took the unusual step of appropriate ating money and sending it to the navy to do their part to get that facility modernized, lay ground work for the lift fan facility. We received modified and every variant of the f35 there, i am sure you have been down there. Thats not necessarily a modern facility. It is virtually impossible to do what they need to do in terms of lean processes with the facilities that they have today. Do you agree that we need to make investments in facilities that will increase through put and improve readiness . Absolutely, particular frces, they work on a dozen Different Air frames from rotary to fixed wing, including the f35. The f35 is a complex aircraft thats going to require a very nimble, agile, well resourced Maintenance Production line. What i owe you is to take a deeper look, better understanding of where were headed. I look forward to open and transparent conversation about the progress. The state legislature and governor are prepared to do their part to remove barriers around cherry point to help facilitate that. I think it is important. They move the craft around, it is like theyre working a jigsaw puzzle to figure out how to wedge them in. When you talk about the most sophisticated war fighting plane thats flown, i think we need to step up our priority on modernization of the facilities. Last question that i have really again relates back to issue in North Carolina and across the globe, military housing. Are you familiar with the military housing issues at camp le jeune . Not camp le jeune, but others. It is important to accelerate it. We made progress. I am going to camp le jeune, doing a town hall, i will invite somebody from marine corps and navy to be with me. Interesting thing that happened when i do a town hall. I announce it six weeks before i do it, amazing draw down on Outstanding Service requests before i get down there. I dont know why. I want to let housing lenders know i am going to camp le jeune and to fort brag, i am going to press on this issue. I look forward to your help. Thank you, sir, it is a priority for me. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for being here and your family, all the dedication to the country, we appreciate ve very much your service. I am concerned about china, russia, concerned about whats going on in iran, strait of hormuz. Just some of the things that keep us thinking about whats going on, look at china. The rapidly growing navy china has at a rate if continued will put them over 400 surface ships and 100 submarines in the next 15 years. Would you say thats an offense on defensive play for them . Thats an offensive play, sir. An offensive play. We know with the offensive play in the South China Sea and pacific, theyre looking further than before what weve seen with intentions what may be on the one belt, one road. Yes, sir. Were on the same path on that. Were also very much concerned about whats going on with russia. Were seeing now that russia has resurgence in the north atlantic, arctic area. I came back from the arctic, going through all our arctic nations, seeing whats going on there, russia seems to be downsizing the surface combatants, retiring Aircraft Carrier, cold water destroyers, but rapidly expanding the submarine force. Theyre now producing the Largest Nuclear submarine for Ballistic Missile duty. So starting in fy 18 budget, we have been spending money on nato based in iceland, they have been deploying the ph sub hunting aircraft. I spent time in iceland, theyve got more subs, russian subs now patrolling through the iceland north atlantic than before the cold war. Offense or defense . Offense, sir. Offense again. With that being said, we spend 700 plus billion a year. China is doing all this on 2 25 equivalent billion. Russia doing it on 65 billion. How do i move back to my state of west virginia, explain were getting the best bang for our buck when were not keeping up with the deployment that we should, the ship building we should be doing, the modernization, replacement. How do we get that back on track . How do i explain the difference in values . Sir, there is a quantitative difference between us and some points you made with the russians and chinese, but i think the joint force of the United States has a significant symmetric advantage, synergistic advantage over both those nations militaries. I dont think we can necessarily meet them hull for hull or Weapon System for Weapon System. But part of this is using Innovative Disruptive technologies to our advantage, and some of this is not just about the science of war but about the art of war, how were going to fight. It is back to the point i made a few minutes ago, working more closely with the marine corps, thinking how well fight differently, how were going to leverage space but cyberspace into daytoday operations in our plans. The budget is what it is. Production lines are what they are. I think it is up to us to do the most with what we have. I think that weve got the talent and drive to do that. Okay. Ill move over to iran now. We have the uss Lincoln Carrier Strike group in the gulf of oman since may in response to attacks, attempting to build a naval coalition. Do we have resources to protect shipping lanes there, you know the uk have had one ship seized. And we were too far away at the time to come to response to help that ship as i understand. Are we working with our allies in that area that use that shipping lane to be able to have sufficient resources to avoid conflict, if you will, in order to have safe passage . Seems like were getting strung out pretty thin. Senator, we will have the resources and do have the resources to escort u. S. Flagged ships, u. S. Owned ships through the strait of hormuz. There arent that many of them that make that transit. The coalition that were building in the arabian gulf, and specifically in the strait of hormuz is going to be 80 or 90 Coalition Effort and much smaller u. S. Effort. It is primarily focused on providing intelligence support to the rest of them. We will escort our ships but wont be there in great numbers. The idea is for regional partners to bear the lions share of the burden. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Admiral, thank you for your service to our country, thank you to your family for their sacrifices, putting up with the deployments you have made. I think youre the right person for this job at the right time. But id really like to hear from you some steps that you intend to take with regard to some of the challenges we see now within some specific Naval Operations, in particular im going to hit on some items that you and i discussed in my office the other day. Im really concerned about depot maintenance. I want to work through this. Youve heard a lot of it before. I think the uss boise is a great example what not to do when it comes to how you take care of asse assets that taxpayers paid for. Uss boise will have been out of service, waiting for refueling for six years before put back in service. You have four other Nuclear Attack subs that could be in a similar circumstance, tied up at dock, waiting to get to dry dock in order to be refueled. That means theyre not operational, not able to be utilized, which means crews normally assigned wont have sea duty during that time in which theyre supposed to be out at sea. The fa18s, one point had 40 of them operational. We moved it closer to 60 now. Thats what most people see flying off the deck of a uss carrier. The f35, which is supposed to be replacement, sea model for the carriers, i dont know how many of the 4300 spare parts belong to the sea models, but most certainly we have to be able to move aircraft in and get them operational in a more timely fashion than it appears we are. This is systemic. It is not just the navy, but it is systemic within the department of defense. And it clearly points to the fact that our acquisitions systems are not working the way that they should be for efficiency. Second of all, the Maintenance Systems are not working the way we would expect them to work, and most certainly theres got to be a better way to do it. If we talk about competition with china and russia, im not sure what their capabilities are. What i do know is that were spending more money and it would appear we are not as efficient as we should be. I think it will take major overhauls within the way we treat equipment weve got, and i dont think it takes Artificial Intelligence to be able to order spare parts before theyre supposed to be installed. You and i have spoken on this. I think you agree with me. Can you share with me and the committee what steps specifically are going to be that we start fixing the problem with regard to the inefficient see in maintenance today . I need to get an understanding of that whole life cycle from requirements generation on the ship, and that comes down to the crew of the ship identifying what needs to be repaired with enough specificity so the right parts are ordered, right materials are on hand, well before the ship hits the yard. And you also have the right Skilled Labor on hand, whether welders, ship fitters, to do the work thats required and do it on time at the quality that we need. I think we need to take a look holistically from the ship through the planning process within the navy to the shipyards themselves, whether public and private, and extends out i think to the local community that provides that talent to the shipyards. And so what i would like to do is take a more detailed look at what the constraints are, what the problems are that have caused this to run behind, parts availability or whether it is the front end, doing a poor job outlaying the requirements. I know that were still catching up from years when we didnt have a fully funded maintenance budget and we deferred a lot of work and are catching up. I also know on the other side of that that we have to be able to reduce readiness and do it p predictably. I know i took time asking the question in the first place. Heres what i would ask. Will you agree to come back to the committee within 90 days and layout for us the plan that you want to implement to get to the bottom of what were going to do to fix this mess with regard to the depot maintenance . Yes, senator, i will. Second of all, how devastating would it be if were not able to put together something along the lines of the bipartisan budget agreement in which we have consistent funding without any continuing resolutions for the next two years . Sir, if we had to face Something Like that, even for a year it would effect over a dozen availabilities, it would effect all new starts for technologies that i just mentioned as well as new ship builds we want to bring online, would effect personnel budgets and those we want to move around the navy. It would be devastating in terms of current readiness and will effect modernization. Both of those are coequal priorities for all the reasons senator manchin said about russia and china. I would consider that devastating to progress we made and well lose a lot of momentum if that happens. Thank you. I look forward to supporting your nomination. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I did return. Im not as tall as general macarthur, neither is admiral gilday. Were men of normal height. Thank you very much. Admiral, in 2017, two fatal collisions of fitzgerald and mccain were shocks to the navy, also a wakeup call. Can you tell us what the investigations have taught the navy, how you implemented those findings . Yes, senator. So firstly, i would like to extend my condolences to those families. I was the senior officer on one of the burials in arlington. It was probably the most difficult thing ive done in my career. Words cannot express my sadness or provide solace to the family. In terms of what we have done, i think from the individual level on board ships and in squadrons up through the team level on board ships and institutionally with the navy, weve looked at over 100 recommendations that we have compiled from the comprehensive review we did, the Strategic Review we did, along with a thorough look by the gao. We implemented about 104 of 111 recommendations. But were not calling them complete because they really need to be institutionalized. What im interested in doing as i head back to the fleet to meet with sailors if confirmed, get a better understanding whether the culture is changed, whether or not the way we train sailors has changed, whether or not standards are where they need to be. So sir, i give you my commitment this is going to be a top priority for me. And as a Surface Warfare officer, it really hit home. One additional question. Has there been any noted effect on recruiting and retention, any changes, is that something youre going to check into also . Recruiting and retention numbers are pretty high. Some of the best retention numbers in the navy are with those ships in seven fleet where the mccain and fitzgerald sailed. Thank you. Brought up an important point about having a capable navy, one that can get off the dock. The plan is 355 ships, reality, we cant maintain 300 ships, and there are many aspects of this, he touched on many, one is simple capacity. Public shipyards, do we have capacity to maintain 300 ships or 355 . I think we have to take a look at that. I think based on what we see today, one would be inclined to say we dont, but i dont think we can say that with a high degree of accuracy yet. We know that there are inefficiencies. There are yards with dry docks to see if theyre willing to get certified to find excess capacity that exists in the country and tap into it. Im not ready, sir, to give you affirmative answer. I agree it is something we absolutely have to look at if we have to pay to put the ships in the water. When you return to us, two issues. One, can you get a more definitive sense of capacity . Sure. And also related to that, efficiency of the current shipyard to make them more efficient, accommodate more ships if we expand to private yards not part of the process. I think before we go projecting 355 ships, if we cant maintain them, were just we had everything turned around backwards. Final question. This is very critical because of the basic of the navy is to lead with principle and honor, there were some incidents in the past detracted from that core ethic. Whats your assessment where the navy is with respect to core values like leadership, Selfless Service to the nation, protecting subordinates, not exploiting them, things that are called into question in all circumstances, a few times with the navy. In the joint assignment, looking at the navy from the outside, im very optimistic where we are and where were headed. That said, if confirmed as cno, i want to take a deeper look at that. Senator peters asked some hard questions about the community, thats an issue i have to look into. I will say, sir, i am committed to the fact that we need to treat people with dignity and respect, that behavior like whether it is physical violence or Sexual Assault has no place in the navy. Racism has no place in the navy. That Domestic Violence has no place in the navy. That we have to be an organization that recognizes peoples gender, treats them fairly as well as sexual preference. So my commitment to this committee is that i will try and set the best example that i can from the top and that i will lean on our flag officers, kmanlders a kman commanders to ensure this ethos is something we do every day and live with on or off the job. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Admiral, thank you for being here. Congratulations on the nomination. Thanks for many years of distinguished service. Let me cover several issues. One i wanted to say i also share the concern about Fleet Maintenance senator rounds was asking about and others asked you about. I look forward to your responses should you be confirmed to questions he was posing. I would note less than 40 of the navy ships are currently leaving maintenance on time, this is a big problem. Look forward to your further assessment and plan to resolve that. Talk about resilient communication if we could. People Liberation Army says in the event of conflict with this country, would seek to degrade our Communications Infrastructure and seize the information advantage. I am wondering if confirmed what investments you recommend and prioritize to ensure our c 2 architecture withstands or degrades gracefully while under attack. Sir, a couple of priorities. One is that i think we need to move from legacy infrastructure to the cloud, and i think we need to do it fairly quickly. When we do that, thats a partnership with industry. At the end of the day, thats still navy data. If im confirmed as cno, i am still responsible for security of that data. So the relationship i have with industry has to be one that gives me very timely, continuous visibility insecurity of the data, an agreement that the navy can work side by side with that vendor to get after the securit data, an agreement that the navy can work side by side with that vendor to get after the problem. I would say likewise at sea, i think we have work to do with respect to data standardization, with respect to actually developing tactical clouds at sea that we can leverage as well. I am optimistic about the future, committed to taking deeper look at the money on Cyber Defense in the nhl avy, looking at priorities, and beyond networks that we look at weapons systems, control systems with enough detail. What role doctrine in military education might play in enabling our forces to effectively fight in a communication degraded environment . The navy is doing right now, they call it ready relevant learning. What were trying to do in a world thats fast changing with respect to technology, in a service that relies on technology and everything we do in all aspects of our work we are looking at a Continuous Learning process throughout ones career so the brick and mortar schools, they wont completely go away, but we need to know people in the high end technical jobs are well versed in whats going on in industry, and the latest in terms of technology. Thats a challenge we have to get our arms around. Let me ask about emerging Technology Since you mention technology. I support the departments efforts to deploy emerging Technology Like ai. You have spoken to that this morning. I thought admiral richardson made a great point saying we need an evidence based approach, his phrase, when developing and integrating those technologies into the force structure. Curious if youre confirmed, how will you support evidence based approach to requiring and integrating advanced technologies into Naval Force Structure and operations . Yes, sir. I did not see his quote in full context but i think that the scene of the point was if were making investments in technologies like ai into systems like ships and aircraft like the f35, theyre very complex, we have to be deliberate in approach, make sure things are properly tested and modelled before we introduce them to the fleet. That would be my approach as well. I think it is a cutting edge between moving High Technology to the fleet quickly and ensuring that it is mature before introduced to other systems. I am committed to that. Very good. And nds has combat credible forces to deter chinese aggression. In your assessment, what does it look like, mean to have combat credible naval forces posture forward . I think presence makes a difference. That you have to be there to make a difference, you have to be there every day. Our presence in the South China Sea, east china sea, in critical straits like strait of malaka, sends a message about the free indo pacific region, send a strong message to china in commitment with partners in the region that were going to maintain that freedom of the seas in the global commons. Thank you very much, admiral. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Admiral, thank you for your service. Congratulations on your nomination. I will tell you, my dad was also in the navy at age 18. He did not enlist out of high school. He decided the navy was better for him than the last couple months of high school. He fudged a bit and got in. That summer came home on leave in 1949, went out on a blienld date wi blind date with my mom, married two weeks later, she became a navy wife. Thank you for your service as well. As i understand, you have a son going to auburn . I do. He is right behind me. I will tell you, my friends are constantly amazed how many times i say my commitment to bipartisanship being an old alabama guy. Congratulations on coming to alabama and you will enjoy auburn university. Admiral, i would like to ask you about something that commandant burger recently said when he released his Planning Guidance document. It was interesting, he discussed something, what he called composite warfare in which he said the marine corps integration into the fleet via composite warfare will be a prerequisite to successful execution of amphibious operations. Marines cant be passive passengers in route to the amphibious objective area. Can you elaborate on what you see as the composite operations, composite warfare he was discussing, and do you agree with his assessment . Firstly, sir, i agree with his assessment. My conversation with him late last week, one of the things we talked about was doing some experimentation, begins with a war game were both attending in august in newport, rhode island, look at different ways to package capabilities that we have, experiment with new capabilities to integrate them in what we have today, and look at different ways we can approach leveraging cyber and space as well which admittedly we probably need to do a better job of. So i think that as i mentioned before, i think it is a blank canvas to use our imagination, think about how we can do things differently. Thank you. That kind of leads to a question i asked general hiten. China, north korea, iran are becoming more confident in challenging the United States below the level of military conflict, and whats often called the gray zone. With various tools, including cyber, information operations, proxy support, political coercion and other means, does navy have a clear and comprehensive strategy for working with other branches for gray zone competition, anticipating and deterrence . With iran, were doing that right now. So the Response Options weve considered, things were doing right now, we are working together across all services to present options to leadership. And in concert with current policy that we have. So i think that we can always do better and we can always keep at it. But we do work well together. Great. I think thats all i have, mr. Chairman. Thank you, admiral. I look forward to your successful confirmation. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Admiral, thank you for your service. Thank you for your familys service, your dedicated decades of service to the navy, our nation. I intend to strongly support your confirmation. So im going to raise a topic, probably not going to surprise the chairman and senator kaine or you, but it is a serious topic with regard to the arctic and cold weather issues. I know a lot of my colleagues here and a lot of members of the pentagon view this as a bit of a parochial issue, there goes senator sullivan, talking about the arctic because of alaska. We are an arctic nation, have an interest in the arctic because of the fact that alaska is part of the United States. So it is true in that regard. But it is actually not a parochial issue, it is an important issue. If you read the National Defense strategy and look at potential adversaries, china, russia, north korea, they all have one thing in common with regard to Major Military operations. It would be large scale, it would be cold weather, it would be mountainous. Whether air, land or sea. My own view is that were not ready for this. We dont have the capability for this. This is why i raise it all the time. I think theres a lot of facts backing up view. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending how you look at it thats not always been the case. You know, the marine corps with regard to certainly one of the finest moments is the battle of chosen reservoir which most americans dont know about, first marine division, surrounded by 120,000 communist chinese in the mountains. It was 30 below zero, and the marine corps got out with all its wounded, dead, equipment, and ended up crushing the chinese forces. Estimates are that we killed and wounded over 35,000 of them. So, we know how to operate in cold weather. We used to, and have a proud history of it. As we have discussed, admiral, the navy also does. Im proud of the fact that i have five uncles and great uncles who fought in world war ii. My uncle tom was a Navy Lieutenant who did the mermanks and arc angle run. I would like to put the article 50 years later russia honors u. S. Navy sailors and my uncle is actually pictured in that. But as you know, admiral, that was incredibly difficult arctic operations. German u boats trying to sink our ships and convoys. And the u. S. Navy did an amazing job. But what im worried about and i have a reference here if you take a look over there, the navy times article recently is that the bureaucracy and the military just continues to resist the idea of working on arctic issues. So, the navy times this last week, worst orders ever . Is the cover talks about the strategic arctic ports weve been pushing here. We have no capability in the arctic, the navy doesnt. We have dont have any infrastructure. That article highlights the issue but mostly is a bit whiny about how difficult it would be tough to operate in the arctic. Great, tell that to my uncle. We know its tough. We have to be able to do that. I speak to general burger quite a lot about this. Hours really, they put out a new Planning Guidance which i thought was a good documentment but it goes out of its way to say were not going to focus on arctic operations. So, after his confirmation, i was very surprised to see that. So, theres this resistance. And what i fear what i fear has nothing to do with me being a parochial senator from alaska who cares about these issues, were going to have a fight i hope we dont in very cold weather environments whether at sea or in the air or in the mountains, and were not going to be able capable of fighting the way we used to. So, if confirmed, can i get your commitment to work with me, work with this committee, on this very important issue where whether its the navy or the marines or the army, we seem to not want to focus on the ability to operate in extreme cold weather, large scale operations, navy included. We have no icehardened ships right now. We cant do ops in the arctic, and putin wants to own it. Can i get your exit hadment to take that personally seriously and wherever the middle level of the pentagon sludge that is resisting this to work around them to have a force which i support strongly for rebuilding our military in a way that has serious arctic cold weather capabilities and that climb if we need to . Senator, you have my commitment. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Admiral, what im about to say is all from open source information. Im going to demote you for a minute. So, a year from now youre the commander of the gerald ford on patrol off the east coast of ice land. Its early in the morning, and you learn that a Hypersonic Missile has just been launched from her mans k. You have 13 to 15 minutes to react. The missile is traveling 6,000milesperhour. It creates a plasma shield so radar is useless. The only sensor is infrared, and we have inadequate infrared overhead architecture. What do you do . Defend myself as best i can, sir. Its a hypothetical. I have to take a adeeper look at the capabilities that we have and what i could throw up against it. But i have a responsibility to defend we have a responsibility to defend ourselves. And i would take action, whatever action i could take to do that. Admiral, i would suggest that this is a disruptive change in the history of warfare. At the battle in 1415, there were four times as many french as there were english. The english deployed for one of the first times the long bow. It changed the course of european history. This is a similar change, i view. Hypersonic missiles are real. The russias have one called the zir con that is proposed to be deployed next year. The chinese are very close behind. We are whoafully inadequate both the in terms of developing this capability ourselves but more particularly in coping with it. As i mentioned, radar is useless. Infrared sensors is the only way to track. And by the way, these missiles not only travel 6,000milesperhour, they are maneuverable. So, theyre not as easy to hit as a Ballistic Missile with a clear and direct trajectory. I believe this is a place where we have really fallen short. And im not talking to you particularly. Im talking about the entire defensive establishment. Were doing research now, but this is an asymmetric vulnerability that we have to address and do so in a hurry. In the long run, probably the only real defense against this awful weapon is and by the way, these weapons can carry Nuclear War Heads is deterrence. But the estimate from the technologists and the pentagon is we wont be prepared to field our own anything close or defensive measures the until the mid2020s. The only deterrence is if you have an equal capacity and can inform your adversary. And therefore they wont attack. This is a very dangerous situation in my view that i dont think and i dont im not sounding virtuous here. I dont think any of us have really fully grasped the implications. Weve talked about hypersonics. But when youre talking about something coming 6,000milesperhour that you cant see that could have a new clear war head thats maneuverable, thats a nightmare weapon. Yes, sir, i agree. I hope as you take on this can render unless we can solve this problem, it renders Aircraft Carriers obsolete. Every Aircraft Carrier we own could disappear in a coordinated attack. And it is a matter of minutes. Mermansk to the Norwegian Sea is 12 minutes at 6,000milesperhour. I hope you take on a sense of urgency to the navy and the research and the private sector that this has to be urgent because otherwise were creating a vulnerability that could itself lead to instability. Yes, sir. Ive been very serious. I want to move to a slightly different topic. Sure. In your questions for the record, you indicated that you thought it was in the National Interest to seed to the law of the sea convention. Could you tell me why you think thats the case . Its long been customary for the United States to recognize the provisions of the un law of the sea that applied to both freedom of navigation as well as yofr sight. It would be by intention to follow that. If were just following it and not members of the convention, were missing out on the opportunity to participate at the table. For example, when the russians are trying to blush where the lines are in the arctic, thats correct, isnt it . Yes, sir. Sir, if that comes up for it is a complex policy issue with respect to whether or not we agree to sign on to that treaty. I would provide my best advices to civilian leadership. I would study that issue and provide my best advice. I take it your best advice is reflected in your qfr where we said we need to do this. Thats my feeling that is we continue to follow the provisions. Youre saying two different things. Youre saying yes, we follow it. But i thought your answer was yes, we should go to the table. Yes, sir, it was. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. All right. Thank you. Im glad you brought up hypersonics. So many times youve heard me talk about the fact that theres an assumption out there in america that we have the best of everything. And hypersonic, thats all experimental. Weve been working on that. But its my understanding that up to about ten years ago, we were kind of leading. But clearly now, and i have some pretty good evidence that kind of convinces me that both china and russia are probably you could argue are ahead of us right now. And what you bring up, yeah, its a nightmare, but its something thats out there. I worry about things like that. I quit worrying about me years ago. But ive got 20 kids and grand kids so i do worry about the very thing you bring up. I have another issue i would like to bring up. Admiral, when you were questioned by senator king, i came up with the interpretation of your response talking about the u. S. S gerald ford and the ford class that its pretty much everything is going along pretty well right now except theyre not quite there on the elevators. Did i misunderstand you . Sir, i think that the elevators are the biggest challenge right now. The biggest challenge. But thats not what i heard you say. Sir, what i was trying to explain was that there are three other technologies that were also immature at the time the ship delivered in 2017. That was the launching year, the arresting year, and the radar. I understand. We have seen significant improvements in the reliability of those three systems. And what i was trying to underscore, i was trying to underscore the point that the elevators remain a significant challenge. Well, no, i understand that. But isnt it help me to understand. Its been back in port now for about a year. Im talking about the uss gerald ford. And they were out for a period of about a year, and thats when you did some of the testing. Whats the proper terminology for that kind of testing . Yes, sir. Thats the shakedown testing that theyre doing after delivery. Yeah. And they did about 750 nernst, 740 launches. 747 launches. Now, they had a according to the director of the im trying to read my writing here the testing evaluation Operational Testing evaluation that it was about every 75 cycles there was a critical failure. Thats my understanding. And the navys own requirement on the catapult is once every 4,000 and on the arresting year, once every 10,000 cycles. Am i correct . Sir, im not familiar with that detail testing data. K o. But its several thousand. That is correct, by the way. 4,000 and 10,000 respectively. And i my concern there is first of all that same Evaluation Board said that they havent done anything on the radar right now. So, thats something that is i would put that in the category of untested at this time. Sir, my understanding is that the reliability rates and the operation of that radar is close to 99 . I dont have the Details Behind the testing that was done in order to produce that figure, but i would be happy to come back to you, sir, with those details. I want to do that. I would like to have you come back to me with that because i stumbled on this and i spent some time down there. And i my reason for being concerned had more to do with source and other problems that we have. And of course i listed all of that in my opening statement, how much overbudget and all of this stuff, how much longer its going to take, and the secretarys response to that and the fact that theyre convinced this were going to have the elevator situation taken care of. And i want to make sure that this record of this meeting doesnt go on to imply that the only problem that we have out there is with the elevators that lift the ordinance into an operational position, that that would be it because in fact, if its been one every 75 a critical failure every 75 cycles during that period that it was out there and the navys own requirement is 4,000 on the catapult and 10,000 times on the arresting year, then i would say that we have an equal problem there. Its not just the problem of the elevator. Senator, i would like to take a look at that data in more detail and get back to you quickly with a better response. Well, i appreciate that. But i want to be sure that this record thats being taken right now of this event that were going through doesnt somehow give that. I know that theres of course, the senator from virginia thats located in virginia, so he has a different view perhaps, than i do. But i want to make sure that we are not operating continuing to operate where we have the failures, the deployment, the premature deployment. You know, when i found out that after all the problems that were there that they had had a second order, you know, i just wonder where have i been during all of this time. So, i want to make sure that and i want to make sure right now that the records going to reflect that there are problems beyond just the elevator. And those problems have to do with the arresting year, having to do with the catapult, and the radar. Am i unreasonable to have this record reflected that way . No, sir, not at all. Okay. I say this in a friendly way. You have a wonderful family. I hate to look at families and be critical. But i just want you to know that im very much supportive of your confirmation. But thats an area that i would like to have you come out and maybe even have a some type of a hearing or meeting on this that could be public as to where we are today and the problems that still exist on that particular piece of equipment. Yes, sir. All right. Senator blumenthal. Lets see, i think did we have king already . Yeah, we did. Blumenthal, youre on. Thank you, senator. Thank you, admiral, for your service and your familys as well over a very long and distinguished career. I want to just pursue the line of questioning that senator inhofe raised. I dont know how i go back to my con si constituents and all of us to the American People and make the case for the ford and others in its class that may follow it after the cost overruns and delays that weve seen and also the continued questions about whether Aircraft Carriers make sense in todays military environment. So, i would just respectfully suggest now or in your answers to questions afterward that the navy might better explain to the American People why this class of weapons platforms has continued value that justifies the cost. Its not just that we might like to have another Aircraft Carrier. But theyre pretty expensive. Yes, sir. You can buy a few submarine oris more for the cost of that Aircraft Carrier. And you testified earlier and the entire navy has been commend bli supportive of our undersea warfare capability. But i would just suggest that that case will have to be made to the American People. Yes, sir, i understand. I want to focus, for the moment, on a topic that was raised by senator tillis and senator reed very briefly. Military housing. Going from very hightech to nontech, but very important to the morale of our navy and military families and having a wonderful military family as you do two of my sons served but neither were married and neither used military housing. But we all know people who depend on it. In fact i visited the navy subbase in new london a couple times over the last few months to see the issues that are raised there on private housing programs. And what i saw, and frankly i might not have seen it at all but for some of the reporting, the public reporting and the families themselves who raised it, was really pretty disturbing and led me to support and advance a bill of rights, a tenants bill of rights im sure youre familiar with it to implement a standard dispute process across all military installations, enable families to withhold housing if the private owners are not accountable, an important step to empowering tenants and local commanders as well to hold these Privatized Housing Companies Accountable when they abdicate or disregard their responsibility. I would like your commitment that you will strongly support those measures which are now in the mbaa for this year and ask you what you will do to ensure proper oversight. Yes, sir. I agree it is a very, very serious issue. And it goes back to my opening comments that goes back to the fact that the strength of the navy ultimately relies on the strength of their families. A high per scentage of our sails are married. It comes back to oversight that needs to be provided. Weve taken our eye off the ball over a number of years as we outsourced not only the function but the we try to just ignore the responsibility and the risk involved to some of those families with respect to health issues. I spoke with the commander of Navy Installations command yesterday at length about the things were doing now to ensure that we have visibility on every trouble call, that we understand what the progress is, what the feedback is from the customer, that we are making contact with every Single Family at those bases, and we need to continue to sustain that. So, yes, sir, you have my commitment that i will handle this issue seriously. Thank you, very much, admiral. I will be supporting as well your nomination as im sure the majority of your colleagues will. And i wish you good luck and thank you very much for your service. Thank you, senator. I would ask if there are any further questions or comments to be made to our witness . And hearing none, we appreciate it very much and i will look forward to that report because its something that i think he said it right. While i disagree with the senators comments about whether or not we have a need for Aircraft Carriers, but its the cost. Its the sole source problem. Its the delays. And i would like to get into that with a lot more detail because thats kind of our job, you know . Yes, sir. So, if we would do that, that would be very helpful. And i look forward to working with you in the future and get you confirmed. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. This afternoon on cspan 3, the Senate Commerce science and Transportation Committee holds a hearing on positive train control which is dedesigned to automatically ostop a train to prevent crashes and derailments. The committee will hear from the federal railroad. Available online at cspan. Org or you can listen with the free cspan radio app. This weekend on American History tv saturday at 8 00 p. M. On lectures in history, comparisons between Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson on the constitution. Take a look at the whole cartoon, its a very different impression of what people thought of johnson and the constitution at the time, not that he was a defender but that he did not understand the constitution, it was above his ability, and that he was acting in unconstitutional ways. Sunday at 6 00 on american artifacts, a preview of the 19th amendment exhibit at the national archives. Women in new jersey who were americas first voters beginning in 1776 when new jersey became a state, new jersey the new jersey state constitution made no mention of sex when discussing voting qualifications. It only had a property requirement. So, women who owned enough property, primarily widows and single women, so not all women in new jersey, could and did vote in elections at the local state and national level. And at 8 00 p. M. On the presidency, author john farrell talks about nixons early life and career. He campaigned for the marshall plan. He went to every rotary club, every chamber of commerce, every vfw and American Legion hall, every crowd that would take him. He told them he owed them his best judgment, not his obedience. And he convinced them. When the Party Primaries were held in 1948, Richard Nixon did not just win the republican nomination. He won the democratic nomination. He wagered everything and carried the day. Explore our nations past on American History tv every weekend on cspan 3