Transcripts For CSPAN2 Defense 20240706

We are just getting started. Building 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. U. S. Defense secretary austin and joint chiefs of staff mark meli testified before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the 2024 defense budget. The military leaders discussed the need for him on time budget approval. This is about one hour and 40 minutes. [inaudible conversations] want to call this hearing to order. Good morning. I want to begin by welcoming the witnesses. We appreciate your willingness to be in front of the committee this morning. This will be your last appearance before the subcommittee. I want to go off script here a little bit. You are the ultimate professional, somebody that has been very good for the whole committee to work with. You are a straight shooter and youve done a hell of a good job and i appreciate thatc and i jut hope the senate will be able to find common sense to be able to reform your successor so that the department is enforced to rely on a placeholder for your position because it is simply too important for that. Thisn is an unprecedented holdn military promotions frozen over 60 nominations in as many as 650 by the ends of the year. I will tell you the people on this committee no what the threats are in this world, and we need to be able to assist the military being successful and this is not assisting the military to be successful, it s plain dangerous. We are meeting to discuss in 842 billiondollar budget request for they next fiscal year. A few months ago we passed to te budget for this year 618 billion which provided 74 billionn increase over fy 2. I bring up that point because there are some who advocate for keeping all Government Spending in fiscal year 2022 levels. In light of the military aggression that sounds plain irresponsible to me with the majority propose that. Its my hope that today you can detail for us what such a drastic funding would need to the National Defense. Of course all bets are off if we dont reach a bipartisan agreement soon. Weve got to deal with it in a commonsense way. Im hopeful that bipartisan talks can keep going in earnest and that the cooler heads will prevail before we come to a default. The challenges we face are numerous. We need to solve the debt. The risk of a government default is real and the shutdown is real. The risk of a longterm cr is real and while we are busy fighting among ourselves they continued their buildup and unjust war against ukraine. Iran is continuing its influence in the middle east and violent terrorist plots to do us harm. Weve got to get the budget done so the men and women in uniform supported by the wireless civilians can go about their business of keeping us safe. I support the ongoing efforts of senators murray and collins and will work with anybody to get the job done. We will get to the specifics here shortly but my main question is are the troops getting what they need and when they needed. Are we keeping up with our military modernization and is it spending dollars wisely and as promised because the truth is we cant afford to waste time or money. I want to thank the witnesses for the testimony today before your opening remarks i would turn over to senator collins. Thank you very much for holding this hearing on the 2024 budget request for the department of defense. Let me echo the chair mans thanks and praise as you approach your retirement, thank you for your more than 40 years of service to our country. I am however not as confident as the chairman thatur this is your last appearance so dont take any hope in that statement. The 2022 National Defense strategy rightly captures the importance of deterring china. I strongly support that objective and know that you both the secretary and general have worked hard to develop a strategy driven request within the top line that you were provided. I would suggest that its not a sufficient condition and that the president s budget is inadequate to achieve this goal no matter how talented, innovative and hardworking our armed forces are no matter how good their leadership. The military must also have a sufficient budget top line. I have serious doubts that the administrations budget request provides all of the resources necessary to detour an aggressive china and deal with other global threats. For example the budget request would result in a smaller fleet of 291 ships. This is five fewer than todays fleet. China is growing to 400 in the next two years. In the absence of a higher defense budget, the committee would have to fill in the gap to deter china. Let me highlight a few examples of what is missing from the budget request. 3. 5 billion in the indo a calm unfunded priorities. 266 millioni to fund north common to detect airborne targets such as chinese spy balloons. Funding to replenish 1 billion in president ial drilled him authority that congress authorized last year. The cost to fully implement with the administrations own zero trust architecture policy to protect against insiders Cyber Threats that causes for the deployment of 1500 activeduty troops sent to the southwest border just this week. A Security Assistance for ukraine beyond september and 1. 6 billion and under budget fuel costs according to the Government Accountability office and analysis. That figurell is 20 more than e budget request. I recognize the fuel cost driven by thee white house but last Years Experience is instructive. If congress had funded the department at the level that was requested last year, our troops housing, food, healthcare, fuel and readiness wouldar be facingn aide to billion dollar inflatioo hold. That doesnt exist today because congress insisted upon a higher and more realistic funding. One final point on ukraine about which i share the chair mans commitment it is critical that the administration provided ukraine with what it needs in time to defend and take back its sovereign territory. We expect the administration not to wait until the 11th hour if the ukrainians seek more before the end of the fiscal year. There are many issues for us to discuss today and again i thank all three of the witnesses for their Extraordinary Service and i lookth forward to discussing these issues with them. Thank you for your statement. Secretary alston, you have the floor. Thank you. A charming tester, vice chair collins and distinguished members of the committee, im glad to be here with you to testify in support of the president s budget request for fiscalst year 2024. Im joined as always by general millie and remain grateful for his leadership and im also glad to be joined by the departments comptroller and cfo mike mccord. This is a strategy driven budget adand one driven by the seriousness of the strategic competition with the peoples republic off china. 842 billion it is a 3. 2 increase over fiscal year 23, and it is 13. 4 higher than fiscal year 22 enacted. This budget will help us continue to implement our National Defense strategy and the president S National Security strategy. I have three key priorities at the pentagon, to defend the nation, to take care of ourr outstanding people and to succeed through teamwork. The prc is our facing challenge and we are driving hard to meet it. The budget bills on the previous investments to deter aggression we are investing in a more resilient indo pacific and increasing the scale and scope of our exercises with our partners. This budget includes a 40 increase over last years request for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and its an alltime high of 9. 1 billion. That will fund a stronger force, better defenses for hawaii and guam and a deeper cooperation with our allies and partners. I look forward to being back nextxt week before the full sene Appropriations Committee to go into more depth on how we are working with our interagency partners to continue to outpace the prc. This budget also makes it the largest ever investments in both r d and procurement. Requesting more than 61 billion to sustain dominance. That includes funding for fighters and the extraordinary Strategic Bomber that i helped unveil last december. We are also seeking mored than 48 billion for power including new construction on the nine Battle Force Ships and we are boosting the capacity at americas shipyards to build the ships in the strategy demands. We are investing a total of 1. 2 billion in the submarine Industrial Base and to virginia class tech submarines and one columbia class holistic missile submarine. On land we are investing in air esand Missile Defense and defens to counter unmanned aerial vehicles. We are also requesting 11 billion to deliver the right mix of longrange including Major Investments in hypersonics. Also we continue to modernize all three legs of our Nuclear Triad to bolster the Strategic Deterrence and we put forth the largest space budget and pentagon history. We requested 33. 3 billion to improve the capabilities and resilience. Let me again thank congress for providing the department with multiyear procurement authorities and appropriations for critical munitions. In this budget we are requesting more multiyear procurement authorities and we are asking for more than 30 billion to further invest in the Industrial Base and to combine the maximum number of munitionses that American Industries can produce. The budget also moves us away from aging capabilities and nonrelevant to future conflicts so we can focus on the advances the war fighters will need. The Defense Strategy calls out putin for the aggressive russia as an acute threat. Under president bidens leadership the United States has rallied the world to help ukraine fight russias indefensible invasion. Weve reinforced the defense and the deterrence on the eastern and our allies and partnersss he provided crucial Security Assistance, coordinated through the Defense Contact Group that i lead and we will support ukraines defense for as long as it takes. Meanwhile the Department Remains against other persistent threats including north korea and iran. We will take all necessary measures to defend the troops and our interests overseas as seen from our airstrikesea in march against facilities linked tod irans Islamic Revolutionary guards. We are also investing in over the Horizon Counterterrorism capabilities. I know youve been following the reports of the disclosure of sensitive and classified u. S. Material. I take this issue very seriously and ive ordered a comprehensive review of the Department Security Program Policies anda procedures for safeguarding classified information. Ive also discussed this issue with our allies and partners around the world struck by their solidarity and commitment to reject efforts to divide us. We will not let anything fracture our unity. Our joint force stands ready to begin any challenge. You can see this from me you can see the forces readiness after russias unprovoked invasion of ukraine when we swiftly deployed elements of the Third Infantry Division to poland to shore the eastern. We monitor at the unit level and maintain Response Forces at the highest states of readiness while the rest of the force by design is preparing for future contingencies. So this budget will help usle maintain our readiness with 146 billion in funding for Operations Training and maintenance. The budget also invests in improving our readiness and resilience in the face of Climate Change and other 21st century threats and we are going to remain the Strongest Military in the world. And as we mark the 50thh anniversary of our all volunteer force, i am enormously proud of the brave men and women who choose to wear the cloth of the nation. We owe it to them and their families to pick the best possible care of our people. Over the past two years weve made moves easier and cut the commissary prices and made childcare more affordable. In this budget funds and other key steps to increase the quality off life of our teammats including the Largest Military and civilian pay raises in decades. We are also pushing hard to eliminate a suicide in the ranks including immediate steps to hire more Mental Health professionals, and to improve access to Mental Health care. Meanwhile we are working towards a military free of Sexual Assault and we worked with congress to improve the response to Sexual Assault and related crimes under the uniform code of military justice and of those reforms will be fully implemented by the end of this year. As the department is also investing in a specialized workforce to combat sexual harassment, suicide and more. Now the departments third priority is succeeding for teamwork. Our unrivaled network of allies andnt partners magnifies our por and expands our security. In recent months our friends in the indo pacific have taken major steps forward. The philippines have agreed to a nearly doublewe the number where we incorporate together. Japan committed to double the defense spending and through the Historic Office partnership we will work with our australian and british allies to build Game Changing defense advantages that will detour aggression and boost the Defense Industrial capacity. In sum, this budget, this is the budget that will meet at this thismoment and i respectfully ak for your support. The single most effective way this committee can support the department and our outstanding troops is with an ontime whole year appropriation so i look forward to working with all of you so that we can continue to defend our democracy and support the forces of freedom in this hourh of challenge. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you secretary austen. Austin. General, you have the floor. Chairman history and vice chair collins andof distinguishd members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. Ive been privileged to defend this country for 43 years in uniform and next month started my 44th year and hopefully senator collins this is my last hearing. I think congress for your support to the military for the last for decades not just for this budget, but for four consecutive decades i think you all for that. We couldnt be the military we are today without the American People and representatives so that i ask for you today ishahat once again you approve an ontime budget. Im honored to represent the joint force and their families alongside the leadership of secretary austin and both have been working with them both for many years and their leadership has been superlative. Our joint force today is the most lethal and Capable Military in the world because of your support. The militarys purpose is simple, to defend the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic and there is no other purpose for the military. Fundamental to this is deterrence. More specifically, to deter the great power of war. Thto do this our number one priority is readiness now and readiness in the future and there is no other number one priority. The joint force will accomplish this in the fy 24 budget request of 842 billion. Right now the system is under increasing stress both china and russia have the means to threaten our interests and our way of life but war with china oror russia is neither eminent r inevitable. The prc remains our number one a longterm geostrategic security challenge and has been pointed out in our national strategy. The prc has stated that it intends to be the regional in asia within the next ten years and to exceed the United States overall military capability by mid century. Chinese actions are moving on a path of confrontation with its neighbors or the United States. But again were with china is neither inevitable or eminent. Additionally, russiaer is an ace threat and remains very dangerous especially under current conditions. Over a year ago russia undertook a war against ukraine threatening piece on the european continent instability for the First Time Since the end of world war ii. We are supporting ukraine toro protect its sovereignty inn supporting nato with a forced presencen in every single nation on the United States policy remains the same and has remained committed iran will not have a Nuclear Weapon. North korea has continued Ballistic Missile testing also posing threats to our homeland and allies and partners. We stand with thest republic of korea shoulder to shoulder to do turn to deter north korean aggression as we have over 70 years. Terrace to run the growth threat and fear and instruction and destabilization. United States Military stands ready to protect nations interest in the American People. We are standing watch with nearly a quarter of a million, georgia 50000 deployed troops around the world today. 5000 air force naval marine and Army Aircraft per day 100 ships at sea on a given day. We never fight alone. Wiki source of ourur strength is alliance of partnerships. And operational readiness rates are higher now than they have been many years. Currently 60 percent of our actives force is at the highest states of readiness and could to play to combat in less than 30 days will exceeding the minimum we established many years ago. 10 percent of the United States military could to play less than 96 hours. The president one year ago ordered the military to react to russia we double the amount of fighters squadrons and double the ships and submarines in the european theater and did that and 35 days. That doesnt happen by accident. Just a few weeks ago, the president ordered United States military to evacuate more than 70 government personnel in a joint operation so far we facilitated departure of more than 1300 american citizens at a studio one sudan. Delivered by special Operations Aircraft with fixed wing fighterbombers army rangers in a Quick Reaction force and five us naval vessels off the coast along with National Board one of the National Guard ready to go it was a joint operation in support of the 18th Airborne Corps as part of a whole of government effort to support the department of state alongside many allies. All that was planned and coordinated synchronized and executed from a cold start. Forcee can rapidly detect response of power anywhere around the globe and no adversary should ever doubt that. Word military is ready. The joint forces are at the Inflection Point to balance modernization we must not allow ourselves to create the false trap to either modernize our focus. We mustt do both and integrate advanced technologies hypersonic weapons, robotics. The time is now. We had very little margin to wait the Common Thread critical to this is the people we must invest in training, education. I urge congress to support the significant pay raise and childcare initiatives. The only thing more expensive than preparing for war is fighting a war. Its much cheaper to prevent war this budget will significantly improve our future readiness in order to prevent war we must act with a sense of urgency to deter war. Thank you and i look forward to yours questions. Almost everybody will participate today so they will be fiveminute rounds and ill asked the panel to be as thorough and sustained with answers as possible. I will talk about continuing resolutions and then to restrict the cash flow and to be in the business of National Security some say our most important business. If another cr is enacted for this fiscal year what programs are you most concerned about quick. That is to affect because of a cr. No amount of money can buy back time. You cant start new programs the prc is not waiting. They will execute on their own timeline. I pointed out earlier our budget is directly linked were strategy. Of course if we dont have a budget we cannot effectively execute that strategy looking at the investments from fighter aircraft. I mentioned early years 61 billion of investment in our air force and 48 million of the naval forces, those kinds of things we cannot get after because of continuing resolution. So the best way congress can support us in the efforts to execute our strategy is a and on time appropriations. Inflation iss real and a concern this is an 842 billiondollar budget. Have you been able to put any sort of numbers to determine how much acr would cost us . Certainly it would depend on how long it is in effect. And i defer to mike mccord but this is something we will continue to evaluate on a daily monthly weekly basis. We built significant funding to account for inflation just as a secretary described that approaches 40 billion. Cr byy definition doesnt give us any of that it keeps the top line where it was last yeare but that is a 25 billiondollar reduction and inflation is aan significant hit just as all three legs of the triad. Secretary austinar talk about how a potential government default would affect your ongoing efforts. We are would known for being very dependable and paying our bills on time and a source of stability globally. What that would mean realistically for us is in some cases we cannot pay our troops with any degree of predictability and that is really important for us. And to have a real impact on the pockets of our troops and civilians. Some would say the department is getting used to dealing with cr so no big deal how do you respond to that quick. Several key things first is Current Operations of readiness we have done this with a significant degradation but i just rattled off and that can depreciate over time. The number of red flags and all ofer those events would start over time the 5000 that i mentioned up front and that depends on how long the cr went. With those fixed weighing helicopters. And now sailing the seven seas and for future readiness and modernization measuring the new star also some delays and we capitalization and columbia could be at risk things like that would be stretched out longterm its a terrible way toee do business. Its a terrible way to run a business when youre basically doing budgets for nine months at a time so the very Significant Impact on the readiness and then also the immeasurable riches morale. Soto is these people in a sense of uncertainty and then the adversaries around the world. Lets assume we do achieve our goal to enact the dod hair appropriations bill on time if we use the administrations estimate that the gao has underestimated cost by 20 percent, absent how would military we did on readiness be affected and the training exercises and the other activities needed to stay within the 20 percent shortfall. If it is 20 percent in shortfall. And with stinks and they all rely on fuel. So we could end up reducing the amount of feet fleet in the ground or air we have done the math to get back on the specific number of hours. But it has a Significant Impact driving of miles per vehicle. Thank you. Secretary austin general millie noted in his statement discussing a rand that it would only takeco several more months to produce an actual siNuclear Weapon. And he goes on to say the United States remains committed as a matter of policy to say i ran will not have a Nuclear Weapon. What are some of the policies the administration is pursuing to prevent iran from developing very quickly Nuclear Weapon . From a military perspective, my responsibility is to make sure that is our policy iran will not have a Nuclear Weapon into make sure the president has options available to him so we remain focused on making sure those options remain available and they are. Moving on in january the department announced the tanks would be delivered to ukraine at the latest information that i have is that will not occur until this fall is that accurate . Canrm you update the current delivery the schedule and if there is any way to accelerate the delivery of these tanks to ukraine . Were doing Everything Possible towa accelerate the delivery of these tanks and early fall is a projection and in the meantime weve moved a number of tanks into theater so ukrainians can begin training on this capability. By thehe time they complete the training the tanks will be available for them to use. We put in the infrastructure to sustain and support this capability as well. This is the different capability with some sophisticated systems. We are moving as fast as possible to get the capability in the hands of the ukrainians certainly we will have that available by early fall. Another threat to the United States is a terrorist attack with our focus on china and russia and iran and north korea we cannot lose sight that afghanistan is once again a safe haven for many terrorist groups. Testifying before the Armed Services committee that isisk will likely conduct operations outside ofie afghanistan within six months and that comes with little or no warning. I know the United States military madewi an effort to take that out when the troops left but approximately 7 billion worth of valuables with military equipment provided to the Security Forces remains in a country. Are you concerned about the factte the weapons the americans gave to the Security Forces could be turned against us and our western allies in a terrorist attack . Vice chair you accurately describe what we are looking at in terms of the equipment. The equipments they were using was retro created by general millie and his staff. And the decision was made to troops we the closed 11 bases, brought out thousands of tons of equipment that was for our forces and that retrograde was done very successfully and over 20 years we did a lot to provide capability to the Afghan Military and then that turn to be quite a bit of equipment. And the government collapsed in the Security Forces lay down their arms, that material became available to the taliban. Yes that equipment is still in afghanistan, but it is equipment we are provided to the forces but not what we left behind because we cannot retrograde. Thank you very much. I am really glad we are continuing to hold these important hearings to move closer to get the committee back to regular order. We made Good Progress but we have to stay the course to pass the nations funding bills in a timely manner we know competitors like the Chinese Government are doing everything they can to gain ground so we cannot afford to let our efforts get sidetracked and investments fall behind our military needs a certainty of a regular and smooth appropriations process they can depend on im glad to have this opportunity to hear from secretary austin about the resources needed to keep the nation safe including support for military families Mental Health Care Childcare andrs more because our most important military asset is the men and women who are willing to put their lives on the line to keep our country safe. We owing to them to Work Together across the aisle to get the job done in the governmentfunded without drama and get them the support they need. Thank you for being here today. T our nation suicide crisis is devastating and we see serious riskt among servicemembers. The latest report of suicide in the military is a steady increase in with a small decrease in 21 but there is still a lot of work to be done secretary austin you have noted how the stress caused by the unpredictability of life in the military and the demand for troops to confront so many threats abroad with challenges accessing challenges as to the problem they are finding challenges hiring specialist with access to Mental Health care. Can you tell us what steps you are taking to increase hiring so servicemembers have access to Mental Health care . This is something that remains very importantry to me. We talked about this a number of times. Mental health is health, period. We havee to maintain that outlook towards taking care of our troops Senior Leaders both uniform and civilian and Senior Leaders and this was one topic prominent in that session. I am asking for 200 million inw this budget to devote to suicide preventioni which includes increasing access to Mental Health care and i am really emphasizing to leadership we need to do Everything Possible to make sure we are working with the civilian capabilities in our communities to make sure we have access and increase capacity that is available to us. But you are right. We did see an improvement in 21. Wewe work hard to see if we can continue to improve that this remains a challenge. Access to Mental Health care is fundamental. We need to follow up on that. I appreciate it. The navy sends a nuclear arms submarine to south korea for the First Time Since the eighties in the west on uss washington replaces uss reagan in japan for maintenance. These will only become more important as assets asso we strengthen our partnerships and support allies throughout the indo pacific. Maintaining the flea is paramount to our success in the Puget Sound Naval shipyard is vital to the maintenance work. Thats the only shipyard ont the west coast capable of drydock and iss responsible for maintenance of the maturity of the west coast submarines. Those are vulnerable tobm seismic activity. Secretary austin i am disappointed despite knowing about the need to address those issues it was left out of the budget request this year. How is the department ensuring the multiyear project is and will continue to be a top priority for the navy . Thank you for your continued support on this issue. First of all let me emphasize the safety and protection of assets it is important to the department when we experience a challenge because of the seismic activity we rapidly deployed assessment teams to assess damage and also to outline steps necessary to get our capability back up and running and we have a High Standard for safety. We have done that work and we are bringing those assets back online. In this budget i am asking for two. 7 million to continue to invest in infrastructure and we will continue to invest in this and future budget request as well. Thank you for your presence and your service. Mr. Secretary, what is your explanation . How toe resolve the problem of recruitment what is the cost for the failure of young men and women to sign up . It strikes me it needs to be defined. We have the greatest level of retention of any military installation but recruitment is down. Retention is there. What ise your story . There are a number of challenges that have come together. Is for most is two years of covid. Me recruiters spend a lot of time interacting with prospective recruits in schools so there access to school is important. If they dont have that access for two years than it certainly creates a challenge for us. Add that to be seen the lowest Unemployment Rate in decades. There is a number of things that combine to create the challenges. Is not the first time we have seen challenges ine recruiting as you know. And when i was in the military i was a recruiter for you period of time. I know the things you have to do to improve number one increase contact and you have to invest in advertising and marketing you have to have the right quality of recruiters engaging the public and engage centers of influence and other key leaders in the community. All of those things, our services our work working in all of those areas and i am optimistic this trough because of the effects of covid we will climb out. We are seeing some positive trends and will continue to do the right things to make sure that gets turned around. Our capability of defending the country but what rest solely with men and women in uniform. I would make one strong request that we all emphasize the value of service whether or not you serve in the military or community are as a member of the federal Government Services important but from key leadership hearing that would help this overall. Let me ask about the National Guard. We have seen how important the National Guard is and the role they play to defend our nation. The National Guard makes up 20 percent of the. Joint force that the National Guard vice chief is the only one with three stars. Is that appropriate or is there a plan to remedy that circumstance quick. I agree the National Guard isro critical to our Overall Department of defense. I cannot over emphasize the capability they bring to the force. This is something our structure with the billets that we have we continue to evaluate. I have all the authorities that i need i dont need any additional authorities. But thats something we continue to look at as we go from year to year into the future and right now i dont see the need to affect any changes. Thank you for your consideration. Finally, Congress Last year, just to make this point, Congress Passed the impact act due to toxic exposure and we have significant challenges of families and servicemembers impacted by contaminated Drinking Water at redhill. And if the department has not established an exposure registry, i encourage you to do so and i hope the budget has the resources necessary to care for those servicemembers and their families. We have. Thank you. Thank you for your service. We appreciate you very much. Thank you, mr. Chairman. General millie, you served our nation well when history is written of your service it will clearly recognize america was safer under your watch. The troops you lead had an effective in curing leader and your command. That this history may not tell the whole story l unless you write it. Of your fidelity to our constitution when there were serious questions of that peaceful transition which is central to the preservation of our democracy. Our constitution and our union survived because of you and we are stronger today. Thank you. Secretary austin, yesterday i had a meeting in my office with several senators with the chief prosecutory of the International Criminal court. He recently charge putin with were crimes. Weth know what he is basing that on, the unspeakable atrocities caused by Russian Forces in ukraine stealing, kidnapping, hundreds if not thousands of, children. Rape, beheadings, torture, mass executions, and targeting individual private citizens. The prosecutor general has documented more than 77000 were crimes and crimes against humanity sadly the number continues to grow. What i met with him i asked if there is more the United States could do to help him gather the evidence and documents necessary to prosecute putin for these awful were crimes. He said there is cooperation from department of state, department of justice, but that did not include the secretary of defense and your department. s efforts regarding were crimes are so important Congress Last year passed a dish authority allowing us to share intelligence with the icc. We have one president. One commanderinchief. But im not certainly have one policy when it comes to the work criminal putin. They to askw you directly , where you reluctant to t share the evidence we have gathered through the department of defense for those were holding Vladimir Putin accountable for his were crimes . I absolutely agree with what you said with the atrocities we have witnessed throughout it has been despicable and we continue towe see evidence of two and deliberately targeting civilians and apartment buildings and you name it the Department Fairly supports Holding Russia accountable and there are multiple ways to promote accountability including the domestic ukrainian efforts and i believe in a principled approach to promote accountability. I will alwayst prioritize the protection of us military personnel and anything that we do. What is your department not sharing evidence we have gathered to help that effort . Department of state is, department of justice why not the department of defense . I will tell you that it is important to us to make sure that russia is held accountable and we support the goal to hold them accountable. But again i do have concerns about reciprocity Going Forward we will continue to look for ways to support the effort of Holding Russia accountable. Are you aware of the additional authorities we created by law to allow your department to cooperate with the icc . I am. You feel there is a deficiency to hold you back from helping to prosecute Vladimir Putin quick. Is seen the deficiencies in your legislation. What is the explanation . Why is it when the prosecutors meet with us they list the cooperating agencies of our l government and specifically dont list the department of defense . Why . We will do everything within our power to make sure we support efforts to hold russia accountable. But i remain concerned about the protection of us military personnel. I respect you and i voted for you and would do it again but i would ask for more your personal feelings with you do it or not should be second to the law . Should it not quick. It is, they are. If the losses cooperate, and you we fuse what conclusion should i draw quick. We have not refused to abide by any law. There could be some confusion but again we support the goal of Holding Russia accountable. I have to ask you to prove it by doing so by the people howho observe those they thank you are falling short and holding back why we withhold back evidence against this work criminal and the terrible things he is doing at understanddi at all you dont think the law is deficient but you have a feeling . Mr. Secretary, give me more than that and tell me why. You must have a compelling reason for not cooperating. What is it . I will always prioritize protection of military personnel. That is my concern. You dont think the lobby past does that quick. Il, do not make a comment on the law. The lawco is sufficient obviously it is established by congress. And wee are compelled to respect the law. It would never jeopardize our troops senator graham feels the same but you draw personal opposite conclusion and frankly i think it is hurting the efforts. I yield. Rather than beating the horse i would recommend we probably haveel a meeting if that is okay with you. I have been a judge advocate most of my adult life and we have written this law in a way so it applies to foreign nationals, russians involved were crimes in ukraine to help hold putin accountable he says we have a lot of valuable information that could accelerate his prosecution not only of putin and others. I familiar with the. [inaudible] group quick. I am. They are a horrible terrorist organization. I would like to prosecute themte. I would like to meet with you and your team to make sure that not only follow the law but understand the benefit of thiswi legislation. So general millie, what are all of those stripes mean on your arm . Each one represents six months in combat. Since 9 11 how many years if you been away from your family . About half the time may be eight or nine. More typical than not. It is very typical. My o peers and the senior ncos that have been here since 911 have probably spent one year on or off for half the time deployed to get us into combat. Think your family to their Service Going to afghanistan based on the withdrawal of afghanistan as senator collins indicated in six months we could be attacked without warning is that a fairly accurate statement quick. 18 months ago testifying 12182436 and what has said in testimony that is in within the ranges of the testimony as well so our ability to monitor and track in afghanistan but we still have the abilities. Are we less safe than we were before quick. Io would say the United States military is committed to monitor the threat. I will say we are less safe. So if putin wins or perceived to of winning what is it to the world what does that mean and is there a correlation in your view between success or failure and chinas likelihood to invade taiwan . The chinese are watching very carefully and i think for ukraine it is an existential threat for their very existence for europe and United States and i think what putin has done is an illegal direct assault and if he is allowed to succeed china will learn certain lessons it will be the single Decisive Point to calculate into the decisionmaking process the outcome of ukraine is critical to our broader issue. If putin is seen as having lost does that make america safer . I think it does because being a free and sovereign country if that is the end result of the war then putin will have failed in his attempts to take ukraine undermining their rules based order and that which has been in existence for eight decades now is critical to world peace and global stability. Mr. Mccord quick. In 2033 under this budget how much will we be spending on defense in terms of gdp . We have been in the free range for quite a while and would be right around three. My information says two. Five. Check that out then ev thinks they need 373 ships and to get there they have to spend 5 percent above inflation. Do you agree this budget will not allow the navy to get at 373 ships . We will not get that number. Because we are spending under inflation there are a bunch of scenarios the house budget 2022 plus one is a 14 percent cut . The house proposal what does that mean to the military how many dollars lost quick. This year 100 billion below our request. A cr is a loss to the military quick. Thats right. This budget puts you below inflation so the committees task is to reject all of this and come up with a number to keep a safe. Thank you very much secretary often in general millie i want to start in hawaii. The people of oahu have suffered tremendously the biggest pollution event in the state of hawaii at red hill book fuel Storage Facility in the closure of red hill must continue to stay on schedule. To summit on the record from hawaii state leaders about the importance of water and remediation of the land impacted by the red hill fuel spill. Without objection. Secretary austin can you assure the people of hawaii that red hill will never be used for fuel storage reparations once it is empty quick. Ur yes. I made that decision that is my intent and also thank you for everything you in the delegation have done to help us move forward. Are you on track to send your certification to congress that they will not be and adversely impacted by the closure quick. We are on track and this is something that we work routinely i just met with my leadership last week to check to see where we are. War with china is not inevitable so the Department Must use all tools available to have new capabilities partnerships. Secretary austin the budget includes nine. 1 billion so how do you ensure the funds improve readiness and bolster deterrence without falling into the trap of fancy expensive goldplated weapon systems . This is something we try very closely as the indo Pacific Command develops is request we work through each request and we are investing to provide us the ability to further forward station our troops and capability so infrastructure is important to us and you will see that reflected. Its important to understand how cheap and we need balance of both. To make it clear to you these nkpartnerships are highly leveraged i think about pacific pathways this is small money and an enormous impact talk about the indo pay, they talk about the pathway of a highly leveraged partnership is not zero dollars but not nearly as expensive as the other stuff. Commanders are preoccupied with fragile electrical grids and dealing with the issues have real opportunity cost take away from our readiness. General millie the requesting fsr and and 470 million increase over last year our services and sharing they make meaningful progress over the most critical aging infrastructure . Thank you for that each of the services have ag very deliberate Inspection Program for all of the infrastructure going to a rigorous process to ensure it remains modernized and up to date from the operational standpoint and for taking care of the families and the troops. They have a rigorous process. Each one is slightly different but i can come back for each service if you would like. Ive looked at that process they areli all very rigorous for each service. Last question for secretary austin last year a stress the importance of interagency coordination and dods role as a silent but important partner in the process negotiations are ongoing but going reasonably well and the strategic importance is a states continue to grow can you talk about how important it is United States successfully we grew on grow . These are partners that we have a long history with. They are incredibly helpful and patriotic. Large percentage of the population served in our military. As you pointed out state has the lead but dod is certainly a player and we will continue to contribute and hopefully help move things forward in a meaningful way. D to quickly point out those that are residing get the v. A. Servicesab they deserve but we need a statutory change if there is budget pressure but there is not but as you deal with Pacific Island leaders thank god for small favors this is the kind of thing that define our relationship whether we respect them or their citizens or secretary blinken slogan friends l. A. Partners is real to them the Big Investments are important but taking care of the people as though they are True Partners they think makes the difference. Chairman, thank you. I know when youre in testimony you acknowledge decision last said apostrophe earrings for credit know if you are celebrating after this for thank you for your years of service and all you have provided us. Today is a significant day looking at the southern border with regards to title 42 the 11h of may is also significant far from the south in the arctic today is the day russia transfers the Arctic Council to norway hopefully all will be smooth and the governing body moving forward but is something i am paying attention to we Pay Attention to the arctic can pay on and appreciate with the Arctic Strategy and to focus clearly with intent so i was curious meeting to your a statements this morning i am concerned thbecause neither of your statements as their acknowledgment or recognition of the arctic. Secretary austin you do use the word arctic once in connection with the issue of climate but i think we know that it is broader than just climate from a security perspective saying the budget i is linked to strategy. It has to be. So my question is whether or not you think the budget in front of us is sufficient to implement these Arctic Strategies given the significance of what we see out of russia and in the past couple weeks of clear intention to cooperate on a bilateral perspective with china with regards to the arctic. This should send signals to us the partnering is changing. That peaceful multilateral cooperation we have seen historically is changing in a dynamic way as a consequence with putins aggressive and awful war in ukraine. Whether or not do you think the budget is sufficient in regard to, our priorities in the arctic quick. Thank you senator. I appreciate that. I do think that because our forces are generalpurpose forces they can be applied in the arctic or anywhere i personally think the geographic region is increasing in importance over time andng that is clear i am attending the arctic conference here shortly in the next couple of weeks. Which i do every six months and that has all chiefs of defense of the arctic nations, not including russia by the way. And to discuss the Security Issues with norway and canada and other scandinavian countries. We recognize the importance of the arctic. All the demands have updated their strategies. And we have increased our capability. So the arctic is clearly recognized within the department of defense with the geostrategicdi importance and those that are operating right now. This training to the arctic is a little more unique thats why it is so important. Secretary austin last year and daa to authorize several policies to include one include on improve the quality of life especially was suicide. We had included provisions to special cold weather pay as well as an opportunity for the secretary to reimburse servicemembers for the cost of airfare to travel home to their home state all of these are designed to offset the challenges that come when you are in a remote area. I asked earlier for updates when the soldiers could expect receiving cold weather duty pay and reimbursements for travel that have not gotten responses that have clarified that soel if you could help us with that quick. We will get you a response right away in the process to comply withh that directive. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you to general millie for his Extraordinary Service as hena was assistant commander and since that time has been a remarkable soldier. Mr. Secretary you indicated to the chairman ama default on our debt would have profound repercussions and that also tracks with the testimony with the director of National Intelligence before the our services committee. But there is another aspect to this. And to exploit this dramatically do you have any concept with this if we default. There is substantial risk we are viewed with the source of stability globally we always pay our debts there is a number of things working with allies and partners in question if we could execute programs but most important this will affect the likelihood of our troops and civilians. We cannot pay people like we should. And that is something that china and everybody else can exploit. Given theld disposition of china, they would like to exploit every opportunity and this would give them a huge opportunity to provide this information to american citizens, confuse them and also suddenly and miraculously look like the adult in the room is interesting talking about strategic platforms or how do we operate with china but this could be one of the greatest strategic errors in history. Is that fair quick. Thats an accurate statement. Also with the issue when i found profoundly disturbing the inability to confirm general officers. I know the secretaries of defense wrote a letter deploring this as a gross politicalization of military and writing a letter to senator warren, i like to include both of these in the record. We talk conceptually about the issue can you talk about the impacts . I will make one comment on the default peace. China right now describes us in their open speeches as a decline. Defaulting on the debt will only reinforce that thought and embolden china with increased risk to the United States. With respect to thew general officers there is 650 on various list that are up for nomination confirmation and they will replace someone so get 1800 or 2000 officers probably all of them i dont know for sure but many are married and they have kids so looking at threebl or 4000 lives directly impacted in my view that will have significant personal impact and then from a readiness standpoint were in charge a very large complex organizations and this is unsettling for the institution and will have over time i think a significant degradation of readiness and capability and morality in line thenk impact is significant i will stay out of the issue but i think holding up commissioned officers confirmations on anything other than theirth own personal talent and skill further politicizes the military and then a person might the middle of a political argument. You are right and thats why wete will do our best. The cumulative effect its very dangerous. We talk a lot about the platforms in my recollection in the air mark in 1940 but and with that communications and what they are trying to do is to get them placed so we can communicate to multiplayer powers those that can be more effective. It is that accurate or fair quick. It is a critical component. That command andan control system that involves software or hardware and the key piece and without it you cannot execute combined operations. Thank you all for being here and let me echo all of the things from other members of the subcommittee for your service to this country. I would like to follow up in the comments im disappointed more members of the subcommittee are not here because im not sure everyone understands the impact of holding these general officer nominations are on the military. Think senator reed and i are the only ones have had a chance to see this play out. You may not want to get into the reasons why the officers are held up but i will ask you secretary austin to explain the policy you put in place the reason whyhy our colleagues from alabama quick. Your speaking of our policy of Reproductive Healthcare quick. Absolutely. About 18 percent of the forces female. Can you speak to how importantt it is to recruit those women into the military especiallya recruitment is down . It is critical that people can be sure if they join the force they will have access to Reproductive Healthcare and currently we have 80000 more women stationed in those areas where they dont have ready access to Reproductive Health care and they dont get a chance to pick where they live and where they are stationed. So what this policy does is ensure that that access exist and they have the means to access Reproductive Healthcare especially and again policy is firmly rooted in law. We have talked about the fact the doj has provided an opinion is posted on the website. And so this is important for a force. Then again, we have a young forest, and about one in five of our troops or one, i think its quickly be assured that they will have actions. I want the books on the mission, and not worried about whether or not theyre going to have access to Reproductive Health care. I would just add that we know who women serving in the military have a higher rate of unintended pregnancies in the general population in this case. So that is another issue why this is so important. But can you also address whether we would be making our recruitment numbers that we need to make for the military if you were not able to recruit when . Certainly, that problem would be compounded by an order of magnitude. Again, our women do incredible work for hours and we are all very proud of them, and it continues to amaze us each and every day. Well, we will not be the force we are without the contribution that they bring to the table. And again, it is throughout d. O. D. , i will make that comment thank, you very much. I appreciate, as i do, so many people. The policy that you have put in place, and i think it is absolutely critical and i hope that we are going to see this spat and seeing those holes that are being placed on our general officers. I talked to one of them yesterday who is waiting to be sent out to another posting and he does not have his new title. He is basically in a Holding Pattern while he waits for that. It would be tragic if that kind of talent began to vote with their feet and because of the unpredictability, we could leave our service go to something else. These people have earned the right to be promoted and their families deserve what comes with that as well, so we certainly dont want to begin losing people because we cant promote them. Absolutely. Mister secretary, you are asked, i think, by senator moran back for the people at red hill. And you said that is in fact in place, which i appreciate, but d. O. D. Has not sought to set up a registry for military members of who have been exposed to pfas. Can you speak to why that is . Youre right, we have not done that, and certainly, a piece of west is a National Anti addicted to everything that we need to help address this issue. We recognize the importance of it. And so we will take a look at whether or not we can and should do that. We have increased our testing across the board. And so i will have our staff provide some recommendations to me, and we will come back to you, and discuss this with you. I appreciate, that i have introduced a amendment in the last three ndas to try and set up a registry we have health study, that the agent for the toxic substances is about to complete, they are gone a different ages, with the Health Impacts of p phase that will help give us that Real Health Data on which to base the impact of p fast. But it is clearly, we know, it is a pretty sure it is a carcinogen and so i hope that you will, in fact, take this seriously and i stand ready to be helpful in any way that i can, thank you. Senator murphy. Thank you very much, mister chairman, thank you all for being here and for your service. As a new member of the subcommittee, general milley, i have not had the pleasure to work with you through the appropriations process. But i am deeply grateful for your service and your willingness to continue to work with this committee. I wanted to speak with you for a moment about information warfare. Our National Defense strategy today has a robust information component, today, the amount of money that russia and china are spending on propaganda unfortunately dwarfs the amount that we are allocating to fight misinformation. Obviously, this has to be a component of your strategy but, your partnered often with the state department, there are certain things you can do that the state department cannot for instance the Global Engagement center the, state Department Funds not just for profit, in fact, fact checkers. On china and russias peripheral vision trying to set the record straight. I wanted the to ask you about why that partnership is important, i think we have a whole of government approach to misinformation, i think you are making sure that your commanders have the ability to be nimble and fighting back against narratives that are endangering our Nation Security and endangering their security and making sure the state department has the resources to the same. Thank, senator for the opportunity comment. Information has always been critical to the context of war. There is three, it is probably never more porn than it is today, youre an information age, weve a wide righty of information age, we have the explosion of social media, now we have all kinds of tools we can look like, iphones for example, and these are very, very powerful tools, and now we are in the age of artificial untainted gyms, algorithms, the ability to do a deepfake story out there with people, so this is an area in which we need to get better, and we need to get more coordinated. Information oftentimes can be a decisive factor and the context of war. Weve got a little bit of programs inside the military, and we know that we walk well with intelligence agencies. And this effort needs to be more coordinated and i think it expands to agree letter given the capabilities of meddling with russia and china. They have very significant information capabilities in the cyber, a very significant Electronic Warfare capabilities, and very stressful and they are active every single day. This is an area of real importance that we need to prove ourselves. Thank you for challenging us, the committee, to step up on that effort. General, talk is a curiosity that i say that there are reports that the pentagon has sought a highlevel meeting with your counterparts in china, so obviously we have been missing high level dialogue with the chinese since the flying of the chinese balloon over u. S. Airspace there was no excuse for the provocative actions of the Chinese Government. But. At the same time it is not good when we are not talking to each other at a highlevel, so my question is this. My belief is that there is no choice to be made between that happening in an effective china policy to try to make sure that that the power doesnt hurt the United States, and continuing a dialogue about them, where we can Work Together, and the ways in which we dress are nice, keys talk about the state of the meal to mueller would try to endure views on whether it is important to keep those channels open . I think it is critical, senator. Thank you for bringing this topic up i have reached out to my counterpart on a number of occasions, they have conducted face to face meetings with the Foreign Ministry of defense, there is a new ministry of defense, now, ive reached out to him, ive, sent him a letter, and i offered to talk as well. I will come to you to do that. I think that is critical. When you have two countries with this kind of capability. And we are operating globally, i think we have to have the ability to manage potential crises and really, there are things that we will have to address it from time to time. And we really need to people to pick up the phone and talk directly to senior people. So i will continue to work this, i think it is really important. We will probably have another opportunity as we go out to singapore for a conference in singapore. And if the opportunity presents itself, i will look to engage my counterpart. I think that we need to open a door and continue to engage each other. I appreciate your public statements to that effect, and the arch that you are doing, i agree that these are not mutually exclusive goals to keep that dialogue open to avoid conflict, but also to make sure that we are placing up resources, both at d. O. D. And state to make sure that we are ready. Thank you, mister chairman. Senator boozman . Thank, you madam chairman. Im sorry, mister chairman. Thank you. I was just with senator murray at another meeting, so ive got my chance mixed up. I just want to say that i agree with the point that senator murphy was trying to make, but the communication really is, really important. I know weve seen that in other areas when weve had a situation like china, and i know that you are working really hard to do that. Congratulations to all of you for your great careers, we are going to misuse, general milley, who wouldve thought that the young hockey player would have all the stars and have such a tremendous career. So good game, congratulations. Secretary austin, you mentioned in your testimony and their cooperation with allies and partners is central to developing coal capabilities, recently, the record of decisions was signed by secretary kendall that will make the airfield the future home for f35 u. S. Allied palette training. I continue to work with the air force to make everything a premiere palette Training Center and ensure it is ready on time to train our ally partner pilots. Secretary austin, can you briefly speak town port and this mission in arkansas is to our National Security . It is critical. And our allies and partners invest in the kinds of capability that we have of 35, they are a great example. We need to make sure that we are working together to increase in our ability and we do that by not only making sure that we have the policies and procedures in the right place, but there is frequent contact that is working together with each other. You cant replace it. It also build trust, we know that when unitrust, you can search it, and has to be there, it is semenya to work on each and every day. And so the capability that you are speaking of in arkansas i think is critical. And i know that we have some allies, partners, that are really looking forward to using that capability. So thank you for what you are doing to broaden our capacity here. Thank you. In regard to the Foreign Military sales, there is all kinds of benefits. We have seen that in stimulating the economy and our country and again just in providing the protection that we desperately need. Unfortunately, the system is overburdened with regulation in bureaucratic log jams, according to mr. Eric fannings recent testimony in the Armed Services committee, it is resulted in an average delay of over 18 months. That is to get it on contract. This leaves our allies vulnerable in turning to other countries to buy military capabilities. Secretary austin, how does fms contribute to the department of strategy and deterrence and what specific processes contribute to the unacceptable delay for getting capabilities on contract. Certainly, fms helps us to magnify our capability, because if our allies and partners are working with the same kinds of equipment, and they are very skilled and using that equipment, then its really helpful in terms of expanding our footprint, our capability. In terms of the kinds of things that contribute to lags, or number of things that come together. One industry owns a piece of that, and we would hope that, as the contracts that are inactive, that they are able to meet the timelines. He so coming out of a period of two years of covid, that is had an impact on a number of things. But they are also, to your point, bureaucratic issues that often get annoying. Now, what i did early on two years ago is i put together a group of our senior people to really focus on the fms process, into identify those bureaucratic issues and roadblocks that we could knock down, so that body continues its work and it is hard work, but we are going to do Everything Possible on our end to make sure that the bureaucratic issues in the pentagon are not solely Holding Things up. But again, there are a number of things that come together to make this process more complicated than it should be. And i know sometimes we make that more difficult, so and if i can speak for anything for the committee, if theres anything we can do legislatively or, just be sure to let us know. This is so, so, very important. Thank, you mister chairman. Thank, you senator boozman. And im going to dovetail on to what you just said. I can tell you what congress can do to make things easier. Not default on our debt like the house representatives wants us to do. Get a budget done on time so we dont have to deal with the uncertainty of a c are up. Take the holds off the military promotions because, quite frankly, it is flat, stupid, and politicizing our military. That is what we can do. And i know senator boozman, you are a good man, and i dont think you disagree with me. So thank you. But the truth is is this. Congress has to step up and do their job. If we want to hold you guys accountable, if we want to hold the contractors and supplies with our military equipment accountable, we need to do our job. And part of that job is making sure that we have a budget to keep this country safe, any other part of it is just not do stupid things like crs and defaults and holy military promotions. I just want to say thank you the. Thank you for what you do every single day. To keep this country safe, to lead some of the finest people on earth in our military. We appreciate your testimony here today, senators, may i ask additional questions, i would ask that you get back to them as quickly as you possibly can with the response. But thank you for what you do, general milley, your record speaks for itself. Thank you very much. This Defense Committee will reconvene on tuesday, may 16th, a ten a. M. , in a classified session. To hear from the director of military Defense Agency and the commander of u. S. Northern command, on the budget request for a hypersonic trans Missile Defense and the protection of the u. S. Homeland, with, that we stand in recess. Cassis giving you a front row seat to democracy. Now michael clemen, an official at the Government Accountability office, testifies on his agencys review of the Silicon Valley bank and Signature Bank collapse. S. The hearing took place before a House Financial Services subcommittee and runs abou