Transcripts For CSPAN3 Confirmation Hearing For Space Force Chief 20220930

Good morning. Its a considering the nomination of b schultz men for promotion to general, and to be the next chief of Space Operations. General, thank. You i welcome you for your decades of service, and willingness to serve in this very important position. I would like to welcome your wife, jennifer, your son john, and your daughter sarah. While not present today, let me also acknowledge your parents, randy and the Lynda Schultz men who are watching from home, im sure. They know theyre very proud of you nomination. Recognizing the increasing importance of the space demand, and the growing threats to our critical space by china and russia, congress established the space for us in the fiscal year of 2020. Under the National Defense authorization act. The first chief space general raymond, then the commander of the u. S. Air force space command, was legislatively transferred in 2020 to be the chief. You are the first to be nominated, and have a hearing for this position. Given that the space forces only two years old, its still becoming institutionalized within the democrat of defense. There are many challenges and that process. The first is that the space must develop its ability to train and equip guardians. Space is a remote domain, one that is now contested. Guardians will have to have the ability to integrate digital and other advanced technologies to accomplish their mission, all with the strong understanding is the space force us setting up a space training, or readiness command. I want to know your views, if confirmed that how stockholm will train future guardians as a force in the space domain. Second, youll have to force a Service Culture that can succeed and a dramatically of all space environment, often called, new space. We are deceit and a resurgence in the space industry, with some satellite constellations that number one or two dozens acolytes and now having thousands. All interconnected to provide highspeed internet anywhere on the globe. Rockets that were once disposed are now reusable. Lowering the cost of a launch to a fraction of what it used to be. The space force of today and tomorrow as its up to this rapid change in paces and evasion, utilize that to protect assets and space and on the ground. The space force is its Organization Need to reflect the changing environment. Third, in response to the grove in adversarial threatened space, congress only created the space force as a war fighting entity. It also reorganize the way that we acquire our Space Systems. The way we formulate space policy. The way we fight the space for the new combatant commands. If confirmed, he will leave the space for senates new National Defense enterprise. We want to know what you foresee as major issues you expect to face, and how you will and show up this can respond to them. Most importantly, an integral part of the military service is the new culture, and its mission. When the space force was established, most guardians transferred from the services, thus had to adapt to new culture. I was pleased to learn in our meeting last week that successful recruiting efforts have been sued one third of the space force will never have served in another general, im interested in how you intend to create a unique culture with the blend of transfers and new recruits. Thank you again for your willingness to serve our nation. And i look forward to your testimony. Let me now. Will recognize Ranking Member thank, you mister chairman. I would also like to extend a welcome to the general. I appreciate the time hes spent with me, given they an idea of what you had on your mind. Also the fact that you have your family here today. Its very meaningful to us. We appreciate that very much. I see a lot of them in days to come. Our National Defense strategy is not shy about the scope and scale of the threat from china, and the speed of the advances. There is no better example of that than space. In a decade, the United States is gone from the unquestioned leader and space, to merely one of two peers in a competition. Most people dont realize that. Theres a lot, china and russia are doing in space. We can talk about that today, but even what we can talk about, its very concerning. For years, weve kept noting that everything in our military has relied on space. We never really acted like it. The space is no longer are simply an enabler for other functions. We have a difference environments altogether today. You are only the second one to take on this awesome responsibility. We appreciate it very much, the effort that youre making. The background that you bring. Thank you, mister chair. Thank you, senator we need to recognize your opening statement. Could you please bring the microphone as close as possible . Can you hear me okay . Yes sir. Thank you chairman reid. Ranking member, and distinguished member of this committee. Im honored and deeply humbled by the opportunity to be with you this morning. Id like to begin by introducing my family. With me today are the most important people in my life. First, my wife jennifer. Im very proud to announce that just yesterday, we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. Jennifer has been steadfastly by my side for this entire military journey. Through 15 lives, nearly 200 overnight icbm alerts, countless late nights and trips away from home, and most recently, and the years separated, while i deployed to the middle east. She is taking on all these challenges in congress than with a smile on her face, and warned that her heart. Her most amazing accomplishment has been raising her two children into the fine young adults you see here. Our son john is a director of social media content for Sports Marketing firm. Our daughter sarah, recently completed a masters degree and Public Administration with a perfect four point out gpa. Jennifer and i could not be prouder of these two. They followed moment out all over the country, and been successful at every turn. Then we challenges head on, have always shown maturity beyond their years, optimism, and a contagious what. My home and family are my bedrock, and that clearly at the center of a new career success that ive enjoyed. I owe all of that to these three, and ill be forever grateful for the love and support they have shown, and the sacrifices theyve made. I would also like to take this opportunity to offer special thanks to general jay and molly raman. The sultan arraignment family go back many years. We have been benefit greatly from the mentorship in friendship. Theyre concluding 38 years of distinguished service to our nation. These last three years have been critical to the historic establishment of the space force. Their passion, dedication, vision, have set the space force on the solid foundation. If i have the good fortune to be confirmed, jennifer and i will work hard to build in their successes, and continue to push the space force to new heights. Who would also like to express my commitment to this committee, for your relentless support and advocacy for a space forest, its guardians, and their families. For the last two years, ive had the privilege of serving with these guardians, and i can attest that they are the finest men and women that america has to offer. If confirmed, it would be the honor of my life to lead them as the second chief of Space Operations for the United States space force. Not quite three years ago, congress established the space for us to provide freedom cooperation for the United States, in, from, to space. To conduct Space Operations, and to protect the interests of the United States and space. And the few short years since the space force was established, the number of satellites on orbit has doubled. The global space economy is approaching half a trillion dollars. Space is truly a critical domain for u. S. Interests. We must be clear eyed, in our understanding, that strategic competitors have invested heavily and feeling systems capable of disrupting, degrading, and even destroying our Space Capabilities. If confirmed, i will work to ensure the space forces ready to protect the vital interest from these threats. It is truly an honor to be nominated to serve as the next chief of Space Operations. Im excited about the opportunities ahead for the space. Force if confirmed, i look for to working with this committee, other members of congress, to continue to ensure the space force fulfills its mission as part of americas joint force. I look forward to your questions. Thank you very much, jennifer salzman. Before i continue with questioning, theres a series of standard questions for nominees. You can respond. Have you adhere to the regulations governing conflicts of interest . Yes. Have you assumed any that would presume the confirmation process . No. Exercise the legislative may say important at this committee, and subcommittee, is another appropriate committees of congress, received testimony, briefings, reports, records, and other information from the executive branch, on a timely basis. Do you agree, if confirmed, to appear to testify before this committee when requested . Yes. Do you agree, when asked by this committee to give your personal views, even if your views differ from the administration . Yes. Do you agree to provide records, documents, electronic communications, in a timely manner when requested by this committee, its subcommittees, or other appropriate committees of congress . And to consult with regarding the basis for any good faith delay or denial and providing such records . Yes. Would you ensure that your staff comply with deadlines established by this committee for the production of reports, records, and other information, including timely responding to hearing questions for the record . Yes. Will you cooperate in providing witnesses responses to congressional requests . Yes. Well those witnesses be protected from for their testimony or briefings . Yes. Thank you very much, general. General, in my comments, i talked about the design the space force must lead. The intent in congress is a centralized force design and space. The Senate Version of the 2022 national or the right nation acts, team the chief of Space Operations to be the of service says. I know theyre different in many ways, a chief operation is a designer out the leaderships for. The Congress Bill required the secretary of defense to designate the chief of special operations as this force designed architect. The letter sent to the committee by the secretary does indeed designate the chief as the Design Architects. Except, for all of the other in space, resided in the armed forces, which are rather expensive. Do you think this is a workable designation . And follows the intent of congress . Yes, sir, i do. Ive had extensive discussions with secretary of the air force in, general raymond, the current chief of Space Operations. Its my understanding that its exemptions that you mentioned really are not about authorities associated with the force Design Architects. The authorities and responsibilities at the secretary of defense gave to general raymond as the chief of Space Operations is sufficient to accomplish the intent to congress. If confirmed, i would continue to execute those same authorities and responsibilities, so i can take seriously those priorities for forced design, to make the space force as capable as possible. Thank you. General salt, if confirmed your job, would be to present training and forces to u. S. Space command, primarily. Also, you will have the duty to support out there such as you comics, that era. Is there any significant distinction in your mind between responsibilities between those two, or the different commands seal support . No, senator. The responsibilities of the chief of Space Operations are to make sure that there are forces that have the flexibility, agility, remaining experience necessary to support all combatant commanders. Of note, of course, as the u. S. Space command. Their primary responsibilities with that space area of operation, responsibilities, as well as key missions providing capability for the joint force. While im over 90 90 of the space force capabilities are presented to u. S. Space command, there are critical other capabilities, regional capabilities, that are also offered to the other combatant commands to fulfill their missions as well. Thank you. General salzman, the administration has sent a legislative proposal to create, essentially, full and parttime Space Force Military personnel. In lieu of a separates or garbage, as other services. This, i think, originates because the space horses relatively small. The reserve elements would be smaller still. Do you support this proposal . Senator, the most important aspect of this is that there are critical capabilities and expertise that currently reside in the air force reserves, as well as the interNational Guard. The primary responsibility, of course, is to make sure that we have complete access to this experience, that expertise, and those capabilities. From a readiness perspective, ill tell you from a chief of operations, currently, and thats high on my list to make sure that we have unfettered access to those capabilities. World so looking at flexible, and innovative ways to make sure that we have viable inflexible cover paths for our guardians. Its important that we retain this talent for an extended period of time, get the most out of them. Having the ability to seamlessly, have impermeable way to move between fulltime at parttime capacity inside the space for us, we think is a tremendous benefit to the guardians. Ultimately, to the force, to maintain that readiness. If confirmed to see us, so i would certainly welcome the opportunity to continue to work with members of this committee, and other stakeholders, to make sure that we get the right organizational structure to take advantage of these capabilities. Thank you. Again, one of the great challenges that we have facing new is creating a culture in the space force. As a war fighting for us, one thats highly technical. One that innovates constantly. We find sometimes, culture is more determinative outcomes than a lot of other factors. Thats something that i think you will be working on, and we hope to work on with you. Thank you very much. Let me recognize that the Ranking Member tell carrie, general salzman. Let me get the two required questions out of the way so that no one else has to do it. The two are, what worries you the most . And what he intend to do about it . Secondly, what will be the first challenge that you go after . Two questions. Yes, erin thank you. The most immediate threat, in my opinion, is peace with which our strategic challengers, first and foremost, the chinese, are aggressively pursuing capabilities that can disrupt, degrade, and ultimately destroy our satellite capabilities, and disrupt our ground infrastructure. They are, they have watched how we perform, joint force operations, they know how critical the u. S. Space capabilities are to the joint force, theyve learned from that. They recognize that it is an asymmetric advantage of theres, to go after our Space Capabilities and deny them to the joint force. Theyve invested heavily, demonstrated capabilities that can deny as this. It is one of my earliest priorities to make sure that we are on track to build, and field, affective capabilities, and then train the guardians to operate in a contested domain, so that we can counter this activity by our strategic competitors. Thank you, jen almost wont thank you, very much. Congratulations, general salzman on your nomination. Now, i hope that for your 30th anniversary youre doing something other than just bringing your wife to this hearing. The pearls, the gift for the 30th anniversary. I hope jennifers got that on her list. Youre getting in trouble, maam. I appreciate that. Seriously, i appreciate the opportunity to meet with you last week. Especially appreciate the conversation that we had about the risk thats involved with our Space Capabilities. I wonder if you could speak to how important it is to have the sbir sttr, programs with our Small Businesses who are able to assume more of that risk, and what would assessment is if those programs are discontinued because we dont get them reauthorized. Thank you, senator. The size of the space force, the criticality of the missions, that means that we are going to have to innovate. Well have to do things differently to deliver the kind of capabilities that the nation needs to protect its face force, protect the Space Capabilities, and protect the joint force from our adversaries. Its my opinion that we are trying to innovate, when youre trying to be creative, the best way to do that is to open up the aperture of ideas. I think Small Businesses have a tremendous world that they can play in helping provide some of those innovative, creative capabilities, that then we can leverage to build a full spectrum response to what our adversaries are trying to do. I firmly believe we ought to lower the threshold to make it easier for Small Businesses to offer their capabilities for us to take. I assume you would agree with me, that if we dont get those programs reauthorized, its going to be a real loss in terms of the innovation that our Small Businesses are providing to the space program, and also, to our military . If confirmed, i am certainly committed to any authorities, responsibilities, that helped poll the maximum number of innovators and assault my problems as possible. Thank you. Can you also talk about the risk issue in terms of our procurement process . I think general hike talked about the bureaucratic hurdles that impede our ability to procure the capabilities we need. As were looking at our adversaries, particularly china, they dont have to deal with that. So, what do you see in terms of policy changes . That we should address to address the procurement issues. We have to use the taxpayer dollars widely. You bring up an excellent point. The urgency, the sense of urgency that our adversaries have imposed on us require us to move quickly to these capabilities. So i would certainly be committed to making sure that we streamline our process. Congress has helped with the establishment of a Design Architect, in the cso. The chief of Space Operations, i think, streamlining that requirements, being clear, exactly what we need, and evading to pull and as many ideas as possible to solve this problem. Well streamline our efforts, and deliver operational capabilities faster. The cultural piece of this, sometimes, we can get focused on the fact that we need to purposely build capability to provide Space Capabilities for the nation. Out of Space Systems command, theyve adopted a mantra about exploiting what we have, by what we can, and only building what we must. I think having that open, thought process, for how best to bring capabilities to bear, will actually streamline the process and make us to a better job. Thank you, i appreciate that. During our meeting, you also talked about, and you did, as you did in your opening statement, name the importance of the people in our space for a, sam the will make a difference in our success or failure. One of the things that i understand space for us may be rethinking as some of the requirements that disqualifies 75 of Young Americans for military service. Can you speak to what we have to be thinking about, ski skis me, as we think about how we can get more of those americans and service . We may be a small force, man, but we require highly skilled, technical experts to be broadened to do these Incredible Missions with the space force. We also have an advantage by being small. We can consider annas case by case basis, precisely the right people, the right skill sets, the right diversity of thought, into the space for us to optimize our capabilities. By being able to consider this on a case by case basis, i think we dont have to put blankets restrictions on types of people, and types of qualifications that roaring into the space force. We have a tremendous opportunities, i think, because the numbers that we had to bring, and to be more individualistic. If confirmed aside, want to expand that. They want to broaden this out to as many people as possible. Well, thanks, i look forward to that continuing. Good senator cotton, please. General salzman, thank you. Congratulations on your nomination. I want to explore a little bit but your thoughts on thoughts in the space for, as the National Reconnaissance effort. Not only the space force, but havent served in the air around. Ive heard it said by some that ones any asset goes into space and become strategic intelligence, and therefore should fall under the and are roe, although, that would seem to conflict with the mission of space force. Could you explain how the space for should relate to the neuro . How that should look and function . Yes sir. I learned to fly satellites in the end. How is it enrollments a shimmy under. I speak from a personal basis, from an inside, or if you will, that mission that the neuro does, thats critical. Theyre critical to the United States. There are differences in the missions that they support. Requirements that they support. The customers that they support. All though there is differences the, collaboration between the two organizations is essential to both success. As i mentioned, earlier, Space Systems command is thinking through how we can exploit what we have, how can we by what we can, and build what we must. Is that mantra that underpin some of the collaboration . We will need to look, as we examine war Mission Start to overlap, whether its intelligence, surveillance, or reconnaissance, or some of the other protect and defend missions. Wherever we overlap, we need to evaluate what current capabilities exist. What we need, what we can buy commercially, what we need to build specifically to fill the gaps. Not walk all over each other, to not be overly redundant because we cant afford to be. I think this elaboration, the honorable relationship is solid. We do have good solid collaborations. The current analysis of alternatives proves that out. I think that were on a good pace. I think we need to keep it up. Are there any changes to the law that need to happen to ensure that space forces can do that . Im not tracking any changes now, as i get into a position of confirmed, i will welcome the opportunity to come back and evaluate any changes, or make any requests that need to be modified. Youve said this morning, as have other is, that spaces a war fighting domain. Most people understand that our troops on the ground, or in the season, they, are used our space assets to help fight war and their domains. You also mean that space itself could be a war fighting to make, correct . I do. So the timeless principle of war, that if stood the test of time, from alexander to washington, would apply in space, like they apply here on earth . I agree. One of those principles is the priority of the offensive. Can you talk to us a little bit about what offensive opportunities and space would look like . When i think about space superiority, which is kind of the phrase that we used to mean that we are going to contest that domain to make sure that we have access to the capabilities. Part of that also means, were going to protect the joint force from an adversarys ability to use space to target them. I think the best way to achieve this is through deterrence. Prevent a war from extending into space, denies those capabilities. The best way we can deter is to have a resilient capability, and have offensive in defense capabilities that creates incredible force. Thats where you really get your true thank, you general. Thank you, senator cotton. Thank you mister chairman. Congratulations. Congratulations to your family. The federal government has struggled to recruit cyber and Digital Service professionals, both in a civilian and military service. This challenge is also seen in other high tech fields as well. To address this challenge, ive worked with senator browns, senator sasse, on proposing the creation of the cyber and Digital Service academy, to recruit interim next generations of cyber professionals into the government service. Given the highly technical nature of the space forces work, should congress consider integrating space force cutouts into the cyber academy, and using a potential cyber intentional services and space academy, as the Service Academy commissioning source for and civilians. Senator, there is no way the space force could be successful without capable cyber professionals. We simply rely too much on our ground networks, on the r of links that collect arc satellites to the distribution of data thats required to really meet our goals, all rely on highly capable, highly technical cyber professionals. So in the pursuit of finding them, then training them, and continuing to provide advance training for, them i would be open to any institutions or capabilities that could add to our portfolio to make sure that our cyber operators are trained, and continue to be at the leading edge of technology. If confirmed as he is out, that would be one of my priorities. What do you think some of the recruiting challenges, what do you think they will be for space for us . Have you, and have you been able to recruit, and retain, the technical workforces you need. Where are some of your current shortfalls . Yes, maam. We currently are not seen that recording shortfalls that some of the other services are facing. Primarily, thats because we dont require as many in the space force. We have that good fortune of being smaller, so our recruiting numbers are lower. But, that small workforce is highly skilled, highly technical. We have to reach out and find just the right people, train them to do our specific, and sometimes military unique missions, inside the domain. This then means, its important for us to retain them over the course of their career, so they can continue to benefit from their gathered experience. Thats going to be, i, thank more difficult as they see opportunities, and the private sector, to use the skills that we provide. In my mind, this is about culture. This is about challenging work. Respecting their impetus. Its about a place where they want to show up to work every day to protect the nation. Thats what im committed to, if confirmed osias, is getting that culture right. I listen very carefully to your response to the chairmans questions about the National Guard and your written response, to advance policy questions, you wrote that you are most concerned with maintaining the readiness of the space units and interNational Guard. I presume concerns that the Training Pipeline for these interNational Guard units will be cut off, given the transition up the active duty Space Missions to the space force. How will you ensure that these interNational Guard units are able to fully execute these missions . As they mentioned, those capabilities are critical to the success of the space force. The way i see it, they can be organized and several different ways. I think there are three options that are being considered. The key is that there are pros and cons, advantages, opportunities, and each of these that are slightly different. Whats important is that we take the time to evaluate all of the second and third order effects, to make sure that we optimize the capabilities, optimize their long term viability, the training, recruiting, retention, of that expertise. If confirmed does the chief of Space Operations, what id like to do is work with the committee, work with the other stakeholders, to really evaluate all of those nuances, make sure that we optimize the organizational structure. Basically, you want to use the space units that are part of the interNational Guard as your feature . I think that those capabilities are important to the sex of the space force. Understood. I saw that the space force direct commissioning Program Began the spring with the cyber Constructive Service credit ward, in order to require cyber professionals. Can you speak to what specific operational billets are needed, and this initiative that spider and how is the process gone so far . What were recognizing is that to get them bag great officers, 15 year technicians, it takes 15 years to grow, and we start from scratch. If were able to take advantage of the expertise that they gain in the private sector, and pull them over, we want to give them credit so they can lead organizations and not start at the bottom of the organization. Were seeing a lot of positive interest in that, and the Pilot Program is going successful so far. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony, thank you for your service. I do hope we get to meet all the former heads a space for us, including steve corral. Thank you very much, senator senator please. Thank, you mister chairman. Congratulations, general. You and your family. Just a couple of questions here. Do you believe our National Security law and should remain on u. S. Soil . Sir im open to making sure that we can take any payload, any type of payload, into e that are required. This will take establishing a number of launch providers, a number of launch locations, to maintain the kind of agility of flexibility that we need to ensure that that mission continues. I am open to exploring all options, to make sure thats the most flexible capability possible. If confirmed, would you, what would you do to protect the d. O. D. And u. S. Contractor and intellectual property theft. Which is a huge problem, as we know. Yes, senator. If confirmed, again, i think about this in terms of cyber defense. A lot of, times thats how theyre gaining access to our capabilities. As i mentioned, we cant do anything without our support networks, without support professionals defending those networks. What i would commit to is looking at the tools they need, the training they need, the experience they need, to make sure that theyre the most capable forces and defend dane. Not intellectual property, but our networks from our actions of our adversaries. Would you see our percentage of cybersecurity is in the space force . Percentage of your people . How many people the b, ten, 15, 20 . Senator, i dont think i have a specific number. We only have five officer categories in an equal number of enlisted categories. All of our operators, all of our personnel are really focused on operations. One of the subsets a cyber. Im happy to take that for the record, get back to a specific number. Thank you. Weve previously been told the space force has not looking at any new launch. The requirements for face throughout the National Security space launch program. Given chinese developments, just this, week you believe that we should explore, establishing new requirements. Senator, its my understanding that were still developing the phase three of the National Security space launch strategy. Were still trying to figure out the best way to bend the requirements, to take advantage of both the highend established launch service providers, but also find room for the summer jane, smaller long service providers. I think that that mix creates the kind of flexibility we need. Its about getting the requirements just right. If confirmed, id be committed to looking, in working with state to get that balance right. Thank you. You know our supply chain remains a challenge, especially for National Security and space ecosystems. How will the space for us address these new requirements and Future Systems . Can you give me thoughts on that . Senator, what were learning as we have to account for the supply chains, the veracity, the robustness that the supply chains, as we go through our process. You cant wait until after you decide what youre going to buy, than figure out of the supply chain works. I think our space system command, other providers in the position, and theyve done a good job of characterizing that. Once youve characterized it effectively, you can make sure youre defending it, making it as robust as possible. Making a flexible so youre not sensitive to problems in the supply chain. We have other areas to go. If confirmed, i would continue to promote that. Thank, you general. Its going to be a tough job, but thanks for being here today. You and your family, its quite an honor. The second head coach, basically, of space for us. Thank you very much. Mister chairman, this is National Peanut days, thats why i put all these peanuts in front of everyone, from alabama. Thank you, sir. Thank, you very much. Thank you for the peanuts. Senator thank you mister chairman, and thank you for the peanuts. We need the energy. General, welcome to you and your family. To ensure the fitness of the nominees for appointment to senior positions with than any of the departments, i asked the following two initial questions of all nominates in any of the committees that i see on. I will ask these initial questions. Since he became illegal adults, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature . Now. Have you ever faced discipline, or entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct . Now. General, over the passing, years a supports as experienced as significant amount of Mission Growth as the armed forces have become more reliance on Satellite Communications. Unfortunately, Regional Support Center Pacific has not seen corresponding man power increases to handle this additional work. With armies and said to be consolidated under space force in the near future, will you consider increases to the space forces man power levels to ensure every unit is able to keep pace with its Mission Requirements . Senator, i think one of the most important things that the space force has done since its inception is consolidating military Satellite Communications under a single service. It gives us a lot of authorities, responsibilities, and opportunities to do just what youre saying. Thats increase the readiness of those units, so they can provide these critical capabilities. We are redesigning currently, how we assess, and force present for readiness, all of our units. First and foremost amongst those, these new units that are coming from other services. The short answer is, if confirmed is the ceo so, i would take the readiness of these units very seriously. The man power elements of readiness is a key concern. That sounds like a yes. Youve been asked a number of questions from both the chairman, and senator about the role of the National Guard in the space force. I recently met with members of the Hawaii International guys to discuss their concerns about the potential transition of Space Missions away from the interNational Guard, to the space force. These men and women have committed to the Space Mission on kawhi, and have dedicated their time and training to building their expertise and space electronic warfare. However, remaining assigned to the international, air force, while carrying out space for submissions, this has resulted in budget gaps and training delays. It is my understanding that the space force an air force are evaluating three potential actions that result this issue. Including the establishment of a space National Guard. I think that we are, congress, we are expecting, or were expecting, a report on how space force is going to be constituted jury in march. We dont have that report yet. I think before the decision is made, as to how the space voices going to be constituted, how will you ensure that such National Guard units, which by the way, exists in a number of states. That would be, excuse me, california, colorado, florida, hawaii, ohio, guam, alaska. How would you ensure that such National Guard units are adequately resourced, and have access to the proper training to carry out their Space Missions . Yes, and, i think of characterize that just right. I know that this is also a concern for u. S. Space command, and its one of the key force provided to u. S. Force command, i think were involved in those discussions, where the air force, and our guard, through hours of, also provide those capabilities. Readiness, again, as my primary concern. Having access to that expertise. As a part of the department an air force, if confirmed a cease, so i would be in those deliberations to make sure that those forces are as ready as possible to beat the commanders requirements. If confirmed, would you agree that the National Guard should be consulted in any decision, or cost estimate related to a creation of a space National Guard . Some of the concern is that creating a space National Guard is too expensive, and really, setting up an entire other constitution, the way, way to constitute the space that could be much more expensive. You already have these units, and a number of the states that i mentioned. I like your commitment that you will be consulting with the National Guard, going forward. Senator, ive confirmed as a chief of Space Operations, i commit to collaborating with the National Guard on a host of issues, thats been one. Thank you. Thank you mister chairman. Thank you very much, senator. Senator please. Thank you mister chairman. Good morning general salzman. Thank you to you and your family for your years of service. Thank you. I most certainly appreciate the comments that youve made so far today, i want to approach this from a little bit of a different angle. Recognizing that we are in a non classified environments, can you provide your assessment on russia, and china Space Capabilities. As compared to ours. Yes, senator. We are still the greatest space berry nation in the planet. The space forces capabilities is all we can combined as the joint force, worked incredibly capable. I put us at the head of the table. Unfortunately, our adversaries are investing heavily to close that gap, and supersede us. Im worried about the pace with which theyre making these changes. China, first, amongst them. Rachel, also committed to investing heavily in the kinds of capabilities that are going to disrupt, to grade, even destroy our capabilities. Since that pace of change, their commitment to disabling it thats most concerning to me. You know if you take a look at the existing capabilities, im really curious because weve all seen whats happened in ukraine. Yet, if russia has capabilities and space that are good, and perhaps advancing, how do we account for their repeated failures to provide relative and timely information, to protect Ukrainian Forces on the ground. Im certainly not in a position to comment on the russian operational failure. As i can tell you, weve learned lessons from watching that operation. It may be too early to say complete lessons learned, but there are operations that are important. For instance, the use of commercial Space Capabilities to augment military and national decisionmaking capabilities has proven to be effective for ukrainians. The desegregated, proliferated nature of some of the constellations that theyre using as shown a level of resilience to degradation attempts that i think is noteworthy. Finally, i think we see how important it is to defend our Cyber Networks, because of cyber not works create vulnerabilities for a Space Capabilities. When i look across from what were seeing in that ukrainian theater, i see some important lessons that we should take to heart in terms of building our space force design. General, the new advanced Battle Management system, or a biomass, will be a critical piece of our command and control in the battlefields. When i understand the reasoning behind moving away from jay stars, in fact, i support moving away from jay stars, due to the survive ability issues in the contested environment. Im concerned that a specific alternative, that is gain support within and outside of the parliament, might not provide the same level as Situational Awareness and targeting capabilities to our troops on the ground at the j stars radar, as provided part of what we look at when we talk about the 8 pm math is a broad picture, but also, specifically, the need for an officer, are Commanding Officer on the ground to rely on good, specific, and very timely data in a Close Quarter Battle situation. Do i have your commitments that you will assured the joint requirements, oversight counsel, validated requirements, but the system, our met so that our troops on the ground are provided the capabilities of winning on the battlefield . Senator, one of the important responsibilities thats given to the chief of Space Operations is to be the d. O. T. And a greater for joint space requirements. Its just that kind of concern that i think we take seriously by establishing a critical position. As we evaluate the requirements, we have to take all the perspectives into account. That ground commander, that has to make the final decision, is one of those key and pockets. You have my commitment, if confirmed a cfo. That i will account for all of the stakeholders when we make critical decisions about whether decisions should be migrated into space, to perform by other platforms and other domains. In ukraine, russia clearly has good Space Capabilities. Yet, theyre not able to implement them, to use them effectively. There is not that line of command, down to the local commander. The last thing that we want to see when we move into the avma of system, is one which is broad information Situational Awareness. Its not capable of providing what we do today, with regard to jay stars, to that commander on the ground. Would you agree with that . I agree that closing that last tactical mild, to make sure the right decisionmaker has the right information at the time a place thats relevant, is important. Thank you. Thank you ms. Chairman. Thank you senator brown. Senator thank you mister chair, general salts. Congratulations on your nomination. I want to ask you some questions about ensuring u. S. Space dominance in the lead up to the russian invasion of ukraine, are icy doubled as procurement out satellite imagery to prepare, and provide intel to our ukrainian allies. The ice he was also able to leverage satellites operated by virginia company, hawkeye three 60, to detect jamming efforts that ward be undertaken by the Russian Military in the donbas. This isnt the first time where commercial technologies have been leveraged and effective ways. I think its really heading to warp speed. In your view, how important is leveraging innovative commercial technologies to preserve u. S. Based operations. Its critically important, senator. The idea, the bonjour that were using to exploit what we have, get the most out of the systems that weve already paid for, but then, also, to consider how commercial capabilities, a Broad Spectrum of commercial capabilities can contribute directly to our mission set, and perhaps, do it more cheaply than us build in our own systems. This is essential. The final element would be when there are still gaps, as we look at our missions that, if there are still gaps, we might need to consider a specific military solution, military solution to that. The commercial services, commercial capabilities are profoundly growing. We need to take advantage of that. Let me ask you about one example of this. The space force approved experimentation and prototyping for a new tactical space lair. This would leverage commercial satellite imagery to provide battle space awareness, and bolster targeting capacity. What is the timeline for the development of this capacity, so our war fighters might be able to use satellites based information in realtime to make battlefield decisions . Senator, i dont have a specific timeline. Its okay, ill take that for the record. Look at that specific timeline back to. You ill tell you, its an important capability that we take very seriously. Excellent, thank you. I will ask that for the record. Over to another topic, the increase in the number of commercial space launch providers, together with a substantial reduction in the constant access to space, and then the proliferation of commercial constellations, could, create a kind of traffic jam in the demand for launch services. I imagine that demand could play significant challenges on federal launch ranges, such as and cape canaveral. There are state sports for example, the midatlantic space in virginia, which have been used significantly, not only by private sector space operators, but by nasa and others. What would, what could the potential relationship be between space forests and state launch facilities in the future . Senator, assured access to space in the national imperative. Simple as that. I believe that have been agility, having flexibility and the types of capabilities that provide payloads to all of the orbits is essential. That means maximizing booboo float providers, as well as the number of launch locations that are available to the nation. Currently, our capacity on our ranges meets the governmental needs. With the proliferation of small satellites, thats going to change rapidly. I think the number of launches is going to go up dramatically. Were going to have to look at other opportunities. Were currently engaged in a process to look at our National Space board policy. I think the capabilities are going to actually be a part of that discussion. Could you be confirmed, would you be able to carry that discussion for their. Let me ask you about what the other topic. This is one of nervous about. My favorite government publication is orbital degree, orbital debris quarterly news. Its published by nasa. Its getting more more important. This currently 4500 active satellites in orbit. Spacex has deployed more than 1700 starlet broadband satellites into low earth orbit. Last year, the fcc received from Companies Like amazon, petitions to put as many as 38,000 more broadband satellites and the low earth orbit. Are you concerned about how the proliferation of commercial investments could interfere, or complicate National Space needs . Do we need to look at International Rules of the road, both about commercial uses of space, but also the handling of debris, small amount of orbital debris code recap it on a super expensive satellite platform. Im not concerned at this point about the traffic, as he mentioned it. I am always concerned about to bury. Were committed to making sure that we lead, and model responsible behaviors and space. I think that that will help reduce the amount of debris associated with launch, and other kinds of operations. Thank you very much. Thanks mister chair. Thank you, senator. Cain senator please. Thank you, mister chairman. Thank you, general. Jennifer, good to. Seal your family. This is a really great day. Congratulations. Im, senator cain brought up the issue of commercial companies. I want to emphasize small commercial, because one of the things that you, on the innovation business, if anyones in the innovation business. So im gonna ask you, maybe three questions and then let you reply, if thats okay. Thank you becky nightgown on general cain, senator cains point, maybe elaborate a little bit on the role of small commercial space companies. It seems to be a great guys, thank goodness, and having access. At the same time, were coming up on october 1st, at which time, as a matter of legislative policy, Space Development agencies will move over to space force one of the benefitss autonomy, and allows the innovation to really grow. Not the same time, i think they, in space for, us and all of us really benefit from the discipline, the oversights, and the collective, if you will, of space for us, the collective of opportunities. Strategies, if you will. Thats part of why we sold the space force. At the same time, you know theres been some talk about once again, the coming together of commercial and governments becomes all the more critical. Can you maybe elaborate a little bit on the specific things in small, sti, and blossom main on, to your door section . And then the role of you hit on the key principle there, thats it innovation is going to be critical to the success of the space for us. Ill start with the Small Businesses. One thing i can say for certain is that in regards to ideas, the more the better. If you can look across the broad space ecosystem and pull and as many ideas as possible, regardless of the size of the vendor thats promoting that idea, youre going to be more successful in the pudding solid innovative ideas on the plate. With regards to Space Development agency, i couldnt agree more. Their innovative business model, if you, well has been very successful in their early efforts associated with Missile Warnings, tracking, and space data transport layer, et cetera. When they come over to the space forests on october, weve already been working with them, weve been planning for months to make that transition seamless make, its smooth. We want to make sure that we dont violates that secret sauce, which is the innovation engine based development agencies. Ive confirmed to see as a, up we committed to making sure that we dont lose the goodness, as we bring them over. We need to integrate that, make sure the part of the design. Thats whats going to make them an effective force when its finally fielded. I do not want to lose that innovation engine. Nothing requires stain at the technical forefront then cyber. It is such a fast pace, change a, new fire meant that innovation, our ability to stay engaged with the leading edge of technology there is going to be essential. One of the innovative ideas that we came up with something called super and voters. The ideas that we take our guardians, especially the ones who plan to do codeine is hobbes, quite frankly, and pull the men, give them advanced training. And we put them back into the units, so that our operational units have direct connection to people who can code, develop applications, support the mission. That is already paying off. Foreseen some new tools being developed for how to monitor our systems, how to do law gain crew logging activities, for example. These are the kind of innovative ideas to stay on the forefront of cyber. Thank you. Last minute, lets talk a little bit about my favorite space topic, radar. As you know, the Cavalier Space for station has a beautiful old, gigantic, pisa concrete. They watch space, and this will they have for several decades. Modernization is important. Some has taken place there, already, and we appreciate. That we were able to put 5 million into the fiscal year 23, nda, hearings in the senate. Hopefully that survives. Maybe you can share a little bit about the closing seconds. Your vision for that radar. Sir, the missile Morning Mission is an awful mission for that. Missile tracking is going to be just as important hypersonics. What those rioters providers not just miss a warning, but the space domain awareness. I certainly will not be able to do my job of confirmed a cso, if i have no idea whats going on in space. The more data that we can collect on the census on the planet, the better were going to have a space or made awareness. The better were going to be able to do our mission. Thank you general, good luck. We look more disappointing you. Thank you senator senator cain, please. Thank you, mister chairman. General, i have to tell you, at the outset that, ive rarely been as impressed with the witnesses preparation, and grasp of the issues that you have demonstrated here this morning. Youve really, i think, thought deeply about a lot of these issues. I want to start with a more conceptual question. The conventional political position through the 80s and 90s, perhaps the early part of that century, is we dont want to militarize the base. My concern now is this Administration May still be holding on to that concept to some extent. That train has left the station, has it not . We have to react to the militarization of space thats already taken place by a potential adversaries. Senator. Its one of my primary objectives ensure that a war does not extend into space. Thats not a good day for the United States. I think the best way to create a have an incredible force that can deny, benefits of those actions, and impose costs were necessary. That in doubt and the but the implication of what you just said is we have to have both offensive and defensive capabilities and space in order to have an effective deterrent, is that correct . We certainly need to defend what we, havent we are going to protect the joint force from what the adversaries have already put in space, their space enable targeting, were going to have to counter capabilities. I appreciate that. I hope that you will argue that effectively with the administration because this, is as i, say this train is actually pretty well left the station. And wanted to follow up on a question that senator cotton asked, just to tie it up and about. General raymond said that the joint effort. Unity of effort between the space for sun and awra has worked well. That the two entity should remain separate. Is that your position . I think because there are two organizations, that allows them to focus on different requirements, different customer bases. The key will be how they collaborate, where their mission says get close. I think its in that collaboration, and we make sure the right lanes in the row, the right authorities, the right funding, so that were not overly redundant. That is going to happen in detail collaboration. Is there a formal process by which that collaboration is insured . Is there, and other, words monthly meetings . Communications back and forth . You can say collaboration, but if youre not talking, its not gonna happen. Yes sir. Theres an executive committee that meets routinely. Both our parties and members of what the Space Acquisition council, and both our parties, to what we are calling the Program Integration council. This is a Lower Level Organization committee. This gets together to talk about requirements, acquisitions cottages, to make sure that were meeting missions requirements of both, without being overly redundant. Thank you. Youve had a lot of discussion this morning about innovation, which, as you suggest, is absolutely critical to the mission of your agency. Perhaps more so than any agency and our government. Weve also talked about smaller businesses. Weve had testimony before on this committee from innovative Smaller Companies particularly in Silicon Valley he basically sad weve given up responding to the pentagon rfps, its too burdensome, the process is too lengthy, too expensive. Were losing those suppliers. I would hope that you might meet with, take your 20 Smallest Companies that youre working with, put them to get there, have a discussion about how they feel about the process. Are there ways that that could be improved . Im concerned that the nature of the Pentagon Acquisition process may itself be an impediment to Smaller Companies, even getting into the game. Senator, we cant afford to lose those contributions. Ive confirmed a siesta, i would definitely explore opportunities to get their feedback to make this a better process. Final question, and youve touched on this about culture and recruitment. You indicated that you are not going to have any problem with recruitment. One measure of how youre doing is how Many Air Force academy graduates, when they leave, want to join the space force . More than we have slots for. So that is a good sign in terms of their view of the future in this area. I said this was the final question, but i thought of another one. A lot of your Space Capabilities, and we are all, our military is based upon, in any way, Space Capabilities. Gps been the best example. Do you not believe, however, that we need to be sure that our military has the capability to effectively, deploy and act without gps . That may be the first thing to go and a conflict. Of her the third to june celestial navigation in indianapolis, but i want to make sure thats the case. We could be blinded in the first day of a conflict, and we need to have so, im a military planner at heart. We are job is to prepare for the worstcase scenario. I agree with you, we always need to plan for contingencies, for things going wrong, or when things are not available to us. Thank you. Thank you mister chairman. Thank you, senator. Senator barnes please. Thank you general salts, manage your family as well for joining you here today. Congratulations. Thank you for your service. I would like to go back to the terrorist discussion. So the bedrock of the administration there, national dissents tattered xis socalled integrated to terrence. How does this concept account for crossed eliminating to terrence . Holding terrestrial targets accountable, and at risk, to deter an attack on u. S. Base assets. The idea is deterrence leverages a whole government approach to imposing costs, the nine benefits, if an advisory war to think about taking action detrimental to u. S. Interests. I think in that whole approach, the military side of, things you look at all of the domains, if there is a threat against a particular domain, or particular targets, that we can take asymmetric action, and others to propose cost, or tonight benefits. The collaboration of the joint force that brings power to that full set of capabilities. Very good. Would you support revealing some of our Space Capabilities for deterrence . Demonstrating to our adversaries that we can responds effectively to their attacks . Go pretty important portage vote deterrence. If you dont know the its hard to determine specifically annapolis area they dont have the capabilities. The problem is, if we think too much about revealing capabilities that are vulnerable, maybe jump it as his capabilities. Ive confirmed as the cfl, and welcome an opportunity to talk about surplus tradeoffs. I would appreciate that. Going along with that, the Biden Administration recently announced a unilateral auditorium and some certain anti tests. If do you believe the self imposed restriction will inhibit doorstop china and russia then from conducting anti satellite tests . I think its a commitment to knots conduct destructive missile tests, which is currently the most dangerous thing to u. S. Space capabilities. In the form of the chinese and russians are doing. I dont know if its going to dictate that they want to edge, or theyre not helpful of that, but i think that it will show a commitment to either a better way to test their, or more responsible ways, and i think by demonstrating and modeling that behavior, we dont give up much because we have other ways to test our capabilities. We lead by saying were not going to intentionally creates a free and space. I can appreciate that, however, i dont want to continue to set the United States up by operating from a doctrine of appeasement. So, i think its important that we can signal to our aphis areas that we have the capabilities of destroying satellites. Maybe we dont conduct those, but again, maybe in a classified setting we can talk more about that. Now can the United States go ahead and promote, or as you said, model the norms of conduct for space how can we do that, and then encourage other countries to do the same . If they dont, how do we impose penalties on those countries or states that are violated . I think as we clearly defined what it means to be responsible and professional and space activities, it will cause a greater belief in those activities that are not responsible. I think that by building a coalition of likeminded space fury nations around the responsible behaviors, i think it will create pure pressure, if you will, for the International Community to deem certain activities responsible, and other activities to be responsible. That would be the focus, i think, of those tenants. Thank you very much, general schultz. Man i look forward to supporting your confirmation. Probably the most important question, general raymond had a daughter that attended Iowa State University. Did any of your children attend Iowa State University . Matt, they are proud graduates of the university of missouri. Close enough. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you, senator. Heard senator kelly. Thank you, mister chairman. General, welcome, very nice meeting you and your family. The administrations fiscal year 23 budget requests a rose in space for us and strength from 8400 8600 guardians. This committees version of the ncaa supports that request. The militarys emphasis on reliance on global Space Operations will demands of robust force. Moving forward, there are concerns that budgets for the space force are expected to decline. What type of growth do you foresee in the space for us over the next five or ten years . Senator, i wouldnt want to comment on any particular number, is just that they didnt have a chance to dig in and see what appropriate levels would be. However, i can tell you in my estimation, looking at the readiness of the forest, there are substantial capabilities intestine trading infrastructure that we need to investigate. If we have exquisite sources, systems on orbit to provide joint opportunities but, our guardians and operators dont have the skills, the training, the experience needed to make the most out of those systems. Then i think were not making or not fully ready to do these tests. What are some examples of those capabilities . We dont have ranges where they can practice their train craft. We dont have the abilities to link multiple units to get this if they can practice their coronation less necessary to do a large force employments, if you will. We have just been operating in a benign environment for so long, we didnt need to necessarily have those kinds of capabilities. I think over the next few years, were going to have to look at that and be a specific as we can, but provide that kind of training and experience to our operators. Yeah. Having the equipment and capabilities one thing, its been able to use that is entirely another. Beat able to simulate operations on a range, operate jointly, as well, imagine that something thats on the agenda. A simulator range, thats infrastructure, is there any other infrastructure capacity that you feel you need . We are continuing to build and design are resilient, defendable architecture. As i mentioned, weve operated for a year is the benign domain. We focused more on the capabilities of the pilots, and how long they lost in orbit. Try to get the most out of them and expensive launch that put them in or batch. Launch prices are coming down, we are doing distributive architectures because theyre more resilient. Were trying to think about ways to disaggregate our payload, so theyre not as easy targets. All of that is new investment, and new design. Were going to come with the transition from our legacy capabilities, to these new architectures. That will be what that were doing, and the requirements phased in the design phase. Weve confirmed, we look forward to working with the company to get that balance as we transition from legacy to the new architecture. Senator king asked about recruiting, and you mentioned that from the air force academy you have more volunteers to go into the space force and you have spots. In the enlisted ranks, how is the recruiting there . Its very good. Again, despite the fact that we are looking for a highly capable, highly technical skills, we have more volunteers and we have spots to fill. Just, again, were lucky. We are small force with, this point, we have a very specific missions that. We can hand pack, and were really getting solid volunteers. One thing getting people, its another thing getting the right people. Have you felt the need to do any marketing of the space for us at this point . Lots of people are doing marketing for us. Thats working to our advantage. We are also very active and going to specific universities where there are underrepresented populations to make sure that we are looking across the board to bring the right people and. The right kind of diversity, the right kinds that diversity of thought. The fight backgrounds and skills. So far, weve been very successful. Thank you, general. I yield that. Thank you, senator. Thank you, mister chairman. Thank you general for your willingness to step forward once again to serve this country. My thanks to your family for their sacrifices. And services as well. General, as you know, the next jan opr, at the satellite program, as one of the key components of our future Missile Warning in architecture, it along with the proliferated constellations of smaller cast satellites operating in lower orbits. Your predecessor, general raymond, testified in support of this approach before this committee and may. Im concerned about discussion of alternative of puzzles that have not been developed with input from the combat commands, and would ultimately accept greater risk and the mission of the department, that the department itself describes as no fail. I hope this is something well take a look at, and ensure that we continue to pursue a diverse architecture of complimentary constellations that meet the war fighter needs mark pasadena and schedule. Do i have your commitment on that . Yes, maam. As he mentioned, missile warranty as a novella mission. Bridging that transition, so we have no gaps in coverage, is the high priority for me. Thank you. I know the space voices in the process of deciding the requirements for phase three of the National Security space launch program. Do you see phase three has been more of an evolution of face to, or revolution in terms of its structure and capabilities . Ill be honest, maam, i have a really dug into the details about that strategy proposal. Now five briefings in preparation for this. I would offer that there was a great deal of effort that was put into going out across all of the state holders, getting as many inputs as possible so the strategy would at least learn the lessons of the previous phases of National Security space launch. Not ignore those lessons, bring them forward to face three. I think keeping a fair, open competition to mention as many providers can establishments providers, as well as emerging large providers, will be a key element of the strategy being devised. I think that theyre on the right path. Well see as we get closer to the final decisions on how that tragedy plays out. Now confirmed, i will look forward to getting input from all the disability stakeholders in this Critical Mission set for the space for us. There has been some criticism of the program, particularly its use mocked by and certified providers. I want you to know, this committee understands the importance of maintaining insured access to space. Especially for the most challenging orbit. We want to take advantage of the private sector, and ovation, you talked about that earlier. We also talk about unique and very expensive pay loads that, if they are not delivered perfectly, they will result in capability gaps for our war fighters. We understand there has to be a balanced approach to that risk. When you say that you want to include stakeholders, give me examples. Certainly all the launch service providers. Certainly the people who pay loads for putting it on orbit. Certainly the Acquisition Committee has to balance contract requirements, cost, profiling, all of the key considerations with which the acquisition strategy, precommercial as you together, to make sure all those variables are accounted for, so we can thread the needle so we can get the ballots that you mentioned right. There is a risk, but theres also cost overruns that we want to avoid, spending too much for these required missions thats is something thats on my mind so i just want to ensure that the stakeholders together to make the wise decision for the strategy going forward. How do you balance the risk . Its a challenge, we have to, it has to be a no fell mission. We had to be able to put the pale outs in the orbits we require bats, that is the balance between mission and flexibility. This is always a conundrum for military planning. I think the best way is to have deliberate debates about what the merits are on both sides, and get it as close to perfect as you can. Can you talk about how the space for us has made decisions to deliver capabilities faster, so its more responsive to the needs that we face . Such as restructuring of Space Systems, command, and how you can plan to build on the steps to ensure a Space Enterprise thats responsive to both rat, send technological changes. With the help of congress, we establish the forced Design Architect in the chief of Space Operations. The joint requirement committees responsibility this is allowing us to streamline the requirements. If we get the requirements just right, it sets us on the right path to the major acquisition programs. Well so considering explaining what we have, and the commercial capabilities that we can buy as a compliment to those major acquisition programs that we can build from scratch. Through those processes, we streamlined, at least the early phases of that larger complicated acquisition process. If we look at these reforms, what benchmarks you look at in order to determine success or measures of success . The classic acquisitions are cost cudgel and performance. For me, its about delivering a full side, a full capability that comes as wealthy admission agility to do the job, and sustainability overtime, just because it works today doesnt mean that in a dynamic environment, a dynamic, thought that it will work in the future. Im lucky not always been able to provide a capability to the president , so the commander, rest him and give them flexibility and execution of their missions that. Its the readiness of the force to meet that Broad Spectrum of anticipated threats that im looking for as a measure of effectiveness. Thank, you sarah. Thank you, mister chair. Thank you, senator. Fisher senator wrote, please. Thank, you chairman reid. Thank you for holding this hearing. I also want to thank general sultana for testifying today for your service and your fast knowledge in this area. I wanna talk about tech and cyber challenges and space. Our nation, of course, we know, for facing increasingly sophisticated Cyber Security threats and space from a disruptive technology. Including the threat of steel and data, jamming satellite signals, hijacking satellites, and disrupting internet services. So i have kind of a multi part question. If confirmed, how are you going to work to keep our space based assets, like satellites, safe from cyberattacks . Or what other agencies and other departments, or otherwise, do you need to coordinate to protect all government approach on cyber that weve been trying to work on. And, how are you using Emergent Technologies and all of this . Thank, you senator. Thats an important topic. Watching what happened in ukraine, cyberattacks that had space effects dismantled to some degree show that there is a large concern for just what youre pointing out. Our Cyber Networks are apt to disrupt integrators base this is a critical issue for me as. Well weve organized one of our units, delta, delta six. Its actually dedicated to cyber operations, and specifically, Cyber Mission Defensible Space force systems. We also leverage the authorities that u. S. Cyber command has to monitor, and if necessary, defend, actively defend, and protection of those capabilities. You mention, which of the stakeholders . Who are we collaborating with . U. S. Cyber command at the top of that list, certainly. What were doing is training our cyber operators and our mission, what we call cyber terrain. They are living daytoday insider weapons, and the networks that feed them, to make them work. Theyre monitoring for a malicious actions, malicious behavior. They continually activating the Defense System to make sure they are safe as possible. Im comfortable that theyre actively doing it, now what i want to give are some of the tools to do the job better. Some of the training and education that theyre going to need as thats very dynamic field moves down the road. I want to keep them at the forefront of next technology to have the tools of monitoring systems, the ability to monitor critical Cyber Networks. We must defend my mind, because thats my next question. As a former computer program, are very excited to talk about super coders. Thats a very exciting to me. Is so important that we talk about our stem outreach, generally. Like you said, space was provides an opportunity to ensure our gardens, our clued in the space force, United States and my state and Dallas Air Force base, theyre fully equipped to address evolving threats to space. Really help this new branch in the military can also play a role in promoting what i think boris very exciting stem career fields, helping to bridge the technological gaps face in the military and industry, because thats a collaboration. This is why im glad 2020 promote sacked by Bipartisan Legislation introduced unauthorized the 80 to house them education and training to junior rotc students. This is signed into law by part of the nda. I hope this gives you a good pipeline. Considering how important it is, and he spoke a little about this, how are you going to do things like the stands a space initiative, and other stem outreach programs to try to be sure that you are really reaching out there and letting young folks, or anyone really, know what an exciting crew feel this is . Yes, maam. Thank you for the support. I agree that attracting the right kind of professionals, the right kind of sacramento on the stem from a field of play, if you, well as critical to our success. Certainly we do outreach, we go to great schools, we go out integrates goals and high schools to talk about the importance of space. General raymond is always famous for dragon astronauts, and Space Force Guardians along with us, to talk about how exciting the Space Committee as. I think theres a lot of excitement, a lot of buzz that that creates. Weve established a University Partner program, whereby we have 14 universities, maybe 15 now, of its expanding, where we come out and try to leverage that diverse, highly technical skill set that the people are seeking in those universities. Trying to attract them into the force. Establishing partnerships to research, because theyre the leading edge of cyber they, seem part i think were seeing the benefit of that on a daily basis. I agree its a criticals mission. Weve continued to support that. Thank you. Thank you, senator rosen. Senator scott, if you are ready you are next. Thank you. First, thanks for being here. Congratulations on your nomination. Things for your service. Thanks for everyone watching. Since the space forces relatively new in the departments of, still working out its operations. Can you describe the role youve been nominated for in terms the space for us enhances the u. S. s ability to detour, and necessary, defeats. Especially communist shine, a communist china and russia. And the space against us. Its incredible that there is a space for, us i take a very seriously. Every American Benefits from the capabilities and space. Whether its the navigational apps on their phone, Satellite Communications, weather reports, Digital Banking asset, all of this is critical. You might not see this on a daily basis. We might not see satellites, but the space effects are critical to every american. I think it drives the economy. It spurs technological advancement. It certainly underpins military capabilities. We just couldnt live without our Space Capabilities. The American Life now is inextricably linked to Space Capabilities. Its the space force that has to address the emerging threats. China has that pacing challenge. Russia is certainly a challenge. They have invested heavily in the ability to destroy, not just disrupted a gray, but destroy our Space Capabilities. In horse wakes up every day, dedicated to protecting our vital interest and space, but also, protecting the joint force from the adversaries designs up space in april targeting capabilities. Were committed to developing the operational concepts, be on orbit assets, the tactics, the training, to make sure that we can protect that capability. Let me ask you a question. What you just said is what i believe also. I believe the communist china and russia are out to defeat us. Their governments, the people, not they dont like our way of life. Why is it the public know that . What can you do in your role, or why you, what i, mean, what can you do to get people to understand that they actually, you are trying to prevent bad acts . As we develop in. Certainly its a matter of scale. When i talk to friends and family back home, i think theres a recognition that the world is not safe. And that theres a recognition that there are countries out there that dont have the same ideas we do. Theyre working actively to try to deny us those interests. From a space perspective, its a little bit harder to get support around something you dont see in a daytoday basis. Satellites a little lot of, yo sometimes they dont make the connection that hates the satellites that theyre trying to attack. That part tencent from doing xyz. Its education. Its getting out. Its connecting through his speeches, through academic interactions, to make sure that those connections are clear. Didnt thats what a role . I do. Can i ask another question . I assume youre going to play an active role in that process. When you talk about how the department will use the most of any sort of poll so you can with the money that we are lucky to, your be more claudette efficient with us and get more things accomplish . Yes sir, with the help of congress, the chief of operations has been designated as the first architect. I have a further responsibility to be the d. O. D. In the greater, this gives us an important leadership role in setting the requirements and working with the Acquisition Committee to make sure we meet those requirements based on all the capabilities that are available to us. Spaces sums command is convinced that if we have the ability to exploit existing capabilities, that would be great. We also have to be able to then by commercial capabilities. It might be cheaper to procure what is already available through the commercial sector and only build what we must. Do you feel comfortable that you are doing . That i do. If you find problems, i think everybody on this committee would like to make sure that we are not putting up roadblocks for your ability to use readily Available Technology to make sure our tax dollars go further so you can do more. If you would let me know and then this committee know where we are facing bottlenecks and what we can do to make it easier for you to use commercially available things, would you commit to doing that . It is a top priority to make sure we get the most out of the commercial private sector. Im sure that senators from colorado and alabama think they are the best state for space force but do you really believe that you are doing enough in florida . Do you think that if you could wave a magic wand you could do everything in florida . There is no question that florida is important, there is a rich history of space support. The space coast is vital to our success as a service. Now even the guard capability, floater remains an important aspect of the space force committee. Can i ask you a question . How is the space force working with, not just florida, i know our National Guard is interested in space force, we doing a lot of stuff. Is that working . Are you picking National Guards around the country, i would like you to do everything in florida, but that is not realistic. Are you doing that now . We will keep the guard very closely on which mission sets, what we need. If confirmed, my responsibility will be to find those operational requirements, were very close with the guard bureau, with the interNational Guard to see if there are capabilities that make sense to go to the guard, especially where there are search capability, something we dont need on a daytoday basis. We work very closely in collaboration with them to get that right. Thanks. Thank you senator. Thank you mister chairman, thanks for being here. That is enough talk about florida, psych about missouri. Did i hear you say that your children are graduates of the university of missouri . Im feeling a lot better now mister chairman. Let me ask you about the pacing threat. You mentioned just a second ago the pacing threat, the pacing scenario. The secretary of defense has deadlier china as the departments pacing threat, paycom as the pacing feeder, the priority theater. And the taiwan contingency is the pacing contingency. Let me just ask you first off, do you agree with those designations . I dont see anyone more dangerous, more committed to attacking u. S. Interests in those areas than the president. Do you agree that the threat of a potential invasion of taiwan is something that we need to be concerned about this decade, in the 2020s, not just 2030 and beyond . I think the observables show that there is a clear indication that theyre moving in that direction very laughably. Let me ask you this, would you commit to making your top priority to ensure that these face force is ready to help deter china from aggression and specifically with regard to the pacing scenario in taiwan. Will space force be ready . Would you help them be ready to deter a chinese invasion of taiwan . If confirmed as the chief of operations, there would be no higher priority than maintaining the readiness of our force to meet all of those contingencies, the chinese threat first among them. Let me ask you a bit more specifically, what kind of Space Capabilities do you think would need to be prioritized in order to deter a potential chinese invasion of taiwan . Walk us through your thinking there. I look at this from a twopronged approach. We have to be able to protect the capabilities that are neighboring our joint force today, whether its navigation and timing, whether its Satellite Communications, the missile architectures that provide impending attacks. The structure of our joint force is built presuming we have access to those Space Capabilities. We must preserve them. That requires a shift to more resilient defendable architecture to provide that level of Mission Resiliency that we need. But it is also important to realize that the joint force is under a threat umbrella by space naval capabilities of our adversaries. They will not be able to meet their military objectives if we allow the chinese molecular to use the space enabled capabilities that they have at their disposal. In order to prevent this from going to a war that extends into space, we will have to be resilient and we will have to the offensive capability necessary to create a credible deterrent force. You mentioned resiliency several times, let me ask you, do you think that we are currently a resilient enough country in space to absorb losses from china, or russia in a conflict with other . I think the best way to state that is the current attacks that we are seeing are not sufficient to take out our capabilities. We are resilient today. As soon as we go into a crisis contingency, i do not believe we have designed our systems to operate in a level of contested environment. We need to change to a more defendable architecture, to account for the fact that space has shifted from a benign environment to a more contested domain. What is a more defensible Architecture Look Like . I think we can look at the innovations we are seeing in ukraine, a distributed architecture, more satellites with proliferated missions that are harder to attack. Big single satellites are easier to attack than a distributed, proliferated constellation of capabilities. It becomes a tougher targeting problem. Let me ask you this, in your personal opinion does the United States have the satellite weapons that we need, whether thats to deter china or russia, or if necessary to defeat them should deterrence fail . I think the best way to answer that is, for the current conditions, i think we have a suitable capability. But, i think the security situation is changing dynamically and i would really appreciate it opportunity to talk to you about those details. Let me ask you more broadly, what steps would you take to ensure that we are doing everything that we have to do in order to improve our counter Space Capabilities . As confirmed as cso, i will lean on the architectural that commerce has given to the chiefs base operators. We are doing forced design analysis, this is rigorous Data Analytics that show what one consolation against a model threat would do. We run thousands of permutations to find out the optimal reaction. In the face of the adversary. Very good, a general, thank you for being here. Thank you, mister chairman. Thank you, senator halle. General, thank you for your testimony. Senator sullivan, ive been told is trying to get here. That will give me an opportunity to ask one more question, if hes on here by then. I will call the hearing to a close. This question has been alluded to and in some cases directly posed to you throughout the hearing. What are the Critical Software gap cc on the grounds to effectively, or in the air, to effectively inhibit your mission . That analysis is ongoing, but there is some initial thoughts that in terms of how we build architecture on the ground that is resilient to attacks from russia, from china, from other malicious cyber actors. We havent had the need to build quite the level of resiliency or redundancy on the ground in the past as we have seen necessary today. When i look at the software, the monitoring of those networks, i think there are still some gaps that we need to fill. When i think about supposed domain awareness and the number of so sensors worldwide that we are going to need in order to effectively evaluate and determine what is on orbit and where it is, what it is doing, then have the tools, the Software Tools to take all that data in decision quality information, those are some near term issues that i think were going to have to address from a software and hardware standpoint. Thank you very much, general. Thank you for your service, thank you for your very compelling testimony today. We look forward to your confirmation as soon as possible. Thank your family for the sport they have given and service theyve also given. With that, and the indication that he will not be joining us, i will adjourn the hearing, thank you. Thank you, sir