Transcripts For CSPAN Washington This Week 20150525

Reasons i voted for the training and equiping measures that have been implemented but my frustration is that as you also have observed there is a huge gap between the goals and missions that weve outlined for the United States and the actual action that were undertaking the train and equip activities are way behind what we might have hoped by this point and theres no clear timetable for really achieving the level of capability that we expected or hoped. I hope this has been a very sobering morning. I thank you all for being here. Thank you. Senator mccain i also want to thank the witnesses. Its been, i think, helpful to all members and this is not an issue thats going oy way, so im sure that well be seeing you again. Thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] mexico motivated next, the vice chair on global threats. M behringer word every Graduation Ceremony. Embed a panel on Veterans Health care issues. Tomorrow night, interviews with four of the newest members of congress. The freshman profiles features democrat mark takai of hawaii republicans might boast of illinois, Democrat Bonnie watson of new jersey, and republican leaves open of the First District in new lee zeldin talks about his schedule. You have a five meeting followed by a 10 minute meeting. I get up early, i try to exercise as close to every morning as i can. Evenings usually and the. End late. There are people that have vices. For me, i like to empty my email inbox. That is my vice, staying on top of stuff. For me, we would be out, there might be an event, local groups from the district for a good cause but i like to get back to work. I go to sleep around 12 01. Cspan interviews with four of the newest members of congress. Tomorrow at 9 00 p. M. Eastern. On tuesday the center for strategic and International Studies held a discussion with admiral james winfield. A provided an update on the Nuclear Threats posed by north korea, iran, and russia. This is about 45 minutes. It is good to have all of you here. I want to see a special thanks to the admiral. Before we begin, many of you have heard us say this before but when we have Public Events we always start with a little safety announcement. I am your responsible safety officer. Im going to take care of you. So you follow me, were going to go, if we have to, out through that exit and that exit, the stairwell is around the corner. We are going to go down and meet across the street. Its too early for the bar to be open, so well meet in the park right next door and ill see if i can bring refreshments. Or something. But please follow me if we have to do anything. Thank you all for joining us today. This is the third in a series that weve launched. Dr. Thomas karako is the new leader for our Missile Defense program at csis. I should also say special thanks to our friends at boeing that are letting us do this public event to present the issues associated with Missile Defense. Im old enough to remember the days when Missile Defense was theology, not programming. That was 30 years ago, and we had great controversy associated with Missile Defense issues. Fortunately thats past us. Were now into the details of whats appropriate, how much is appropriate, how is it positioned, when do we get it online, things like that. Admiral winnefeld has been more influential than anyone in reshaping this debate. Theres a significant increase in the budget this year for Missile Defense. I think it reflects a geopolitical reality. And its part of that geopolitical reality that were going to talk about today. Im very grateful that hes taken the time to join us. As i said, this is a series. He said, is this the end . I said, no, its a midcourse correction. So hes going to give us the midcourse correction today. So could i ask you with your applause to please welcome admiral sandy winnefeld. [applause] admiral winnefeld all right well, good morning, and thank you so much for that very kind introduction and for your friendship and for the invitation to speak today. Its great to be here at csis to provide an update on where our thinking is and where my thinking is, and where our progress is on Missile Defense including National Ballistic Missile Defense, regional ballistic Missile Defense and going to add a little bit about cruise Missile Defense. I know for the most part its a technically savvy audience thats knowledgeable on the topic, especially the midshipmen sitting off to my right, which im happy to see here. I also suspect there are friends of mine here, keith, who has been extremely helpful to me in my journey of understanding this process, and richard fieldhouse, an old friend, former Senate Staffer who has been supportive of the program all along as well. So those of you mixed in, its good to see you here. Id like to start in a little bit of an abstract way by putting out two thoughts for my discussion today. The first abstract piece is we recognize two basic pillars of defense or deterrence, excuse me. Mainly, denying an adversarys objectives and imposing costs on an adversary for its aggressive acts. Missile defense is in the realm of the former, denying an adversarys objectives. We want potential adversaries to know that not only is there a price for attacking us or our friends, but also that the attack may not succeed in the first place, resulting in pain but no gain. The second baseline thought is that we believe any sensible nation has to prioritize its investments in defense along some kind of strategic framework. If we dont do this in a sensible way, well end up with a cacophony of demands and an era of declining means. And we all know where the means being dedicated to defense have been recently going inside our own country. This has implications for our Missile Defense investments. The operative word here is prioritize. Which is something this town hates to do, because it means there are winners and losers. Some would suggest that this framework should be around prioritizing regions. I say that serious threats come from nearly every region around the globe. So that doesnt work so well for us. Others would suggest that this sensible framework would be simply around prioritizing capabilities. But i would argue, yes, you do need to do that, but they dont arrange themselves. They dont prioritize themselves. Capabilities are ways, and we cant prioritize them before we prioritize our ends. So the chairman and i, and an increasing number of people inside the defense department, believe that our investments have to be prioritized along the lines of what it is were being asked to protect. Some of you have heard me speak of this before. Some things are more important than others. Call them whatever you want. The chairman and i call them National Security interests. And we try to look inside each one at the threats to that interest and whether or not we have those threats properly mitigated. It stands to reason that we need to ensure that we take care of the highest ranked interests first. Compromise in an era of decreasing means, which i mentioned a moment ago, will have to come in the area of lowerranked interest. And of course Missile Defense falls into various levels along that spectrum of interest. At the top of our list of National Security interests, as it is for any nation, is the survival of our nation and at the top of the list of threats to that interest is, of course a Massive Nuclear attack from russia or some other highend adversary, potential adversary like china. This is about existential attacks, attacks that are extremely hard to defend against. And because we prefer to use the deterrent of Missile Defense in situations with the highest probability of being most effective, weve stated that Missile Defense against these highend threats is too hard and too expensive and too strategically destabilizing to even try. So even though our russian interlocutors refuse to believe us on this, it has the very great virtue of actually being true. So well use the cost imposition piece to deter russia by keeping all three legs of our Nuclear Deterrence strong and our nuclear commandandcontrol system robust. But we do have other interests in the world. What we call limited Missile Defense falls squarely within the next security interest in line, the way the chairman and i look at it, namely, our determination to prevent catastrophic attacks on our nation. The number of nations trying to achieve that capability is growing, not shrinking, with our most immediate concern of course being north korea because theyre closest in terms of capability, followed by iran. A robust and capable national Missile Defense is our best bet to defend the United States from such an attack. And thats why the groundbased midcourse Defense Program is going to remain our First Priority in Missile Defense. In a shrinking defense budget, this system will be accorded the highest priority within the Missile Defense share of our pie. Further down the line, our other global National Security interests, including, very importantly, support for our allies and partners around the world, as well as protecting american citizens around the world, including our own troops, wherever they may be present. Thus, we also place a good bit of emphasis on regional Missile Defense, closely cooperating with a number of key partners in this area, and ill talk about them a little bit later. But in a world of declining budgets, its likely well come to rely more on those partners to resource their own Missile Defense systems. And i wanted to get that out because its important context for where we will and will not do Missile Defense and how we will prioritize our investments where we will do Missile Defense. Now let me spend a little bit more time talking about each of these two interestbased priorities. Defense of the homeland, and regional defense. Regarding the homeland, we have to take the iranian and north korean threats seriously, even though neither nation has a mature icbm capability. Regarding the homeland, we have and both nations know full well that they would face an overwhelming u. S. Response to any attack. While we would obviously prefer to take a threat missile out while its still on the ground, what we would call left of launch, we wont have the luxury of doing so. And because its our policy to stay ahead of the threat, we and both nations know full welldont want there to be any doubt about our commitment to having a solid right of launch capability. So it boils down to how many missiles we can knock down versus how many the threat can launch. And thats much more than just a function of how many interceptors we have in the ground. Its also a function of how the whole system works. We in the military often say quantity has a quality all of its own. Well, in the Missile Defense world, quality has a quantity all of its own and the leverage can be enormous. If, for example, because of system improvements, we only have to shoot half the number of interceptors per incoming warhead that we see, then we can handle twice the number of inbound warheads. That is why we are taking a lot of time and effort to improve the capability and reliability of our entire system. The Missile Defense agency, led by jim syring, has done a terrific job of this. Its not easy to hit to kill at the kind of closure speeds that we have been talking about, but weve done it. And its hard to make advancements in such a program when its so expensive to test the things you change in response to the things that you might find wrong. I give mda great credit for understanding that. And understanding that when you find a problem, you dont stop at the first thing you see, you wring out the entire system. You dont stop at the first possible fix to what you find wrong. And mda has done exactly that. Theyve taken their time and theyve done it right. Sometimes people like me get frustrated because we want to go faster, but mda has done a fantastic job of taking a rural and deliberate engineering and deliberate thourough and deliberate engineering approach to these kinds of problems and theyve done terrifically. In january of 2013, they launched an improved ce2 interceptor not against a target, but to run it through its paces to solve a problem and it performed magnificently. They send it up against a real target about a year ago and it performed magnificently. I was in the room watching it, and you can imagine what it felt like to see that thing have an extremely successful intercept. It was a very good shot in the arm for that program. And based on the success of that shot, we were able to resume production of eight planned gbis in the new and proven configuration. That success kept us on track to increase the gbi inventory by 14. Increasing the total from 30 to 44 with 40 in alaska and 4 in vandenburg. We currently have eight in place of which four have the improved design. And we have a lot of confidence in those missiles. Well keep improving those missiles and testing the improvements because we fly before we buy. The next flight of the gmd system will take place later this year. Its gonna be another nonintercept test of a ce2 gbi because we want to keep costs under control. We are going to demonstrate the performance of an alternate divert thruster in a flight environment and test endtoend discrimination of a complex target scene through the gmd fire control loop. At the end of calendar year 2016, we plan to conduct the first intercept test for the ce2 block 1 gbi, the real deal with a new avionics package. That will be our first intercept package of a true icbm target. The intercept should that intercept be successful, well deliver ten over the next year to achieve our goal of 44 gbis by the end of 2017. Were also making great progress with all three vendors on the redesigned kill vehicle, which we expect to flight test in 2018. But improving the whole system again, is not just about interceptors. We have to take a holistic view and invest our limited resources as wisely as we possibly can. In this light, theres been a lot of talk about installing an east coast missile field. Our Environmental Impact statement should be complete in the middle of next year. However, the only reason to make that investment would be to provide the capability to shoot assess, and then shoot again. We can only do that if we have the sensors we need to do so. So we need to put our ability to see targets at the head of the line. And therefore theres been no decision yet by the department to move forward with an additional conas interceptor site, though we could do that. Meanwhile, our current sites vandenburg and alaska, protect the u. S. Homeland from the projected and existing threat from north korea and iran should either of them really emerge. And even though an additional conas interceptor site would add battle space and capacity, a decision to construct the new site would come at significant Material Development and Service Sustainment costs. So we need to be careful. So while that site could eventually be necessary as i said, in the near term upgrading the kill vehicle on the gbi, improving our ability to discriminate and enhancing the homeland since our Network Sensor network are higher priorities for us in improving our protection against limited icbm attack. And we have a lot going on in this area. Working with our very close japanese partners, we completed the deployment of the tippy 2 radar in kyogamisaki in southern japan to complement the radar currently operating in northern japan. And were grateful to japan for their close cooperation. In this area. Its gone well. This radar and the new capability will enhance the overall performance of both radars when operating in a mutually supported mode. We made a Technical Capability declaration for the kyogamisaki radar this past december. That will relieve the need for us to put aegis ships underway for tracking purposes in the sea of japan and eastern japan, and thats important because it frees up those assets for other missions. Were also continuing to operate the spx in the pacific to provide discrimination capabilities for konas and hawaii defense. Were planning to deploy a new longrange discriminating radar for the pacific by the 2020 time frame. Finally, were continuing to pursue greater use of space. Uavbased technologies and increased integration of existing sensor capabilities across the c2mb system in order to significantly enhance our Missile Defense discrimination capabilities in the future. Now, i dont want to overlook cruise Missile Defense particularly as it regards the homeland. You might ask, if we choose to not invest the enormous resources that would be required to defend against a massive russian icbm attack over the north pole, then why would we care about Cruise Missile attack defense in the homeland . The element of surprise is nearly impossible with an icbm activity. We will always have time to react. We cant say the same thing for a Cruise Missile attack which could be intended to take away our ability to decide in response to an icbm attack. Thats a key point. Its why homeland cruise Missile Defense is shifting above regional ballistic Missile Defense in my mind, as far as importance goes. Since defending our National Leadership and our ability to decide through our command and control capability is part of the imposed cost leg of deterrence. This has implications for budget and for stationing of our Missile Defense assets. Were devoting a good deal of attention to ensuring were properly configured against such an attack in the homeland and we need to continue to do so. This includes the j lens test we are currently conducting at the aberdeen proving ground, in case you have seen that dirigible hovering over maryland. As well as other systems were putting in place to greatly enhance our Early Warning around the National Capital region. We are also looking at changing out some of the systems we would use to knock down any Cruise Missiles headed towards our nations capital. But we are going to eventually have to extend this to areas around our nation that we believe are important to protect. This is a big country, we probably cant protect the entire place from cruise Missile Defense, unless we want to break the bank. But there are important areas in this country that we need to make sure are protected from that kind of attack. Now turning to regional ballistic Missile Defense theres been a massive proliferation in recent years of regional Ballistic Missile threats. In fact, there are 6,000 known Ballistic Missiles in the world and that is not counting russia and china. Within this proliferation, we see a number of technical advancements, including advanced liquid and solid propellant propulsion technologies and missiles that are being more mobile, more reliable, more accurate, and capable of striking targets over longer ranges. Some can even target ships at sea. Many have shorter launch preparation times and smaller footprints that are making them much more survivable on the ground. Technical and operational measures to defeat Missile Defenses are also increasing. For example, many nations experiment with salvo firings of medium and shortrange missiles from multiple locations in an attempt to saturate regional ballistic Missile Defenses. Against this, not only have we brought our own Missile Defense capability to bear and deploy some kind of Missile Defense system in ten Different Countries around the globe, we now have 33 ships capable of doing the Missile Defense mission themselves. A number of which are on station at any given moment. Were encouraging our allies and partners to acquire their own Missile Defense, as i mentioned earlier, and to strengthen regional Missile Defense cooperation that will result in better performance than individual countries acting on their own. But i have to tell you, this integration of capabilities is quite a challenge. Our Combatant Commanders have found that we need to be aware of interoperability among the sensors, shooters, and platforms deployed by the United States. Adding the systems and forces of our friends and allies, adds a whole new level of challenges which were successfully addressing. Before combined deployment of Missile Defense system can be brought to bear in any region, diplomats and warriors have a great deal of work to do. Painstaking establishment of bi and multilateral agreements will pave the way to more effective regional ballistic Missile Defenses. It sends a clear message of deterrence to any wouldbe aggressor and offers assurance to our allies. In in vein, the United States is literally working across the globe with our partners against regional threats. Let me give you a few examples. In the middle east, the United States is working with our golf cooperation gulf cooperation partners on Missile Defense, including supporting purchases made through Foreign Military sales. In a joint statement coming out of his recent meeting with our gcc partners at camp david president obama said, quote, the United States policy to use all elements of power to secure our core interests in the gulf region and to deter and confront external aggression as we did in the gulf war is unequivocal, unquote. This includes Missile Defense. Mda is currently executing a fms case with United Arab Emirates for two thad batteries and accompanying launchers, radars , and interceptors. This calendar year well deliver the first thad battery to our uae partners and begin equipment training. Kuwait is purchasing batteries and saudi arabia is in the purchase the process of upgrading the patriot pak 2 to the pak 3 configuration. The United States also maintains a very Strong Defense relationship with israel. Our cooperation on Missile Defense has resulted in a comprehensive Missile Defense architecture. Israeli programs the u. S. Has supported, iron dome, davids sling, and the arrow weapons system create a multilayered architecture designed to protect the israeli people from various threats. Results have been very successful to date. In europe, the United States continues its engagement with nato to build on its commitment to european phase, adaptive approach, or epaa, while also encouraging greater burden sharing by nato and nonnato nations in the region. Mda is on schedule to deliver phase two of the epaa by the end of this year. Phase two will include deployment of aegis to romania with capabilities and upgraded versions of the aegis bmd weapons system. The required military construction, integration and installation and testing activities will be complete for Technical Capability declaration in 2015. And we expect to hand aegis but sure to the navy in august ashore to the navy in august for testing. Just last year, we had a successful test shot in hawaii that demonstrated the functionality of the Weapon System by verifying its ability to launch, control, establish uplink and downlink communication, and provide guidance command and target information to a guided missile. And in an important next step, we should be conducting our first nonintercept test in the next couple of weeks. We will have another test in november and two intercept tests of that very important missile next year, which is vital to keeping phase three of the epa on track. Currently 3 of our 4 bmdcapable ships, the uss donald cook, the uss ross, the and uss porter are stationed in spain. And the final ship to be permanently stationed in the mediterranean to perform the mission, the uss carney will arrive later this year. We are living up to our commitments. This program is on track and our nato allies are also making significant contributions through their purchase and deployment of bmd capable systems and deployment and support of nato missions. And let me be clear once more. Its not the policy of the United States to build a system to counter russian Ballistic Missiles, including in europe. The aegis ashore sites are designed to encounter missiles that may be launched from other nations against our european nato partners. So lets lay that to rest one more time. The most helpful thing that a russia or a china for that matter can do, is to persuade north korea and iran to drop their Ballistic Missile programs. Unfortunately, we dont see that happening anytime soon. And finally in the asia pacific, we have a strong Missile Defense posture in that region for both homeland and regional ballistic Missile Defense. The cornerstone of our security and diplomacy has been our strong bilateral alliances with south korea, japan, and australia. Going forward, well continue to emphasize the importance of developing regional ballistic Missile Defense systems. This is a very politically sensitive topic for several of our regional allies, but progress in this area would only increase our confidence in the face of persistent north korean provocations. During 2013s provocation cycle, it appeared that north korea might conduct a test of a regional Ballistic Missile capability that could potentially reach u. S. Soil in guam. In response, as many of you are aware, the u. S. Army did a magnificent job of deploying thad to that island. There it remains, readily are deployable if necessary, and in the meantime, defending u. S. Soil from potential threats. And just a few weeks ago pyongyang was raving about a test of its submarine launched Ballistic Missile capability. Fortunately theyve not gotten as far as their video editors and spinmeisters would have us believe. They are many years away from developing this capability. But if they are eventually able to do so, it would present a hardtodetect threat for japan and south korea as well as our Service Members stationed in the region. This only reinforces the importance of regional ballistic Missile Defense. With the unpredictability of the north korean regime, we have to periodically reassess our posture within the region. I know some of you are brimming over with curiosity over the potential for thad in the republic of korea. Of course we are interested in using this to augment the defense of our ally including our own troops who are there to defend from any attack from the north. Its a good system that would not pose a threat to any other nation in the region, but i want to make it clear that we have not yet engaged in formal negotiations or discussion with the r. O. K. Government about this possibility. As always, were respectful of our host nations concerns, and it goes without saying that the r. O. K. Will want to have this system in place, or we simply wont put it there. While were on the topic of regional defense, id like to make the point that we need to keep our eye on the cost curves associated with that problem. Chairman dempsey really had this on the head when he released his program for 2020 area this program could find itself being launched against a scud that only costs 3 million. And thats only if we launch one thad against that threat. This cost curve is working against us. There are four things we need to consider doing about it. First, we need to keep the pressure on how much our own interceptors cost. It would be helpful to buy them in increasing economic quantities, but its tough to do so under the increased budget pressure that were feeling. Second, we can continue our emphasis on developing the technologies required to hit Ballistic Missiles and their launchers left of launch. Were optimistic about a number of initiatives in this area. Were putting a lot of work into it, but we have a long way to go. Third, we can extend r d effort to find a more Cost Effective way of knocking down missiles in flight by inverting the cost curve in the other direction. In this regard, i mentioned the rail gun project and possibly directed energy. Were serious about pursuing those as options and they may bear fruit. Finally, theres no shame in passive Missile Defense, such as denial, deception, mobility, and hardening. Our potential adversaries do these things, and theres no reason why we shouldnt, and we are. First and most obvious is the claim that our Missile Defense systems wont work. Claim our Defense Systems will not work. Well, as i mentioned, a real statement in the regard a year ago, and we continue to make improvements. Overall, the ground base Missile Defense system is four for seven. Nothing like having the most recent shot a success. We have an excellent track record with the regional systems. To date, our operationally con figured intercementers, not development prototypes, that is 11 for 11. The patriot pack 3 is 21 for 25, not bad, but were determined to make it bigger. The second misconception i want to address is its easy to employ count measures. To be sure, well continue to do everything we can to improve our capability. As hard as the job is, so is the challenge of employing effective counter measures. If they confront the system, whatever measures worked in mid court may not work in terminal. Where terminal measures may be destroyed in mid course. Test is critical to the success of any complex weapons system, and when it comes to Missile Defense countermeasures, adversaries do not do much of that, knowing they cant know how well they perform. We have our own program, and we learn how difficult it is to get that right. Countermeasures take up payload space and have weight considerations so theres tradeoffs there. Bottom line is it may not be as easy as it looks on paper. The last misconception is the narrative that Missile Defense has to be 100 effective in order to be successful. Especially where Nuclear Weapons are involved. Thats a simplistic argument. No system can achieve perfection even though we always strive for it. It would be hubris to believe otherwise. If deterrence fails, we do not expect to stop every single missile, to be sure, we tray. Rather, effective systems we have and are developing are intended to detour an adversary by injecting doubt of the effectiveness of his attack versus our likely response. In other words, again, pain, but no gain. The enemy knows there will be a significant price to pay of Missile Launch against the United States. The worse of all worlds for our enemy is the attack it not just effective, but provokes a nasty response from the victim. Two pillars of deterrence. Our enterprise is on an upward trajectory. Regional level, tough cost curves, and rapidly coming back into health for the defense of the homeland. I give great credit to the staff, keith, his predecessors. Shooting a bullet with a bullet is not easy to solve, hard when assets are expensive and difficult to test, but harder in a turbulent environment and budget enturnty, but we continue to make progress, progress with the International Partners progress in developing, testing, and fielding national and regional ballistic Missile Defense systems that are flexible, survivalble, and affordable, and progress investing in Promising Technology to ensure Future Systems are capable of performing complex threats we expect in the future. As we all know, the advantage in war fair shifts putting offense and defense over time. In our limited way, we are trying to shift that pendulum in favor of the defense as far as Ballistic Missile threat goes. As such, inno vags is leadership opportunity for the generation of Missile Defense practitioners, which is why i believe csiis ease effort to keep the topic alive is so very important. I thank you all for your interest in Missile Defense, and i hope the discussion has been useful for you, and i hope you come away convinced even more of the commitment to the important contribution of our security and allys security and that well continue to make progress. Thank you very much, and, tom, i think we can take a couple questions and after you do a little moderation, well . f make a deal that the first question goes to a mid shipman. All right. Fair enough. Thank you. [ applause ] if there is a question i cant answer, ill pass it on. Well, i think you really covered the landscape there. Deterrents, defense, the offense, defense makes everything. I have to ask one quick one. How do you see this Missile Defense, connectic and nonconnecter in terms of priority in the third offset, in the Electronic Warfare that deputy secretary talked about. Were doing a number of things in the third offset, and just for background for members of the audience who do not understand it. Secretary of defense has an observation that not only includes the department becoming efficient, trying to get 0th century work force, but also technical and concept advances that will give us a leap ahead. With the first offset being Nuclear Weapons that stop a russian invasion of western europe, the second is guided weapons that go from shortage, and now the third is out there may not be a magic bullet or interesting single technology, but its a combination of technologies. Among those, weve been looking at what it would take to get another offset in the field of ballistic Missile Defense, and thats where this cost curve comes in. Were doing such a good job with the problem the way were handling it now, but we have to keep the curve in mind where we cant continue to buy expensive intercepters to knock down, you know, increasing proliferation of less expensive missiles, so thats where Directive Energy comes in. Its where the rail comes in. Were very, very interested in exploring that, and i think that the adcp, advanced capability Deterrence Panel gives them a shot in the arm, and i know that mda is looking at that very hard with the navy as well. All right. Take one over here. Actually, get the microphone quick. Awesome. There you go. Well, thank you, sir, for coming today to speak about this. Im third class david larkin. I have a question of poland in the cancellation of the site under president bush and then also the cancellation of phase four of the european phase adaptive approach. Both decisions to cancel the programs were made based on strategic objectives, and new information about north korea and iran. However, both of these decisions irritated our regional partners, so my question is, how do our regional Partners Interest play into Missile Defense decisions. Sure. Well good helpavens, our regional partners are vital to Defense Systems. We closely consult with them on any type of offering that we make or cooperative effort we do together. We couldnt do this without them, and if they were not there, we wouldnt be doing it in the first place. Absolutely, we consult with them. I would not go so far to say our regional partners were irritated about the shift. I think because they had to do so much work politically to get an agreement to do this in the first place, any nation has to do that, it was inconvenient for them for us to shift the way we were going to do it, but it was clear we were not shifting our commitment in western europe but realized there was a much better way to do it, and we are actually seeing that better way today, and i vouch that we consult closely with members in the three regions, europe, middle east, and asia on every aspect of the defense. Thats been a fruitful process. Japan has been a good partner in the regard. Our partners have been exceptionally interested in this, and to wit some of the Foreign Military sales were going to do, and weve had a very robust discussion. Its a good news story how we consult with our partners. Are you a new third class or upcoming second class . All right. Congratulations. You have a great crew. We have one here in the back. Thank you very much. Im josh rogan with bloomberg view. Thank you for the time, and thank you for your service. I want to ask about the inf treaty. The administration acknowledged they believe russia is in violation of the treaty considering responses. Can you help us understand what options do we have to respond to the violation if we were to increase capabilities for u. S. And nato partners in europe. What might that look like . Is that your personal recommendation . Thank you. Well, first thing, because its under consideration i cant say much about it. Thats fair to the president not to remove his decision space in whats a very, very important topic, something that congress is interested in, were interested in it, and i think the first solution to this problem is for russia to stop doing this. Thats the most important thing and our dip mats are working hard. Secretary kerry spoke recently in fact, to russian leadership about this, and thats the way out of this problem. If it does not look like thats going to happen, then there are, of course, options that i would place to general categories, defensive and the other is offensive, that would indicate to, first of all, russia, this is not going to do them any good. This gets into the objectives, and causes pieces of deterrence and reassures our partners were very serious about wanting to keep russias adherence to the treaty that we all signed so long ago. All right. I think weve got one more. Right here. Up front. Does the russians, obviously, they continue to make the point, and youve tried to put to rest that european missile sheet is not about threatening russia. They argue the shield is no longer necessary. Theyve also, according to u. S. Officials been helpful in the talks. Does russia have a point in bringing this up in light of emerging deal . So i think everybody heard the question. First of all, if you look at the capacity of the system that were installing in europe, and this is the analog of the fact that our National Ballistic Missile Defense system is not alined to russia. We just dont have the capacity. They are with a large reasonably powerful country like russia could overwhelm that Defense System quickly. Its not about that. So they should not worry about that. They should be encourage that we are helping our allies there potentially defending iranian or other threats in the region, and as regards to the discussions, the agreement is not cop collusive yet, and once concluded, it you know, we still have to make sure that iran sticks to it, and a ballistic Missile Defense system is not something that you turn on overnight in fact, it take longer to establish a Missile Defense system if iran decides to break out and build a nuclear weapon. The discussion does not address Ballistic Missile threat at all so i think theres every reason for us to continue what were doing in western europe with the nato allies. It does not threaten russia. It maintains a hedge against an iranian or other threat in the nation in that region or outside the region that could threaten our partners, and its really to me, a no brainer, to keep this going. Real quick question before you go. Right here. Yes. Real quick. Two short questions. What is the effective defense mechanism if the threat is arising in a couple years burks if former cop sulation between two countries begins, what would be the goal of the negotiation . The career or do you just have one career that u. S. Deployed that to the usfk . Thank you. Not sure i understood the first question. What would the responses be . All right. The sobm threat, the north threat. Theres a ways, including taking out the submarine that is carrying, and it goes without saying, i mean, put together a hypothetical scenario, if tensions are high with north korea, submarine gets underway and appears it might have a hostile event, everyones interest that not be allowed to happen. If the missile successfully launches, one of the things north korea does is they do not test missiles. They do not have confidence in Something Like this. If they launch and did does not work, they are in trouble because we will have seen the intent, but if it was launched theoretically, we would have our regional defenses aligned to be able to defend against that threat. In terms of the future, i dont want to speculate on what the configuration would be against a Missile Defense system, but, obviously, its in our interest that our partner nations contribute to defending their own soil in this kind of attack, but were also interested in that, particularly since we have so many troops on the ground. Ill leave it to the negotiators, but i have to say we have not open up any kind of discussion formally with south korea on this particular topic. When its ripe, im sure that well get into that, but were approaching this cautiously because we have such Great Respect for our partners. Well, thank you, admiral. This has been a water front, offense, defense, regional Cruise Missile. Thank you for the time. I know you have to run, but i want to say its an ongoing project. National Security Program here youll see more of this stuff, and i want to thank the Program Sponsors for putting this event on today, so, thank you, please join me in thanks him. Thank you for hosting it. [ applause ] Vice President biden was Commencement Speaker at the Graduation Ceremony in maryland. He outlined the global challenges and paid tribute to those who died in the amtrak train derailment. Desist what he five minutes. Vice President Biden i dont want to give the wrong speech here. [laughter] Vice President biden you have already heard one, you dont need to. It is an honor to be here. Governor mcauliffe, a special congratulations to you. Your son jack, top 10 . Captain of the rugby team. Are you sure he is your son . [laughter] i dont know, man, he is a talented young man, but i dont know. Congratulations to you. Secretary made this, the admirals oocytes to me in spite of the fact that i live in his house. The Vice President s home is referred as it is 78 beautiful acres, it used to be the cnos home. I live there and he so speaks me and i appreciate. I live on navy property, i am navy property. Congratulations. Vice admiral carter, faculty staff, family, midshipmen, class of 2015. Before i begin, i would like to again mention and honor midshipmen justin. Justin was a top student, a gifted athlete. Remember him as a young man as quiet strength. He would have made a great navy seal. He will be messed. My heart goes out to his family. No child should predecease a parent. You are among the most Promising Students on the planet. Nobody would have blamed you for choosing an easier path. But you chose service. You chose honor, you chose to join the real 1 to protect the 99 of the rest of us here in america. [applause] we over you, we are proud of you. Today, to graduate from one of the most venerated military and academic institutions and the entire you have earned your place. On one hand, you have been subjected to unflattering haircuts, on the other hand, you get to where dress whites. And you all look terrific. You spend your summer abroad on real ships rather than internships. And the specter of living in your parents basement after this Graduation Day is not likely to be your greatest concern. [laughter] [applause] that is true across the board, even for your history and english majors like me. I see all the english majors nodding. I would like to recognize one graduate today. I appointed sarahs father to the academy in 1978. Dad, you done real well with this girl. I know you parents are just bursting with pride. Class of 2015, you have been an outstanding class. Surpassing even the academys high standards, you excel in your field, 13 straight wins against army football. [applause] not bad. Not that except you are the father of an army major, iraqi war veteran with a bronze star who doesnt like it at all, it is hard on we always go to the army and navy games and i tell you what, it is a devastating thing to sit next to my son, but congratulations. It makes it very uncomfortable at home, though. You have excelled as a community and in the community, you mobilized midshipmen to perform over 26,000 hours of community service. You have registered over 2000 new bone marrow donors collected and donated over 60,000 pounds of food for those in need. You excelled in the classroom. He didnt just win a defense exercise, you became the first graduating class in any school in the country to ever have every student complete the comprehensive Cyber Security curriculum. [applause] back in 1845, the secretary of the navy was bancroft, and he chose this site for seclusion, and seclusion from temptation and distractions of the big city. I wonder what the hell heck he would have done, had he known about the obriens and armadillos, i doubt he would have picked this place. The few of you, some as a consequence of those temptations, have engaged in minor infractions. In the spirit of a longstanding tradition, i hereby absolve all midshipmen from minor conduct offenses. [applause] i say to the parents, you notice a few of them did not cheer initially. They are afraid but i say to all of those on restriction, dont worry, john mccain and i can tell you it has never gotten in the way of real talent. [laughter] you think im kidding, dont you . I went to university of delaware, it wasnt called restriction, it was called social probation. Oh, god forgive me for what i have done anyway. In 15 minutes, you are about to become part of this long continuum of naval and marine officers. Who graduated from this incredible institution, a legacy that goes back 170 years. As somebody who did not graduate from here, that has been in the midst of all of you from my entire professional career, i can tell you you will join now fraternity and a sorority that binds you together like nothing i have ever seen in my life, and i mean this. As my military aide and thousands of others of graduates will tell you, this legacy will stay with you, whether you are in or out of uniform, you will find an annapolis graduates everywhere in the world and know that they will always have your back, whether or not to have ever met you before. It is an incredible thing to see. And i would now like to ask all those veterans with us today including the 37 in the class of 2015, please stand up and be recognized. Please stand. [applause] we know you every breath of our liberty for the sacrifices you have made. This place has given you, the graduates of 2015, bonds that will last an entire lifetime. And you have earned it. There are no other bonds except one, deeper. Those of the bonds with those who came here today to see you. Your moms, dads, grandparents, brothers and sisters. They are the ones responsible for your character. You oh them and america owes them. So, graduating class of 2015 stand up and show your appreciation for your parents. [applause] usually when i address a graduating class, i say to the parents, congratulations, you are about to get a pay raise no more tuition. But you settled that four years ago. This path you have chosen is not for everyone. It is not an easy ride. It will require much, but it will reward much. As you know, the truth measure of an officer is not only how you sail and calm waters, but how you navigate the storm. And we, your fellow americans, expect a great deal from you. Not just your physical courage but your moral courage, as well. Which, at times, can be even harder to muster. You will be measured by this account, as well. As officers, in the military you must demand that every one of your fellow sailors and marines is afforded the dignity, respect that they deserve, no matter base, gender, faith, or sexual orientation. As leaders of the United States navy, we count on you to refuse to tolerate Sexual Harassment or Sexual Assault in any form under any circumstances. It is a matter of honor that you prevent that. [applause] as we look to the future, we look to you to be the deployed face of the demand of america. Rejecting power to every corner of the world. As Theodore Roosevelt declared a good navy is not a provocation to war, it is a sure guarantee of peace, it is the surest guarantee of peace, the United States is in the atlantic and pacific, the arctic, we are in arctic, pacific, and atlantic power. The seas cover 7 10 of the globe, 6 10 of our borders, our seacoast, nine out of 10 people on the planet live on the coasts. This maritime domain, the oceans you will roam will be as important as ever to our National Strength and security in a 21st century. Let me tell you why. First, the oceans continue to be an arena of potential conflict. There is nothing new about events on the seas driving conflict, but what is new . As the great powers have stepped back from the brink of mutual assured distraction, there are new faultlines, these new faultlines will continue to divide the great powers. Tensions run high. As i speak, they run high. But you will be there to keep the peace. U. S. Foreignpolicy is rebalancing toward the vast potential of the asiapacific region. But we cant succeed if you dont show up. That is why 60 of the United States naval forces will be stationed in the asiapacific by 2020. Combat ships, Foreign Forces more are headed to the pacific and so are many of you. It matters because pacific peace and prosperity, to a great extent, has depended on and continues to depend on u. S. Naval power, just as it has for the past 60 years. The president of china asked me, why do i continue to say america is the Pacific Power . I said, because we are, and, you oh your stability over the last 30 years to the United States navy and military. And he acknowledged it. You are. If force for peace and security. We have used your power to reinforce and update the International Rules and cooperations that benefit all nations. To manage the emerging challenges of the century ahead, before they devolve into conflict, and the disputed waters of the south china sea, the u. S. Is not privileged the claims of one nation over another, but we do unapologetically stand up for the equitable and peaceful resolution of disputes and for the freedom of navigation. And today, these principles are being tested. By chinese activities in the south china sea. They are building air strips. Oil rigs. The imposition of unilateral bands on fishing and disputed territories to it the declaration of air defense zones, the reclamation of land which other countries are doing but not nearly on the massive scale the chinese are doing. We are going to look to you to uphold these principles wherever they are challenged. To strengthen our growing security partnerships and to make good on our unshakable commitment to the mutual defense of our allies. You will serve in ships, not squadrons, deployed everywhere from these very specific seas, to areas where iranian ships threaten chokepoints. In a black see in the baltic sea, you will play a role in protecting europe at a time when russian aggression threatens europes frontier. Around the world, your presence will be felt, conveys a potential adversaries the cost of aggression against us or our allies would be devastating. We will look to you to guarantee our strategic Nuclear Deterrence, serving on navy Ballistic Missile submarines the most secure and survival element of our nuclear triad. From the offense if firepower of the marine expedition reinforce to our Carrier Strike forces to our multimission Ballistic Missile offense capable ships. And truth, the truth that you know as well as i do, it is not only are you on the seas, i have been out of afghanistan and iraq over 27 times. I have seen you. I have seen young Navy Captains and fobs high up in the valley i have watched marines throw themselves into harms way in iraq and afghanistan. 35,000 of you marines, 5000 sailors at this moment are deployed ashore in conflict areas. You are everywhere. There is a second reason why remain so vital to us. As if what i just said were not enough. We also look to you to keep the Global Economy afloat. Because the oceans are the vital avenues of commerce, and we depend upon the navy to protect sea lanes. People sometimes think in this day and age of Global Commerce think in terms of the internet and air travel, but unit the reality. At this moment, 80 of all the commerce in the world is in the back of a container ship. That remains the backbone of world commerce, 90 of it. That is only going to increase. As you all know too well, the worlds ceilings do not police themselves. You, united since navy, police them. Protecting against piracy and coercion. In the century ahead, we will look to the oceans you roam, not just as and avenue of commerce, to deal with the challenges no other country in the world can solve alone. And you can solve without us. We rely on you, the notice is maybe, to lead in solving these emergent problems. When millions of lives were ravaged by nature as we saw after the devastating typhoon in the philippines, United States navy filled the void, saving countless lives. Our presence, your presence matters. As president obama discussed at the Coast Guard Academy graduation a couple days ago the change in climate means, quote, more extreme storms will mean more humanitarian missions to deliver lifesaving help, our forces will have to be ready. He remain indispensable you remain indispensable. Americans demand of the ocean is the measure and the simple of our diplomatic and military primacy in the world. As George Washington remarked during the revolutionary war quote it follows then a certain as that night succeeds day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive and with it, everything honorable and glorious. That hasnt changed one single bit. So i say to you all, we continue to count on you to protect the World Security in the high seas, to project the presence required to sustain the u. S. Is a global superpower, to be where it matters when it matters most. We cannot promise you fame or money, we cannot promise you he called or quiet passage, but i can promise you, without and beyond the exception of your mother father husbandandwife there will be no title you will more proudly bear than being an officer in the United States navy and United States marine corps. [applause] in a different century, john kennedy said something that applies today, as well. He said any man who may be asked in the century what he did to make his life worthwhile, i think he can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction i served in the United States navy. [applause] in the weeks, months, and years to come, you will be asked to bear burdens and make sacrifices you will never have dreamed of. And you will wonder whether you will be capable of it. When does always arise, and they will, remember all you have learned, all you felt, all you breathed, here at the naval academy. You will rise to the moment and no one thing for sure. You are not alone. You will never ever be alone. You will be surrounded by a family that raised you in a family that made you an officer in the finest military in the history of the World Without exception. So congratulations, class of 2015. May god bless and protect the brigades of the navy and the marine corps and may you have fair winds in the seas. May god protect all of our troops in harms way. God bless america. [applause] next a joint house and senate midi hearing on Veterans Health care issues, then q a with michael whitmore. Live at 7 00 a. M. , your calls and comments on washington journal. Tonight on the communicators, acting executive director tj kennedy on the Broadband Committee occasions network for first responders. The would be able to provide a Broadband Network for first responders. So firefighters and Emergency Medical Technicians on the scene would have the ability to have video of things from the scene ring sent to incoming responders. To have pictures from the scene. Have important data on where everybody is. Today not everyone would have the ability to see where the other and balances are staged. In a mass casualty situation you would be able to leverage it for triage. You could say that today there is Technology Like fit bit and other Wearable Technology cannot what if it was done for Emergency Medical Services where they could place it on a patient and get vital signs. Not necessarily today, but think of the innovation record happen. The innovation that could happen. You could make sure they were handed off and there is continuity of care and you can adjust to a changing situation. Tonight at 8 00 et on the communicators. Wednesday, the house and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee held a joint hearing to hear from multiple Veterans Service organizations on what they believe are the most pressing issues including veteran health, Suicide Prevention and budgetary issues. Ranking member blumenthal. There will be an opportunity for remarks. Hearing no objections, so ordered. Our witnesses will include the paralyzed veterans of america colonel Robert Norton Patrick Little commander of the military the witnesses here today and the organizations they represent serve a necessary and admirable role to ensure men and women of our armed forces have the care benefits, and opportunities they deserve when they come home. Im thankful for the dedication and the Noble Service of each of the organizations represented here today and their representatives have worn the uniform themselves. A returning war fighter deserves the best. Im honored in my position as chairman of the House Committee to work alongside these groups to make sure that is exactly what they get. I would like to personally welcome everyone who is made the trip here. Raise your hand if you are from the sunshine state. Feels like home out there. Yesterday was like the panhandle of florida. Much different today. Glad to have you here with us. I want to welcome the members of each of the organizations auxiliary. Thank you for their work behind the scenes. Each Organization Today has its own legislative priorities but if everyone has a common goal to ensure that the president and future veterans of this great nation are in fact afforded the best care for the Selfless Service that they provided. Over the past year we have uncovered severe problems within the department of Veterans Affairs that have required tremendous efforts from dsos like yours to improve access to care and to dismantle the diseased coulter in the department that has allowed certain employees to escape muchneeded accountability. I introduced legislation that would improve accountability. Hr 473 would make three important changes and give the secretary the authority to reduce employment retirement pay if they are convicted of a felony related to their work performance, ensuring they are not being rewarded for their misdeeds. Similarly the Performance Evaluation Program are subject to reforms to prevent bad acts from being covered up by the undeserved high reviews. This bill would prevent employs from being on init