Transcripts For CSPAN3 Hearing 20240703

Committee what this is just under two hours. [inaudible] good morning. Testimony from gregory and commander north American Aerospace temp command and richardson. Evacuate nonessential personnel. This involves both of your commands to various degrees and resources in support to respond. National security as principal command. The first priorities outlined in the National Defense strategy is defending the homeland, thats posed by the people china. As we see threats from other competitors, unconfident the common defense evolved. The defense policy guidance this challenge and when asked for an update and how it will transform the department from of the urgency estimates over the past year with the chinese surveillance balloons and other unidentified phenomena in this case. These events raise concerns they may have an awareness and it must be secured to protect citizens technologies to provide protection. Id be no caps and what additional tools and resources are needed to overcome them. The u. S. Law enforcement for cartels engaged Human Trafficking success Security Cooperation and the harm he had navy and working supporting the home and security. Turning to Southern Command, there going challenges from china and russia in latin america. The political and economic instability present a situation adversaries are white. China in particular is expanding the structure and 5g expanding network. Im interested in your assessment challenge with your latin america. The outcomes support transnational they are contravening to Overdose Deaths each year. The nations and other in these efforts and resources. You know security throughout his contribute to the flow of migrants. Economic instability among violence and corruption continues to be a major source and security in the region especially the northern triangle, guatemala and el salvador. Id like to know your views what can be done to help and prove the situation. Thank you to our witnesses and i look forward to your testimony and as a reminder, there will be a closed session following this hearing. Thank you and i want to thank our witnesses for being with us here. She clearly china and russia for these vulnerabilities at home and the western hemisphere in the 2022 National Defense strategy defense is a top priority a year end a half ago the Biden Administration has not matched that goal. Year after year the Biden Administration declined to punch the request for the radars for proper air defense and they remain unable to protect against small drones. This presents a clear and significant vulnerability. Wargames to ignore resilience problems that arise in a potential conflict. The Biden Administration is to learn from its mistakes. Last year surveillance chinese blimp labs for last years defenses and a senior at Biden Administration officials responded congressional oversight ossified informationweek. They declined to production this defense value they finally did so with this committee mandating it and presided over distinguished chair. The spy balloon was a failure of the most pressing, defense crisis is the one of the southwest border. And the supply texaco using chinese precursor chemicals and mexicos criminal cartel, the crisis can only worsen. The cartels are unprecedented in trafficking operation across our open border and it is lucrative charging thousands and it is severe and so is the risk of terrorist infiltration. Cnn reported Human Smuggling Network with ties to isis helped more than a dozen individuals enter our country illegally. In october, two iranians on the Security Threat list were caught as they cross the border from mexico. General, i recognize agencies responsibility of the southwest border and the dod is one of them. Explain the contributions included. We have challenges concerns about the chinese but in central and south america the Chinese Communist party using this playbook that predatory threats to influence government. Simultaneously it enhances its military presence and limits access. Its happening right here and we cannot ignore it. Two quick examples two underscore making latin america dependent for Communications Technology something tried to do an hour entry incentives economic influence camping. I look forward to hearing how they directly impact stability of the region the threat they pose during National Security. How important is it . There other influences, maduro asserted provocative extraterritorial claim sovereignty over a large portion of the neighboring nation of iona. This is so close is struggling troubling is the mismatch the requirements and resources received. We need to find ways to exert influence. For example, lets explore Strategic Capital i look forward general assessment of the most pressing resources and immediate to learn what congress can do to help. I note your name rhymes with cuba, is that right . We expect both of you to live up to these. Thank you. Distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. It is my honor to represent the men and women of the Aerospace Defense command. As we, Canadian Military and personnel are dependent, against events for multiple doctors and all domains. Only been in command a few weeks, it is clear the United States and canada and network of partners based extraordinarily complex strategic environment. Editors advanced kinetic systems designed for civilian and military infrastructure in north america and threshold. Competitors probably advanced these capabilities targeting our infrastructure and networks. Threats present in all domains and they include the arctic region. He remains a challenge and modernizes and grows the modern submarine of Hypersonic Weapons presenting challenges for Homeland Defense. While capabilities are a capability, its an immediate nationstate concern. Significant capacity to strike inside north america with air and sea lost conventional weapons. Despite having lost and forces in ukraine pressing in systems that can threaten the United States and advanced submarines, hypersonic vehicles, icbms as well as cyber and undersea capabilities as well as development of systems for Nuclear Power cruise missile. Meanwhile north korea continues frederick while test launching longrange expanding ties with china and russia. Currently lack and capable district north america with longrange missiles investing in the capability and iran supports militant groups in the middle east and maintains Worldwide Network of operational surrogates. The most prevalent growing threats include cyber small Unmanned Aerial Systems employed until the u. S. And canada against military infrastructure in ways not possible a few years ago. defense well beyond north america. Both commands are working in congress to improve awareness to detect, track and defeat threats ranging small Unmanned Aerial Systems. North america is an endeavor that requires to campaign against threats and all domains among these approaches that requires exchange of information conventional Operations Forces and Intelligence Community in interagency and international partners. The importance of this cannot be overstated and a support the departments work to advance the joint command and control concepts as we seek to share information as quickly as possible with operators and decisionmakers around the world. A 90 day assessment through the Department Joint force and congress to execute a task and make recommendations on where commands could or should do more. Look forward to sharing findings on how they will best see the mission of, defense. The challenges are real but there should be no doubt about the result to deter aggression and if necessary, defeat threats to our citizens. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you this morning and am happy to answer your questions. Distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to be with you today. Im honored to represent the dedicated men and women to discuss the challenges we share with our neighbors in the caribbean. National Security Strategy recognizes the link between this security and our own security. We are harnessing the power of partnership from team usa in support of democracy leveraging all instruments of national power. The clumsy, information, military and economics are partnering nations addressing the challenges that impact our collective security. Our shared neighborhood remains in crosscutting and challenges that are homeland. A call to action. In almost two and half years ive made it my priority to meet partners where they are and listen and understand what affects us all. Partners in the western hemisphere with whom we are bonded by trade and valued, democratic traditions and family ties increasingly impacted by coercion. Im learned our presence matters. The peoples republic of china and democracy in the national secret, intellectual property and Research Related to agriculture and healthcare. The scope and scale is unprecedented. An initiative aimed at power and influence at the expense of the world democracies. The potential to fuel the world. Theyve already and is already extracting and exploiting. Predatory investment practices construction of these facilities and summer activities for a few of the activities that jeopardize the safety of the region. Russia remains an acute threat and bolstering regimes and cuba, nicaragua and venezuela. China, russia and iran increase their presence diplomatically and militarily in the region and these undermine democracies and challenge their credibility. China and russia exploit the presence of Transnational Criminal Organizations and amplify destabilizing governments. The topic weapons, drugs and people and commodities counterfeit goods judy to the surge of functional related deaths here at home. The good news is working with partners leading to the best defense all available levers to strengthen partnership with the 28 likeminded democracies in the hemisphere to understand the power of working together to counter these shared threats. United states remains preferred most trusted Security Partner in the region. We trust investment and Security Cooperation programs to train and equip our partners in military security versus and joint exercise programs to build interoperability and Development Employment of emerging technology. We maximize resources allocated by the States International military education and Training Programs for military financing and building interoperability and counterbalance military engagement and investment. The National Defense strategy states immense benefits from a stable, peaceful and democratic western hemisphere and reduces Security Threats to the homeland. Continuing to innovate and adapt putting deterrence interaction everyday. Committed to working across allies and partners, combatant command, joint force and nonfederal agencies and u. S. Congress. His safety, security and prosperity in the western hemisphere. This is the work promised as part of team usa and Team Democracy and resourcing this team. And the power of our United States conference i look forward to your question. After all, in the record. [applause] let me say gaseous we have had unmanned vehicles, cost cod developed procedures for commanders dealing with these . They could show up minutes for the would penetrate the space. A system deal with them . Shortly after command, i realize the challenge of the large increase something that would drive in command because of a number. The services do have authorities but will remains to be done to ensure resources are equipped and standardized operating procedures to address the threats and what remains to be done to use capability second safely without interfering with our airspace structure. At this time there is not a designated role but at the end of the 90 days i will show ways that it could and should play that role. That would involve other agencies such as the department of justice and fbi, Homeland Security. Working at the agency level. They have authorities now and we would need to bring them together so we bring each capability together against these incursion threats. On march 10 we sent in the agency and there is the secretary of defense 200 million for security for the common, could you give us your sense of the implications the United States and the region . Thank you for the question certainly the u. S. Outcomes have a lot of wide range or whatever is required for the department of defense so over the conducted commissions theyve been widely publicized the actions that would take place for disease across the globe in the situation has been deteriorating so the announcement will in the political initiations the past couple days so the political solution working and hopefully that continues on a positive path but if not, contingency plans are ready to respond. Pointed out mayo by china and russia, one of the leading edges of China Economic ports and getting underway there willingness or eagerness to acquire more interest and i understand they passed legislation to authorize United States to buy the shares. The chinese speed is out, without be a problem . That would be a problem in the american prosperity of partnership for Economic Prosperity and where they hosted the heads of state and this would be and invest in Critical Infrastructure for the American Development bank and the finance corporation so to purchase those shares is been established in 1959 in the region. We dont move, the chinese will. Exactly right. Lets just say venezuelan president nicholas mindoro established control over the contested region in this lien and the region accounts for two thirds of the territory, how has this impacted the security of the region and the fact that venezuela has armored carriers . And activities that are taking against this democracy with an unjustified claim. And so our support for guyana were shown that from the u. S. Government, and through all the instruments of national power, the diplomacy, the military and certainly do you have directions from the white house, from their superiors in the department as to what we should do . So as we work my engagements and what we do with Security Cooperation, we have a very robust plan with guyana and we continued on that on ths been coordinated with our u. S. Government. Can you briefly describe the plant . It consists of visits by folks within my command, and the engagements that we do, the exercises, the subject matter exchanges. We continue with all of those, not trying to exacerbate the situation but continued on path with our regular engagement that a been scheduled, and we have not halted any of that. Is the International Community assisting us in that regard . The International Community is very much assisting, and i was a our allies, part of a western hemisphere framework that we cited u. S. South, with a allies that work in the region, the uk, canada, the netherlands and also france. So as a Work Together to coordinate our activity they also have activities and engagement they do in the region and are doing in guyana of those also coordinated. Thank you very much. Let me switch the general guillot. Deployment of National Guard troops on the border. I think maybe a lot of americans dont understand how often we do this. But its worsen considerably. The program is that the lead agency but it has deployed troops there in in in 18e previous 21 years. Theyre called temporary deployments but its beginning to look like permanent. There is a difference in the way we do deploy and notify these units, is there not, in the sense that if its a temporary deployment, thicket 180 days notice in advance. If its a regular employment it is a year and half. So could you discuss that with us . Is my understanding correct . Unison is correct. The primary difference that we see in Northern Command is we are in sport as you mentioned so, therefore, we wait for the request from the lead agency, in this case customs and Border Protection, and request for assistance that is reviewed and then has boldly been approved by the department of defense at that point we can start trying to match to the joint staff and the National Guard, the Quick Connect to support that based on the needs that are in that request for assistance. As you alluded to would it be helpful if we treated it as a permanent deployment . Senator, i think more than treating it as a permanent deployment would be early notification of the requirements dixons those changed that allows us to tailor the National Guard force to meet the changing requirements of the customer Border Protection. Where as if we had a permanent force we might have permanently the wrong type of unit to support. However, to your point, what we established and we must maintain is having a permanent commandandcontrol structure over there so we have continuity and predictability and how we present the forces and work with the customs and Border Protection. Do we need to give you different authority in that regard, or is it just a matter of the department . Senator, im sorry. Senator, with the authorities we need come to thing that we would most benefit from as you alluded to is time, time to pick and train and prepare the National Guard units that are going to down there and support the cbp. To both of you, tell us what you need, will try to get it for you. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much, senator wicker. Senator king it. Thank you, mr. Chairman. In my notes since you been talking ive written the word gap about five times some going to talk about gaps. General guillot, do you have a sensor gap at norad . We learn more from fails and we do from successes. What did we learn from the balloon incursion about the adequacy of our sensors, which is essentially the basis of norad . Senator, was learned a great deal. To the gaps, what we have we had some gaps in the lyric approach we wanted to build to detect with tomato winners from satellite data to traditional air. One of the problems is low altitude, is speedy thats right although it unto the serpent and even the undersea. We were able to address many of those on initiatives that were started by my predecessor, general vanherck by changing the sensitivity of the radars that we do have. And that has allowed us to have better domain awareness in that regime that you mentioned. However, there are some gaps that will be manifesting in the near future. Those are currently scheduled to be addressed by the over the horizon radar, ivey hbts s s h is a hypersonic and Ballistic Missile tracking base system. Those capabilities are essential to fill gaps that are growing because of the increase capability of the absurd. I would suggest that is an urgent need, given expense we had but also given the incredible militarization of the arctic coast by russia. And the development of technology, although sinks added together create a significant risk i hope you can come to us with what you need because this is something we need to do in a hurry. We cant wait five years to develop this capacity. We also have an icebreaker gap in terms of our ability to operate in the arctic as he arctic ocean opens up its become as images more militarized by the russians and a much more important body of water. Its like weve said he discovered the mediterranean sea. Talk to me about icebreakers. We only have one and half icebreakers, heavy icebreakers in the arctic. Thats correct, senator, and that is, we are severely outnumbered. We appreciate the coast guard. I would say 421 is outnumbered. Thats approximate number the russians have. And the chinese declaring themselves in your arctic nation. I notice when the chinese to clothe themselves and your arctic nation, my position is that maine is a near caribbean state. [laughing] i share your view, sir. We do appreciate that the coast guard is procuring more icebreakers but even with those will be severely outnumbered, and that this limit our freedom of maneuver in that region. Its basically like not hitting the road to get to where you need to get. General richardson, lets talk about another gap, drugs. Since weve been sitting here about ten americans have died of Drug Overdose just since we began this meeting 45 minutes ago. One a day is one person a y is dying in my home state of maine. Do you have the capacity to interdict drug shipments coming in by sea that we know of . Ive asked this question every year for about the past ten years and am afraid i know the answer. Senator, so in u. S. Southcom we have detection Monitoring Mission and that is to gain the intelligence for speedy i shouldnt say you have the capacity. Do we, does a country. You have could traffic capacity for intelligence and a defecation. My concern is once we know about the dangers shipment, then do we have the capacity to interdict it . So we passed that intelligence over to Law Enforcement or partner nations added to bent on whose close enough to do that. Answer in terms of the capacity we anticipate we are able to, know is out there, interdict about 10 of the known problem. And with the resourcing and capabilities that we currently are given. Have emphasized that figure to our colleagues. We can interdict 10 of what we know of. Thats inexcusable. I dont mean to say its inexcusable to you but one of the problems that strikes me is when everybody is in charge, nobody is in charge. You got yourself, dea, dhs, Intelligence Community. And the problem is americans are dying. In about every ten days we have september 11. 3000 people people die in this country every ten days, and use the the word in your testimony, assault. Thats what it is. Its an assault over united oves a kind of domestic Law Enforcement problem when its an assault since most of it is coming from outside of our country. So i hope that you will work with your colleagues perhaps for mccaskey group to get after this problem of interdiction. And if we dont have capacity, if we dont have enough coast guard cutters or do you just doesnt have the capacity, tell us. Tell us because we cant solve a problem if we dont know what it is. We know the general shape of the problem but you are in a position to tell us whats missing and what you can do in order to help protect this country. Senator, i would offer that we cant interdict our way out of this problem. Weve got to be able to go after the networks. Weve got to be able to go after the drug labs we got to be able to follow the money, and the Money Laundering which is fueling this a very rich environment that the Transnational Criminal Organization speedy i grieve your way to talk about the demand side. In treatment and prevention. I told agree with that but this is a discrete problem that i think we do have some capacity to deal with. Final question. This isnt about a gap, what is your overall assessment of the chinese incursion into latin america . Specifically, they have been doing this for some time doing Infrastructure Projects in other parts of the world. Theres some development of buyers remorse that the chinese have performed as they were expected, that the debt colonialism is becoming a problem. Is that occurring in latin america, in your view. Was absolutely senator, and my concern as a Combatant Commander for the region and 22 of 31 countries in the region have signed on to the belt and road initiative. But its all investment, a lot of investment in Critical Infrastructure where the bigmoney projects are. Thats deep water port, 5g space, safe city, smarts the technology to be able to spy on the populations. And so its with these Stateowned Enterprises from the prc, and my concern is being able to use those for military application if required and its an all of the Critical Infrastructure. Thank you. Senator fischer place. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank you both for being here today. General guillot, the pressure our discussion thats on the challenges of detecting, characterizing and tracking potential threats to our homeland. And most americans are fully aware of of the incident with the chinese balloon, but northcom has other responsibilities as well, especially with protecting the homeland from the more advanced threats that are out there which would include ballistic and cruise missiles. Why is having that improved domain awareness, which is the ability to detect and track the threats and also to provide a clear threat picture of whats out there and to be able to discriminate what youre seeing . Why is that so important to defending our homeland . Senator, its important because it gives us time, time to inform leaders to make decisions and enact defeat mechanisms to defeat these threats that are coming in. You mentioned the discrimination capability as the threat becomes more advanced and they can put at decoys. We could needlessly shoot test test test test test test test test test es, detect earli, characterizing earlier as you mention swing more time to employ the defense capabilities that we have. Are we moving quickly enough . Senator, right on, right on the edge. I think that we are moving quickly and appreciate all the support from this body and the services, but we cant pause at all because the adversaries and multiple adversaries, not just one, are growing very, very quickly and it really is at an alarming rate. I am concerned about what we are seeing in the president s budget request for fy 20205. Administration decreases spending for the glide phase interceptor program, and its stating its going to be delivered in 2035, yet in the ndaa of fy 24 in section 1666, that requires the Missile Defense agency to achieve an initial Operational Capability of that program by december 31, 2029. How to respond to my concern . Senator, my response is that i view hypersonics as perhaps the most destabilizing threat that we have out there because of the fast speed, and more than that the maneuverability and unpredictability on what it will impact as opposed to a Ballistic Missile which is fairly predictable. Ive worked very closely in my short time with ndaa. Please with some of the efforts they are doing to intercept in the glide phase and then also using existing systems such as the sm sex to adapt against that threat. And also very pleased with the ndaa is doing with the hbtss, the satellite capability to detect and track hypersonics. Just yesterday we heard from a Senior Analyst with the national air and space intelligence center. He told congress court, china now a world leading hypersonic arsenal. So given the pace we are seeing with russia and with china if they advance their Hypersonic Weapons programs, should the department accelerate the development of those hypersonic Defense Systems . Really when it is technically feasible to do so. Senator, i support moving all of our capabilities against the strategic threat you mentioned as far left as possible based on the growing and consistently going capabilities of her avaricious. Thank you. General richardson, thank you for all the work that you have done and your service to this country. When we talk about china and the belt and road initiatives, you answered senator kaine on that, but when youre looking at the longerterm strategies that china has in the buying that they continue to do in your area of responsibility, how serious a threat is that . I look at it as a series threat because of the ability of the state owned, controlled by the government companies. If i just take the panama canal and the five state owned enterprise along either side of the panama canal, and thats a very important strategic line of communication. And so there are a lot of large implications there in terms of in all the Critical Infrastructure, the water por, the 5g space, safe city, smart city technology. So very concerning. Thank you. And thank you, general guillot, you made comments i think was yesterday before the house committee, or two days ago before the House Armed Services committee, about seeing the possibility of seeing in the very near future chinese aircraft in closeness to our homeland. I thank you for bringing that to our attention. Thank you, senator fischer. Senator hirono, please. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you both for being here. General guillot, i remain concerned about the dods missiledefense posture, and that dods us not have a plan to address the current and future missiledefense needs of hawaii. Its an issue i have brought up with just about anybody who comes to testify from the dod. In in the 2024 ndaa directs a n or the Missile Defense of the wife which indopacom is leading. General, your predecessor tony last year that northcom is responsible for protecting hawaii against Ballistic Missile threats from north korea but, of course, we also need to concern ourselves with the missile threats, cruise missiles and hypersonics. Have you been coordinating with indopacom regarding the development of the missiledefense plan . Senator, i have. We work very closely with indopacom on all defense of our entire homeland. I also agree with the characterization that general vanherck did on our specific role in that. So i have some concerns that there are so many different commands involved in the missiledefense of hawaii. Missiledefense in general. So we have you. We have, indopacom, space come, stratcom, missiledefense agency. You have some concerns about how all of your core needing and come up with the kind of plant that we need for missiledefense . Senator, i think that we communicate very well with each other. I think that we all understand the priorities and so i havent seen any place where having multiple agencies responsible for a common area presented femur challenge but im very acutely aware of the potential and i watch for that very closely. The ndaa as a mention to rex a plan from indopacom, so that plan is going to be presented to us i hope my next month, which is the timeframe for that plan. I assume that plan will reflect the coordinated input from all of you. General richardson, china is building a deep water port in peru that is expected to open this the firm and will be the first south american port controlled by china. This is just one example of chinas growing influence in latin america through economic ties, controlling Critical Minerals and establishing port and space facilities. This presents a unique risk to u. S. National security and global order. General, what changes are you seeing in the region as result of the growing influence of the prc and what steps are you taking to counter chinas influence in latin america . So thank you, senator, and we have double down with the increase of funding last you from the United States congress, us and southcom and africom received some defense funny the way to Security Cooperations, programs and that also with flexible authorities come so that was extremely helpful. And it allows us to be very responsive in terms of being able to help our partner nations, to counter the influence of china. And so what to thank you for that. Our ability to be able to respond and be responsive, these heads of state are general and the seat for one term for years so the working on a stopwatch, not a calendar and there cant show progress within months, not years. Really appreciate that resourcing. So you mentioned that we have provide additional resources. You think that we doing enough to counter . Because china is from my perspective it were at a specialist course in the indopacific area. We know what their influences are in with the Pacific Island nation, for example. Another in latin america. Are we doing enough to really address all of the kind of longterm focus that china has the route so, senator, through all of the instruments of power of team usa and bring you those together and synchronizing and integrating better, the chairman brought up the American Partnership for Economic Prosperity and the iddm in this program that through the initial program to invest in the western hemisphere is huge. And its just the start i would recommend that that is something very similar, this program come to the economic recovery act of 1948, which was so instrumental in terms of the economic recovery. And they see that the economic recovery for the region due to the impacts of covid, what it did to the economys of the region, and know the Transnational Criminal Organizations taking advantage of this. So this is a first start with this 11 heads of state from latin america that were here in washington in november of 23 for this program that was holding out billions of dollars for Critical Infrastructure investment by the user government. So were on a very dashing u. S. Government. With our latin american leaders with this economic investment. I would say National Security on the economic security. We can do more and through this program if we can build this out we would be on a good path with our partners in our shared neighborhood so close to her homeland. Well, that aspect of working with our latin American Allies i think is really critical because thats what were doing in the area. If i could ask one more question related to some questions from senator king . Keep it short, ill keep it short. You mention that regarding that the interdiction of drugs, that it requires us to Pay Attention to some other aspects such as going after these criminal forces. Is there an Intergovernmental Task force of some sort that you are all working together, the weekly dod, doj, coast guard to counter the drug threat . We are working together. I would say that we need to, that needs to be more focused, more resourcing on this particular grouping to get after the problem sets. And i would say from the moneylaundering to the drug labs and following where, not just the small semisubmersible that has, thats loaded with counternarcotics, but actually getting to where its produced in getting in there. So the work weve done in colombia has been very effective. But the amounts are only increasing, and so weve got to figure out, weve got to follow this money and we got to get after these tcos as a holistic, more filled out robust program. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator rounds has yielded to senator budd. Store but, please. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator rounds for yielding. General guillot thank you both for being here by the way. Its my understanding been a lot of incursions along our southern border. How many drone incursions have had . And what are they doing . Its my understanding there have been a lot of drone incursions along the southern border. How many drone incursions have we had, and what are they doing . Senator, the number of incursions was something that was alarming to me when i took command last month. I dont know the actual number. I dont think anyone does but it is in the thousands. Ive talked to customs and Border Protections who is responsible for the border along with the doj and they have put the number at thousands. Over what period of time is thousands . I would say probably over a month. Probably over a thousand a month. General, in your view, do they represent a Homeland Defense threat . Senator, they alarm me. Being the person responsible for Homeland Defense, i havent seen them at the level of a National Threat but i see it growing. General, continuing on with a different topic, do you consider the strike eagle to be an acceptable aircraft . Are there characteristics that make it ideal for Homeland Defense . Senator, the strike eagle is a phenomenal aircraft. What makes it applicable in our theater is the same thing that makes it applicable around the world, versatility. In many ways it is unmatched and unmatched air to air. Has a phenomenal radar. It is electrically scanned which allows it to pick out low , slow, moving and radar Cross Section such as drones and other threats like cruise missiles, so the strike eagle is a fantastic aircraft. In its fiscal year 2025 budget, the air force plans to divest Strike Eagles at the same time it is buying less than expected f35 and other fighters, so its got me concerned not just for Homeland Defense and the descriptions you shared a moment ago but including potential conflict with china. Also for responses to other geographic combatant commands, so if you would agree to keep your eye on that and share with us concerns as they arise related to the f15. I will, senator. Changing topics, you mentioned tco a minute ago. Like the mexican drug cartels, they often move not just drugs and illegal sentinel, but they move people. Many activities proceed without interruption in both of your areas of responsibility. 1068 of the fiscal year 2024 requires the secretary of defense to submit a plan for coordinating with defense partners in north and south america and supporting inter Agency Departments to counter Human Trafficking including Human Trafficking by these tcos. Have either of you been consulted on developing that plan . General richardson, i will start with you. We work migration every day in United States Southern Command and for this past year with the trilateral agreement the United States government signed with panama and columbia, so we are aware of the migration. General, if i may, beyond general awareness, the secretary of defense must submit a plan. Are you working on that . Not specifically for the department of defense. Staff will be working on that. Senator, we are not working directly. We are in support of the department. Not to you, but the department of defense and the secretary, that is disappointing so i would like to follow up with you and the department on this to make sure that begins to implemented so we can stop the illegal flow of deadly fentanyl and other drugs and the deadly trafficking of humans. Its big business for the cartels and its leading to across the hemisphere. What other efforts are already underway with you or your partners to address Human Trafficking . General richardson . Thank you, senator. I am not aware the report is not the report could very well be along its way. We just are not actively working on it from our levels and a lot of times staff and ost will work those things to allow us to continue to execute our daily missions, but we are working very closely because i have the dairy and in my ao are, a huge Human Trafficking area. Youre exactly right in terms of the criminal organizations, theyve only gotten more powerful. 300 billion annual revenue business. They traffic humans, drugs, gold , lithium, all kinds of counterfeit goods. And so, only getting more powerful, so the work we do the columbia military will go after the criminal networks doing these criminal activities as well as the panama Border Forces going after the criminal networks in panama. In the interest of time, general, i yield but i would love to continue these discussions offline on the efforts of Human Trafficking. Thank you, senator budd. Thank you, chairman. Senator guillot, great to see you. General richardson, yesterday we were talking about haiti and the situation on the ground being chaotic. Gangs running rampant in their capital. This week the Prime Minister of haiti announced he would resign. Police officers until a new government would be put in place. Successfully lifting Embassy Staff out of the country, but a number of americans remain in haiti and some may be looking to leave. Some are concerned the u. S. Has not initiate initiated a noncompetitive order to get americans out of haiti. General, have you been tasked to operate an evacuation . Senator, as part of the wide range of contingency plans we are ready for an activation, if required. And have other plans ready to go , as we always do, and keep those plans refreshed over and over. So we are ready at any time for any type of crisis. Are you doing you say you are ready now, but are there preparations in the event this becomes a necessity . I think the two missions of increasing the security at the embassy and a little bit of my capability as well, expanding that, is the platform that we would use if we need to expand from there. We put in all of the necessary measures and that are necessary for any of the plans to be activated. It would be true to say there is Mission Planning underway in case you have to do this. Senator, we always do planning in the military, so absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, general. General guillot, on monday morning i got back from a trip to the arctic where i was able to see firsthand some of the efforts by the navy to pursue our strategic objectives and the arctic is an area of concern. A great example of the intersection between defense, partnerships, and melting ice is making the arctic more accessible to everyone, including russia and china. It is rich in minerals and other Natural Resources and we have to ensure a free and peaceful arctic benefits the United States and our partners and allies. Russia seeks to use the arctic for power projection in addition to its being a critical defense and deterrent for the homeland, they seek to control the region. We made Real Progress in combating russian influence in the arctic over the last year with finland and sweden joining nato. Now every country with a border on the arctic as part of nato, with the exception of russia. We must not miss this opportunity to advance our interests in the arctic while russia is focusing on their illegal and brutal invasion of ukraine. General guillot, i would like to hear in more detail what you think the u. S. And nato strategy should look like in the arctic. Senator, first, thanks for visiting our forces out there. As you have alluded to, it is an extremely important operation that demonstrates our capability up there with the submarines and all of the other aircraft and forces. As far as what we could do or should do with nato in the arctic, you described exercises we are doing on the i will call it the alaska side or the 10 00 approach. Weve had success working with nato and european allies on the 2 00 approach. Just last week the first time in years, russians sent two bombers along the avenue through the uk gap. Greenland, iceland, and united kingdom, approaching the canadian and United States air defense identification zones. I havent seen this activity in two years. We were able to track them thanks to our Radar Network and information sharing between countries. Norway is one i will point out. We were able to track this activity. Were you did you what range were you able to intercept . Senator, we didnt have to intercept them because we had aircraft flying to the point we could intercept them before they could cross the identification zone and the russians turned around prior to reaching that zone so we had both canadian and u. S. Fires on the line, which i think is probably disheartening to the russians to fly all of that way to find out we are waiting for them. The russians are pretty good operating in the arctic. Have we seen advancements by the chinese . What i have seen, senator, is a willingness and desire by the chinese to act. Weve seen them in the maritime. Weve seen them under the cloud of a technical or Scientific Research but we think it is certainly Multi Mission to include military. And i expect to see air activity in the alaska part of the arctic as soon as this year, potentially. It is a big concern of mine. Thank you, general. Thank you, mr. Chairman. General guillot, general richardson, thank you and your teams for your service to our country. I would like to follow up a bit with what senator kelly was talking about with regard to haiti. General richardson, it seems to me that it rather surprises me there may not have been advanced notice requesting additional followup with regard to the possibility of another operation in haiti. It wouldnt that seemed to be an advisory that would be appropriate if you receive something at least from the administration indicating it is a possibility and what and that maybe give you the opportunity to notify those individuals responsible for providing you with the resources necessary to do your duty to be ready to go . It doesnt seem to me they can be on high alert all the time. Could you just expand on that a bit please . Senator, i didnt mean to give the presumption we are not ready or no one has asked us to be ready or anything like that. We have been discussing matt and talking about that and i have been talking to our joint staff, our chairman and secretary of defense over the past two weeks about the range of plans that we might have to do an evacuation, a mass migration, all of those things. Those missions of extracting nonessential personnel it is not a matter of being ready to fight tonight as much as it is we are aware of it and doing some preplanning in case the call is made . Absolutely, senator. We are ready to go and have all of our plans ready to go. With regard to the discussions earlier about the Transnational Criminal Organizations, the drug cartels and so forth, both of you have responsibilities with regard to whether its in other parts of the Northern Command. A reminder once again, weve already authorized the use of our cyber teams to be able to find out in advance to know who these people are, how they communicate and so forth, so hopefully we will not just authorize but we will fund that part of the operation so we can assist those countries who want our expertise in finding out more about these organizations that is available to them. Simply that is available to you for your use. Let me also just general guillot, with potential investments, a Fighter Aircraft by the air force, there are concerns with how the National Guard who shoulders a significant portion of Homeland Defense, how they will be able to continue to support you in that capacity while also fulfilling their obligations under the National Defense strategy. I bring this up because the interNational Guard received the resourcing the National Guard received appears to be incongruent with their mission assignments, which include the Aerospace Control alert strategy using the same resources and also supporting the joint force in that National Defense strategy. Im curious, are you involved in any planning or discussions with the secretary general as they discuss the plan for long term air force structure . If not, i would encourage your involvement. Could you share a little bit about your communications with them . Yes, senator, and thanks for pointing out the contributions from the National Guard. We could not conduct our contributions without them. They provide 20 different sites that you mentioned. They are 24 7 capability to respond. I have talked with the chief of staff of the air force about the commitment of the air force to that mission and what is going to happen with the future as we draw down some capabilities and bring on new capabilities to include the Collaborative Combat Aircraft and next Generation Air dominance. General alvin was clear he fully supports our mission and understands the no fail nature of our mission. He invited me to be part of the future discussions on how they incorporate these capabilities. Excellent because we have to be able to incorporate the air guard and they have to have the resources to do that. General richardson, we discussed the chinese growing footprint and how important it is dls remain engaged in the region. One of the main tools at your disposal that we discussed in my office is section 333 of title 10 which helps build the security capacity of nations. Unfortunately section 333 requires you navigate a ponderous bureaucracy in the department of defense and department of state before you can make use of this authority. It is not agile and it clearly is not very quick. Ironically the Chinese Communist party has not been bogged down by the same bureaucratic inertia. How important is section 333 authority to your mission and how can it be improved . It is my main lever in Security Operations, senator. The triple three as we call it and the ability to i have a triple three package right now navigating all of the wickets and needs to go through for a counter prc effort on fort scanners, for example. The stealing of data the prc does and to be able to put a u. S. Company and there to be able to do the scanning for in and out cargo is extremely important. Again, it is about the data. The 333 authority and being responsive is extremely important, so i appreciate the help and the assistance on those authorities. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator rounds. Thank you, mr. Chairman. General guillot, general richardson, thank you for your service and all of the men and women that serve along with you. We appreciate that. General guillot, you mentioned the significant challenges we face in the arctic in a previous question and we need to seek ways to address that and make additional investments into arctic resilience platforms as well as coldweather training, which is essential for our troops and i keep a key portion of coldweather training is completed every winter at the national War Fighting Center in michigan. We are blessed with coldweather during the winters, and that provides a great training opportunity. My question for you, general, is that while the summer training portion of Northern Strike is extensive, we believe the exercises winter integration of that training we conducted there has the right expansion opportunities to provide comprehensive coldweather training for men and women tasked to serve up there. My question for you, how can we grow conus arctic training through exercises like the strike to support our national Security Strategy . Senator, i am a proponent for what youre stating. I visited alaska about a week into my command to assess many of the areas you just discussed. The forces up there are extremely well trained and equipped with the right equipment to operate in the arctic but the back forces are well trained but not equipped and they havent been trained in that environment. Anything we can do for the supplementing forces or the backfill forces to go into the arctic, training them in the arctic environment or something you described that would replicate that would be important not only to give them skills but to identify the pieces of equipment we need to develop and issue so they could seamlessly operate in that strategic environment. Very good. Thank you. General richardson, the National Guard state Partnership Program links our state National Guard units with our Global Partners and the program certainly has been invaluable i believe in strengthening our relationship with partners and participants. As part of the state Partnership Programs, u. S. Embassy officer working as a conduit between the state and the partner country, but despite what i believe is a Critical Role, these unfortunately sit thickened vacant. My question for you, general, is first off, what role do the officers play in successfully and lamenting these state Partnership Programs . And how can we address the gaps that exist to ensure they are filled and we can get the maximum utility out of these partnerships . Thank you, senator. I would say the spv program, the largest program, we are very grateful for that program. It is a huge enabler. Weve got to keep those ba slots filled. They organize and synchronize the activities of the National Guard spp program with investments. It is a Critical Role and weve got to get those filled. With the theater maintenance partner shipping that is to have, a program we are rolling out to put nine centers of excellence in the region and this is partnering with the partner nation militaries and their military academies with Program Instruction to teach and train maintenance and the culture of maintenance but it is a Tactical Program up to the operational level into the ministries of defense where you can anticipate logistics and teach logistics and the culture of maintenance to keep equipment ready and increase the readiness of capability for these partner nations. Appreciate that. The question i have for you, general richardson, my understanding is right now the Chinese Military is training about five times more latin american and caribbean military officers and the United States. I have concerns these chinese and military and education exchanges may have an impact on our allies, so my question for you is what are the risks associated with continuing to allow chinese education exchanges to outpace what we are providing, and how can congress support europe command in countering this challenge . So the prc is using our playbook against us in terms of these exchanges and these all expense paid training exchanges for one year or two years to china. We are able to provide for professional military education, but the difference it makes when they come to our schools in the United States, for example, when you dont speak the language or speak in a language and i would say there are several three ministers of defense and about 15 chiefs of defense that have been to our United States schools. And so, youve already built the trust. I dont have to build the trust over a year with these leaders. If theyve been to our u. S. Schools, i would say we need to sustain that and increase our program. Thank you, general and thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator scott, please. Thank you, chairman. Before i begin my remarks and questions, i want to talk about what Chuck Schumer is saying on the floor right now. The majority leader on the senate floor is calling for a new Israeli Government. This is coercion. Its dangerous and undemocratic. If Chuck Schumer doesnt like benjamin netanyahu, it doesnt matter. We should respect the Israeli Government should be respected by the american government. We should stand strongly with israels leadership. I personally hope israel destroys and kills every hamas there is. First off, thanks to both of you for your service and i want to say a few things before i ask her questions. The military must be laser focused on the cold, hard facts. Not only what our adversaries are doing, but what theyre capable of doing. The violence and unrest in haiti is heartbreaking. It is a symptom of political unrest that will only grow under this administration. Not only has the Biden Administration take an active role by appeasing cuba and nicaragua, but the white house appears to be totally unprepared for the political unrest these regimes have freed. The policy cannot be we let totally let everyone into our country anytime there is trouble around the world. This is what President Biden has done with 8 Million People pouring across with 90,000 people coming in. Not only does this administration open the floodgates for people who dont know anything about what we believe and to come into our country, President Biden and the democrats at every level of government give these individuals cash, phones, lawyers, and Everything Else paid for by the u. S. Taxpayer. Biden creates a magnet for illegal immigration here, appeases evil regimes, and forces the American People to pay for the unrest, humanitarian crisis, and border crossings that result. This doesnt work and cannot be our answer to the chaos in haiti. All of the work benefits our adversaries, like china, russia, and iran. These evil regimes are working every day to expand their foothold in the western hemisphere and threaten the u. S. And destabilize the region. We see infiltration of the region and using initiatives to spread their influence in poor countries in latin america with massive debt. We see russian, communist, and a chinese going after our supply chain santa taking advantage of the open border. We are seeing our adversaries undermining u. S. Security while expanding in the arctic bringing their militaries closer to the u. S. So i have a couple of questions. General richardson, lets start with haiti. The people of haiti have reached a breaking point. We have a lot of asian families in our state but theyre worried about how this instability in the region will not only include haiti but all of southcom could stroke Mass Immigration in our state. I would like to hear from you on your plan to address a mass migration event which may not only impact florida but other bases within the caribbean . What are the options available to us with assets and capabilities . In terms of a mass migration , we have our contingency plan at u. S. Southcom and we did a walk last summer on guantanamo bay. That was with the agency to walk through the processes and ensure all of the steps necessary to take place are actually in place, everything is refreshed, the equipment and everything is ready to go. As we work through our contingency plans, i assure you southcom and the department of defense are ready to go. Second question for general richardson, i worked on getting a dual use amendment for fiscal year 2023. This allows us to project power where china, russia, and iran are present and active. I asked air force leadership about the homestead and the mission at the base. General brown assured me he was committed to having a platform operate out of homestead. Talk about the strategic values and why we need it. Homestead is a great staging platform. When i was in southcom northcom, we reached the bahamas for the damage done by hurricane dorian. We launched our missions, my special operations, my command at homestead or a reserved base. And so being able to state our missions that we conducted into haiti this past week from homestead, the ability for the department of defense to have homestead as a staging base in south florida to be able to jump to respond to humanitarian assistance and Disaster Response type activities is hugely helpful. Thank both of you. Thank you, senator scott. Senator kaine, please . Thank you, mr. Chair. General guillot, i want to begin with you. My colleagues and i have discussed installation security from with respect to drowned threats in the United States recognizing we are in an unclassified setting, what can you tell me about how northcom is addressing this issue and with what partners are you working this challenge . Senator, northcom is part of my 90 day assessment. To tell the truth, the counter u. S. Mission has dominated that so far in the first month. Of course, i knew it was an issue coming from another command where we face that threat in a very different way because the environment but i wasnt prepared for the number of incursions i have seen. Ive gone into the events at the joint base and i am using that as the centerpiece of my 90 day assessment to see where norad and northcom can do more as an emerging capability outstretched the framework we have to address it. Can you talk about other partners you are working with . There is a Law Enforcement component of this, so who else is working with you on this problem . Yes, sir. The department of Homeland Security and department of justice along the border have the primary responsibility. That is who i am working with there and on the interior, the services have the responsibility for defending the basis for working with each individual service and again, the department of Homeland Security and department of energy for security and infrastructure. Those are the primary ones im working with. Now a question for both of you on the importance mentioned by the general last week. General guillot, you mentioned in your written statement and , general richardson, we talked about this a little bit when we were together, the programs increase interoperability and strengthen partnerships but can reduce our partners reliance on strategic competitors as well. What are you hearing from your counterparts about fms and particularly directed at general richardson, recognizing general guillots tenure nominated by other issues, but general richardson, could you talk about this . Its a critical enabler and being able to have our equipment , uptodate equipment, and having u. S. Equipment and being in operable and that sort of thing is an imperative. What secretary austin and the chairman have instituted to speed up the processes within sms over the past two years have taken place but i would say weve got to streamline that to the other agency because it is not just the department of defense that has a stake in that and approves things but weve got to streamline the process better and speeded up. We talked last week in my office about the potential synergy between the state Partnership Program and the theater Maintenance Partnership initiative. Talk a little bit about that and whether it could support or complement the fms we have. Absolutely, that is the whole reason for it. We have u. S. Equipment in these countries, the maintenance of hard for the u. S. Military. It is hard for our partner nations as well. With turnover, we have people coming in and going out and leaving the military so there is a constant turnover. You need to have a good teaching and Training Program at the top. The tmp i program, the Theater Program initiative you mentioned, the National Guard Partnership Makes a very simple, easy way to teach and train since is it it is right in line with the Partnership Building as well. One of the best advantages we have in your region is the women peace and security agenda. You have made this a real priority. Can you speak to the impacts the initiatives are having within our partner country . Huge impacts. Thank you, senator. 1325 for women, peace, and security we always have a women, peace, and security event and we get what i call a two for with our Leadership Development program as well we have many women enlisted leaders in our military formations in the region and so, that dovetailing nicely with our different programs. They are both rockstar programs, if i must say. Our partner nations doing that and seeing the diversity and ability to increase readiness within their forces, they have realized that and continue on a really good pass. Thank you so much. I yield. Thanks, mr. Chairman. Thank you both for being here today and for your service to the most important commanders. One guards the front door and one guards the back door. How important that is in this day and time. General, we have seen a change in the government in canada. May be the direction they are going, which is very important and should be very important to all of us. Have you seen any change in the military in terms of how they are helping us in northcom . Senator , on the first day of my command, i met with the minister of National Defense and the chief of the Defense Staff in colorado springs. We talked about canadas commitment to norad and norad modernization and they told me at that time they were committed with funding on the line for over the horizon radar, f35, np eight. All of those systems will have benefit to us in the Homeland Defense mission we share in norad. Since the first day, ive seen nothing but strong commitment from our canadian partners for modernizing norad and working together to defend our homelands. Great. Thats good news. What about the border . Are you getting any pushback from the border . We hear a lot about the southern border, but the northern border is important. Terrorists are coming through the northern border. Have you had any conversations with your counterparts there . Senator, i have. Although customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security have not requested northcom support on the north border, it is something i watch closely for number of reasons. One, potential threats entering the country through the north and i have frequent discussions with the Intel Community to see if there are any threats coming through and of course, it is a shared border with a strong partner, like canada. We talk about it. You are getting cooperation . Absolutely getting cooperation and keeping a strong sense of Situational Awareness on the activities of the border. Thank you. General richardson, the panama canal is one of the most important resources for us in Central America to give us an update on that, if we have some kind of conflict over the world would we be able to use the panama canal . We have a very Strong Partnership with panama and that only continues to improve but my concern is the prc state enterprises along either side of the panama canal. There are five. That strategic see line of communication of the panama canal, i would be extremely concerned about that and as a result we are watching it very closely, senator. Do you think the security there is adequate above and beyond where we would be able to use it . Again, my concern is using the enterprises for military operation if required so the proximity that has to the panama canal is a concern to me. I have no doubt in panamas ability to secure that and our ability to help defend that if required. Is the expansion on target . I know the last time i was down there, they were doing a lot of work in the panama canal. That is the prc, senator . Yes. They are building a fourth bridge across the canal, so we absolutely track everything that is done with the panama canal and work with the panama authorities and our partners as we watch all of this activity that takes place and continues to take place. Have you or your staff visited the darien gap where we have folks coming from south america to north america . Senator, i have visited the darien on the panama side and the north side and ive conducted joint operations. Where does the funding come . For the darien, sir . Yes. In terms of the operations columbia conducts comes from columbia resourcing that they have for their military. The ones from panama come from panama security forces. Our activities, operations activities, and investments we do with panama are from the Security Operations funds in southcom. I saw the budget and there is no doubt it is so important to the protection of american citizens and our country. You know, we just voted to give 60 billion to ukraine and i wish it could have gone to the all. Ive seen yawls yalls budget and what you do is amazing but we really need to help you. Thank you so much. Thank you, senator tuberville. Thank you, chairman. And thank you for holding this hearing. I would like to thank general guillot and general richardson for testifying today and of course, for your service to our nation. I really appreciate it. I will hit a little bit on countering chinese and Russian Forces because as russia continues its war in ukraine and china acts with increasing aggression in the indopacific both countries are taking steps to pose a direct threat to our National Security here at home. General guillot, how can northcom address its posture to proactively deter and respond to the increasing presence and capabilities of russian and chinese assets off our coast and actually within north america . Senator, the best way for us to counter them is to have presence of our own. The execution of exercises, patrols, it is extremely important off the coast primarily focusing right now in the region of alaska because of the number of incursions by russian aircraft and then the number of maritime the strong presence the chinese and russians have there and the same thing applies on what we call the 2 00 approach, off the northeast making sure we have presence there. I think that is the best way to counter and part of that presence being exercised here a strong exercise program, multinational with a lot of partner sean we have the result within that most strategic area. Thank you. I will move on, general guillot, talking about cybersecurity because this is a big part of our Homeland Security as well, so talk to us about how northcom is addressing cyber Security Threats to the homeland. You are talking about other kinds of posturing but in your opinion, could a unified command specifically responsible for defensive Cyber Operations could ensure better comprehensive and a cohesive defense posture against our cyber adversaries . Senator, in my previous response, i should have mentioned cyber because it is the most prevalent, consistent response we have seen on a daily basis. Every day, we have state actors including russia and china that are attempting to get our on our department of defense networks. The strength we have in detecting and defeating those threats is what is keeping us operational. Northern commands role is first and foremost to protect the systems that we use inside norad and northcom to operate and we have four networks that we protect. Beyond that is anything with the department of defense, we work with Cyber Command to make sure all of those are addressed. The third thing we do, we work with the fbi and sister. We have a Strong Partnership with both of them. Ive met with their leadership about how do we help other members of the Critical Infrastructure community. If they need dod support, it is synchronized and presented through northcom to protect them. To your question about a separate command, i would need to look into it but my initial response would be in the two commands in which i have served , the relationship and support from Cyber Command has been phenomenal. I would hesitate to do anything that separated them from their seamless ability to do operational, offensive cyber and defensive cyber under the same leadership because it has worked really well for us in my previous job in Central Command and certainly working well in Northern Command. Always looking to improve but that is something i would look at closely because Cyber Command in my opinion has been a tremendous partner. Thank you. That is valuable and i appreciate it. I will move on to you, general richardson, and talk about linguists and with the department of defense making investments focusing on countering the peoples republic of china. Do you have concerns regarding a lack of language expertise for countries in the south, southcom area or is this gap addressed by the force we recruit . I think with the spanish dominantly and portuguese with brazil, we have enough linguists , senator. Because a lot of our linguists will speak spanish as well as other languages as well, it is just a matter of making sure we register our personnel demand and requirements all the time that this region is important and we got to keep these positions filled. Well, you speak about the panama canal and prc investments around there, so it is important to have spanish, portuguese in that area because we know our adversaries are there as well, so thank you. My time is up. Thank you very much, senator rosen. We anticipate senator schmidt will arrive shortly. I will take this opportunity to ask questions. General guillot, as you know, congress has been considering taking exclusively military use and begin to share or sell it to properties. Could you explain the impact that would have on your operations . Sharing or yielding the spectrum between a 3. 1 and 3. 45 gigahertz would have a Significant Impact on our homeland Defense Systems. There is a possibility of sharing. I know some folks have come back and said we can use it mutually. Is that something you could do . Senator excuse me, chairman, and our initial review i havent found a way we could share, especially because with Northern Command, the 24 7 on alert responsibility for defending the homeland, i would need full access to all of the various systems, which are sea based, landbased, and air based which use that frequency range. I would assume in a sharing arrangement, there would be a period of time systems cannot effectively operate as they modify themselves. Is that fair . As we negotiate the potential to share we have made it clear we need 24 7 access to those frequency ranges. And general richardson, the chinese influence and russian influence in your area of command is focused on many things, but one of the things focused on is strategic minerals, which could, in fact, be the oriole of the next generation as we move to electric powered vehicles and homes, et cetera. Have you seen a notable focus on the chinese by trying to identify and control . Yes, chairman, especially with the work we have partnered with our u. S. Ambassadors and argentina and chile. As we know, the lithium triangle is comprised of argentina, bolivia, and chile. 60 of the worlds lithium is in that region and so the aggressive nature which the prc works to extract that lithium as well as gold and copper from the region too. As we thought before, resources could help non Chinese Companies acquire these mines and begin processing. Is that accurate . I will be part of that initiative, similar to what i mentioned before, chairman, on the economic recovery act of 1948, the marshall plan. That initiative, American Partnership for Economic Prosperity, through the invest program at the American Development bank and Developmental Finance Corporation and the infusion of billions of dollars into Critical Infrastructure, clean technology, or clean energy and digital technology. Thank you very much. I will recognize senator schmitt and of senator kaine has additional questions, i will recognize him after senator schmitt. Thank you, mr. Chairman. General, i wanted to ask about the increase, and i some accounts a tenfold increase, by the number of chinese nationals that have come across the southern border. It is 50 times. There are a lot of chinese nationals coming across in the last year and, you know, flying in and out of china is not like getting out of dca back home to st. Louis. It is a much different ordeal and i guess i want to ask, you know, in 60 minutes report about some content being pushed through social Media Channels about vulnerabilities at the border, im certainly concerned about espionage operations. What information do we have about who these people are . What activities are taking place when they cross our southern border . Its just, it seems like this is happening now at a rate that just doesnt feel natural to the extent anything happening at the southern border make sense, but certainly the number of chinese nationals coming across is a great concern to me and im wondering if you could speak to that. Senator, the number of chinese that have come across the border is a big concern of mine. In fact, in a short period of time that i have been in commands, i have gone down to the southern border to talk to the agents and leadership about that and ive spoken with the acting commissioner on this subject. What concerns me most about specifically the chinese migrants is one, they are so centralized in one location across the border and two, while many may be political refugees and other explanations, the ability for counterintelligence to hide in plain sight in those numbers, so therefore we have a very strong and robust relationship with the interagency Intelligence Community and i received frequent briefings at headquarters about the disposition on who has been apprehended and the potential of that threat you described. Do we have any i know some of this is in a closed setting, but what kind of coordination is taking place here . You are right. I think there were 21,000 in the last four months in california alone. Those are the numbers i have seen recently. There seems to be a concentration getting in and out of the peoples republic of china. What have you heard about sort of coordinated activities and are we aware of specific efforts on their part to, you know, be in parts of the United States within sensitive military operations . Senator, i had some of the same questions you brought up. What i have been told by our partners is the reason california is the focal point is simply ease of flying from china into tijuana and then across. I am concerned and i think you were alerting to alluding to and ive talked our partners about how the surges seem to be coordinated using social media primarily by the cartels to drive the migrants to areas we might not be. A similar analogy to squeezing the balloon. Where we squeezed down, they with command control primarily through social media know to go to the other areas, so our role in northcom, we are in support of the customs and Border Protection for detection and monitoring along the site with 2500 military members, primarily from the army and marine corps. They work closely to pick up where those surges are as well as where the gaps are with monitoring equipment to alert the Law Enforcement side of Border Protection to make the apprehensions. I look forward to working with you on that and continuing the dialogue about whats happening because i think its a dangerous potentially very dangerous situation. With my limited time, one last question. As far as the drone activity at the southern border, presumably being coordinated by the cartels, maybe other actors, what other information can you share about what they are doing . Are they tracking Border Patrol agents . What is sort of the drone activity what are they seeking to discover with these drones coming across . Senator, again, i asked those very same questions to the commissioner. He said the overall majority of the activity they see, the incursions, are spotters trying to find gaps, finding out where we are so they can find out where we arent. That is the majority. There are a smaller number that are probably moving narcotics across the border. And then with drones, themselves . Thats right, senator. And there is a lot of activity of our own doing the same thing to try to find where that activity is and make sure we are prepared to stop it. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator schmitt. Senator kaine . I wanted to follow up about coordination. I understand there is an Interdiction Committee led by the coast guard. Could we followup together on upgrading that to a task force to include all of the other agencies and talk about how to better coordinate our response at the border . Is that something you are willing to work with us on . Absolutely, senator. Will take you live to a hearing of oversight of federal regulators including the chair of the fdic who sat at a house hearing yesterday he takes responsibility for the findings and report outlining Sexual Harassment and other misconduct at the fdic. Mr. Gruenberg apologized and said he would cleanup the culture. Some members of congress are expecting him to resign. We expect congress to continue questioning mr. Gruenberg today. Also testifying at the federal oversight hearing, michael barr and acting comptroller michael sue. You are watching live coverage on cspan3. We are waiting for the Senate Banking committee to get underway. Testifying today, fdic chair, martin gruenberg, michael barr, and michael hsu. Martin gruenberg was facing a bipartisan grilling yesterday over a report that found pervasive harassment and mistreatment of employees at the agency. Democrats yesterday blasted gruenbergs leadership and openly questioned whether he should stay at the agency but stopped short of joining republicans and calling for his removal, which would lead to a crackdown on big banks and halts financial rules opposed by the industry. That, from politico. Today Senate Lawmakers are expected to continue the questioning. Senator brown is chair and tim scott of South Carolina is the Top Republican on the banking committee. You are watching live coverage on cspan3