Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Americas Newsroom With Bill Hemmer And Martha MacCallum 20170112

Well take you first to the mattis hearing and when it gets started well carry it live. Bill president elect trump now squaring off with reporters in a mustsee News Conference that did not disappoint. Mr. Trump taking swings at the Intel Community and the journalists asking a questions there. President elect aiming his fire over a leak of an unsubstantiateed report about alleged and unverified connections to russia and this is how part of that went. I think its an absolute disgrace and pretty sad when intelligence reports get leaked out to the press. Its pretty sad. First its illegal. These are classified and certified meetings and reports. Ill tell you what does happen. I have many meetings with intelligence and every time i meet, people are reading about it. Somebody is leaking it out. Martha one of the Big Questions thats out there right now. Thats just the beginning. Fox Team Coverage for you this morning. Governor Mike Huckabee and howard kurtz both standing by. We begin the peter doocy outside trump tower. Good morning. For once this morning the president elect and director of National Intelligence are on the same page. James clapper that spy chiefs dont do. He put out a press release declaring the dossier alleging blackmail material was not an Intelligence Community product and agrees with mr. Trump, leaks about their private meetings are bad for National Security. So at real donald trump treated today James Clapper called me yesterday to denounce the false and fictitious report that was illegally circulated. Made up, phony facts, too bad. His advisor said this morning that mr. Trump was happy to get the call if clapper, a major change from his posture at the press conference yesterday where the Intelligence Community was in the cross hairs accused of leaking that fake document to make a political point. I think it was disgraceful, disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out. I think its a disgrace. And i say that and i say that and thats something that nazi germany would have done and did do. Even though the president elect made a ton of news in naming a v. A. Secretary nominee saying when he will replace obamacare and name a Supreme Court nominee the most talked about exchange was this one with a reporter from cnn, one of the outlets that reported the details leaked out by mr. Trumps briefing from intel officials. You are attacking us. Can you give us a question . Can you give us a question . Bill im not going to give you a question, you are fake news, go ahead. Sean spicer called that behavior this morning disrespectful and rude and he confirmed that he told that cnn reporter jim acosta would be removed. Bill i want to bring in Mike Huckabee. Good morning to you there from the panhandle of florida. When you consider the raw feelings between this Incoming Administration and the raw feelings on behalf of the Intelligence Community, how is this going to go with the jump . The question is how is the Intelligence Community going to react with donald trump as president. They need to show some respect. He is the elected president. There was a headline on one of the other cable news outlets this morning that says this was the wording, how can trump repair relationships with the Intel Community . The real question is how can the Intel Community repair tru . He is the president. He was elected, they werent. The call from clapper was a big plus but i do believe there has to be a depoll itization of the Intel Community. The leaks have to stop. Bill it is clear with the new administration you have your own people at the top of the organizations and have everybody working underneath them still there. And is this going to be tricky, governor . It always is. The bureaucrats at local, state or federal level say it. We were here when you came. Well be here when you leave. Have a good time but were still going to be here. To a large degree thats always the tension in any changeover of power. But i do believe you are going to see some very strong pushback from the president himself as well as his chief people. And they will try to clean up this total mess. The drain the swamp analogy is quite appropriate, bill. And it is something that needs to happen, needed to happen a long time ago. There is great people in the Intelligence Community, terrific people. And it is unfair to the overwhelmingly good people that a few political people in those agencies have really sullied the reputation of what really should be a sterling kind of reputation for intel. Bill we get three new hearings today. I dont know how much youve been able to see of the hearings thus far this week. At times theyve been fascinating and washington dry. Well see what we get today with james mattis in 20 minutes and mike pompeo. When you listen to their testimony today the lawmakers are trying to figure out how to associate with the Incoming Administration and how they will carry out their jobs and in the case of the c. I. A. Give advice to the Incoming Administration. It is important and takes a trained ear to listen to it. How do you think its gone . I think its gone very well. The only thing a little embarrassing i thought that democrats taking on Jeff Sessions was deplorable to borrow a term from hillary. They had praised him, worked with him and they turned very partisan. But its part of the game. But it is also part of what people are so disgusted of. With donald trump and his administration take power they take power for the American People. It is not about the party of the republicans, it is about the people. People want there to be a big, bold and quick change. Thats what donald trump has to deliver when he takes office. Bill Mike Huckabee, thank you for your time. Thank you, governor. Well talk about again. Thanks, bill. Martha the president elect showing no signs of burying the hatchet with the media. He clashed vehemently with a cnn reporter yesterday who repeatedly interrupted in an attempt to ask a question during yesterdays News Conference. Sean spicer saying he believes that reporter was out of line. I dont care whether youre a republican, democrat. If someone did that to president obama or president clinton or any other human being i would say the same thing. No one needs to be treated with that level of disrespect and rudeness. I think mr. Acosta owes the entire press corp an apology for his childish and inappropriate behavior. Howard kurtz. Do you agree with sean spicer. Does acosta owe trump an apology. He crossed a line. He interrupted president elect trump four or five times jabbing his finger. It doesnt mean cnn is fake news. But i think most of the meeting give jim acosta a pass for not following the rules of the new conferences. A few years ago when a daily caller reporter interrupted the Media Establishment condemned that reporter. Martha an interesting double standard and right to point it out. Lets listen to this exchange between chuck todd and ben smith, the editor in chief behind the decision to public that dossier without any redactions. Watch this i know it wasnt your intent. Ive known you a long time. Youve just published fake news. People love to throw the term fake news around to diminish anything they dont like. I think this was a real story that a real document that was really being passed around between the very top officials of this country and then the question you say is its okay for you chuck todd to see this document and okay for me and john mccain and okay for the c. I. A. Why is it not okay for your audience . You made a knowing decision to put out an untruth or something that wasnt proven true yet. Martha what do you think about ben smiths point . What buzzfeed did was the core principle we dont publish or air things until we can prove them and watching him justify it saying the elitists know about it. I have gotten bogus rumor and conspiracy theories about public figures. You dont dream about writing about it or putting it on the air unless you have substantiation. Ben smith called trump a racist. The core thing here is this document which cnn summarized but didnt provide the details. An important distinction with what cnn did and buzzfeed through it out there to get clicks. There is no substantiation for a lot of this wild stuff and that cant be explained away. Martha thank you, howie, good to see you. So coming up, were going to begin a new program called the first 100 days that starts on monday at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. So, bill, were just a week away from you know, 100 days of fascinating time that you will be covering his inauguration and well be doing a nighttime show at 7 00 p. M. , which is going to be very exciting period to cover in history. I think this presidency is unprecedented in so many ways, the campaign as you and i saw it from the front row was unprecedented so well take that over the next bridge, which is to cover these first 100 days and it should be fascinating. Bill its only 100 days, right . Only 100 days, right . We have an actionpacked show coming up today. The Senate Armed Services committee is the first group set to question the pick for secretary of defense. That is retired marine general james mattis. Oklahoma senator james inhoff will be in the room asking questions but he will answer our questions live in a moment from the hill. Martha and the senate takes the First Step Towards repealing obamacare. One of the gops and president elect trumps biggest promises. Obamacare is a complete and total disaster. They can say what they want, they can guide you any way they want to guide you. You realize whats happened. Its imploding as we sit. I just snapped a photo and got an estimate in 24 hours. My Insurance Company definitely doesnt have that. You can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™ Liberty Mutual insurance tech at safelite, we know how busy your life can be. Mom oh no. Tech this mom didnt have time to worry about a cracked windshield. So she scheduled at safelite. Com and with safelites exclusive on my way text she knew exactly when id be there, so she didnt miss a single shot. I replaced her windshield giving her more time for what matters most. Tech howd ya do . Player we won tech nice thats another safelite advantage. Mom thank you so much team sing safelite repair, safelite replace. Bill it is 9 15 in new york and the same in washington, d. C. In the 15 minutes youll see and hear from general james mattis. He takes his turn in the hot seat today considered to be the next secretary of there are several republican hawks on that committee including senators john mccain and lindsey graham. Jim inhoff will be asking questions as well and he is my guest. Senator, good morning to you and thank you for your time before this hearing begins. Mattis, i know youre a supporter. I expect he will be confirmed. Do you have information that suggests otherwise . No, i dont. He will be confirmed. Bill if thats the case then, under james mattis, how will the department of defense be different . It will be different. Right now youve heard over and over again and know absolutely its true that right now our enemies dont fear us, our friends and allies dont respect us. Thats all going to change. People are going to know that weve got arguably the most respected general in our whole ranks. He has been there 44 years. Ive known him for 30 years, bill. This guy is the best. He is a tough guy but he is also a compassionate guy and will shock a lot of people. You watch him very carefully during this thing. The questions we ask and youll be very pleased. Bill why do you say he is going to shock a lot of people . Theyre trying to paint him as this mad dog mattis, a guy who is tough and that name alone doesnt sound like the mattis that we all know. And yet people try to capitalize on that and people are doing all they can to discredit anyone who is a nominee for a position in this cabinet. This guy is he is the best. He is the very best. By the way, the vote will take place this afternoon that will give the waiver to allow him to be to hold that position. Bill you expect that to pass . Absolutely it will pass. We had a hearing on that last week. Bill to be clear, senator, the whole mad dog name, he doesnt dismiss it but he wants his fellow marines to call him that. Thats fine. Bill thats how he stated it. Give me a sense. This is certain to come up. Why is it important to make this distinction between civilian leadership and military leadership in this job . Okay. Historically i agree and everyone most people watch this do agree we have a civilianrun military. It has been that way. The only exception that was george c. Marshall back in 1950. Now we have what was prevalent then is prevalent again today. Today we are in the most threatened position that weve been in as a nation. I really honestly believe that. I look back at the cold war and we have crazy people with Weapons Systems that can reach the United States. It is no longer the way it was when we had two super powers. We were in the same position now as in 1950 and no one disagrees with me. All the thinktank people. Bill i imagine a lot of questions will come up how he views Vladimir Putin. It seems to be the theme throughout the week this week. But im hearing praise for mattis not just from republicans like yourself but i hear it from democrats. Can you give us a sense as to why there seems to be this level of flattery from both sides . Its because they know him. Here is a guy who is military through and through, has been for 44 years. Doesnt have a personal life. Everything he has is military. A tough guy, respected. Not a partisan person but he believes in a Strong National defense, which we have let deteriorate for the last eight years. Look, i have 20 kids and grandkids depending on us having someone like mattis lead us. Bill he thrives in the field, kandahar, afghanistan, baghdad, iraq, how will he deal with the huge bureaucracy in washington, d. C. Just wait and watch him. He has been a great manager all this time. Keep in mind when he is in charge of central command, it was a large number of people and you could say thats a bureaucracy also. I just have so much faith it is almost blind faith because ive known him for so long. No one disagrees with me. He will go flying through. You watch the vote this afternoon to make a waiver to allow him to waive the seven year waiting period. It will happen maybe unanimously. Bill thank you for your time. James inhoff with us from the hill. Martha were 10 minutes away from the hearing on capitol hill as james mattis looks to be confirmed for the next secretary of defense of the United States of america. Its a big moment and well take you there live. Senator marco rubio grilling secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson on his relationship with russia and Vladimir Putin. Well talk to another member of the committee and what he thinks about senator rubios line of questioning and what we can expect on day two. In order to have moral clarity, we need clarity. We cant achieve moral clarity with rhetorical ambiguity. Use clorox disinfecting products. Because no one kills germs better than clorox. So, how much longer do you think this will take . Ill overexplain the process, then give you an unrealistic timeline. Ill nod in agreement so my wife thinks i understand what youre saying. I look forward to questioning your every move. Okay, well ill leave your house in shambles and disappear for six months. Wouldnt it be great if everyone said what they meant . The citi® double cash card does. It lets you earn double cash back 1 when you buy, and 1 as you pay. The citi double cash card. Double means double. Martha major Senate Confirmation hearings about to get underway on capitol hill. A lot of buzz in the rooms. Things are about to get underway this morning they will hear testimony from secretary of defense nominee general james mattis and on the right congressman pompeo. A lot of questions how he sees our intelligence operations and the relationship they have with the press and president and all of that as he looks to become the next director of the c. I. A. Secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson gearing up for more in terms of his hot seat and questioning. Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee asking him pointed questions yesterday regarding his relationship with russia. Is Vladimir Putin a war criminal . I would not use that term. Are you aware that people who oppose Vladimir Putin wind up dead, poisoned, shot in the back of the head and do you think that was coincidental . Im not willing to make conclusions on only publicly reported. None of this is classified. These people are dead. Your question was people who were directly responsible for that. Im not disputing these people are dead. Martha memorable moment from yesterday. Joining me now a member of that Committee Republican senator from wyoming, good to see you here this morning. Do you believe it was a valuable exchange that happened yesterday . I think that a nominee for secretary of state ought to be very thoroughly vetted. I thought he did an exceptionally good job yesterday in terms of getting to the point of what we need to do, restore the credibility of the United States around the world and after 9 1 2 hours of testimony Rex Tillerson is the person to do it. Martha given what we know about aleppo and some of russias involvement in these heinous crimes why do you think he would have to be reluctant to call him a war criminal in that forum who will potentially be our secretary of state. I dont know about the definitions in the international courts. What we all know is Vladimir Putin is a bad actor, a thug, a bully. He is just trying to get credibility that he doesnt have. He is looking for respect and relevance. He doesnt deserve it and he wont get it from me or the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and certainly not from the new administration. You need to deal with people around the world. Thats the job of the secretary of state. Advise the president. Deal with international leaders, use american leverage as you can and make sure that americas strength is projected as were the most strongest and most respected country around the world. That strength has been diminished as has that respect over the last eight years. Martha he believes he can rebuild that and spoke about it in his introductory comments yesterday. Do you believe Rex Tillerson will be confirmed . Yes. And reassert American Leadership around the world. If you want to use deterrents in world activities you need the capacity. We have that capacity in the United States. What you have to have a commitment to use it and we will have that commitment under donald trump. We did not have it under barack obama and you need to communicate your commitment to use the capacity that you have and i think Rex Tillerson is the right secretary of state. I think this is a very important and actually an inspired nomination. Martha okay. Here is donald trump yesterday, the president elect. Lets listen. It will be repeal and replace. It will be essentially simultaneously. It will be various segments, you understand, but will most likely be on the same day or same week but probably the same day. Could be the same hour. Martha when will that replace plan for obamacare be ready, senator . We have the fundamentals of that right now. We took the first step last night in the senate of repealing obamacare which is broken. The status quo is not working. In terms of across the country, prices have skyrocketed, costs have gone up in terms of copays, premiums. We know it has to be replaced. The plan is going to be martha when will the plan be ready . Im rushing you because we are getting ready for the hearing. When will the plan be ready . There are things that administration and executive and house and senate can do and were working on that right now. Martha no target date . Were working on it right now and do it as quickly as we can. It took six years to put obamacare in this bad of a position, gotten worse every year and cant be fixed overnight. Martha senator john mccain the chair of this committee has entered the room. Thank you for your time this morning. Thank you, sir. Bill now we wait to see mad dog, general james mattis making his way into the room and Jennifer Griffin standing live at the pentagon. I want to bring you in, jennifer. Before we get to the open statements from senator mccain there, i know you know general mattis very well. My First Experience with him took place 15 years ago on the floor of a bombed out terminal building in kandahar, afghanistan, and this was a mans man who refused to do interviews or take pictures and every time you asked he would defer to the men that he was there serving. He is a very impressive american and very impressive military man. I was struck by what senator inhoff said a few moments ago, make sure you watch that vote later today on the waiver because by law you have to be a civilian for seven years, mattis does not qualify for that. They will have this vote later today. Why is that so significant as the vote goes later today, jennifer . Its very significant. In fact, bill, spoken to sources on the hill and they will try and fast track this vote because the house goes out of session tomorrow afternoon and will not come into session until january 20th. And they really, given all thats going on in the world right now, they really want to get him confirmed and this waiver that you mentioned is really the only issue that could derail general james mattis. The waiver was set in place 67 years ago. It has not been debated since then. Essentially it insures civilian control of the military. The senator of new york has come forward and said she would vote against general mattis because of this civilian control. But again, harry truman nominated george c. Marshall back at the start of the korean war because at the time morale was an issue at the pentagon and needed to rebuild the military after world war ii. It is unlikely that anything will derail the nomination but theyll go through the hearings today. Bill my impression from senator inhoffs comment is that the number of democrats who will vote in favor of the waiver could be impressive. That was the point i took from this comment. Is that possible . Again. Let me just mention that yesterday general mattis was supposed to speak testify to the house Armed Services committee about civilian control of the mill temporary. The Trump Transition Team cancelled that at the last moment and angered a number of democrats in the house but they dont have the numbers to overrule the republicans in the house and it looks like in the senate that there are not enough democrats to vote against him. Bill thank you, jennifer. Stand by. Youre watching this and well see what they have to say about putin and russia, the hot topic of the week. We get more with jack keen. Martha were watching as john mccain gets everyone ready. Willall cowen is seated next to general mattis and sam nunn. Former secretaries of defense. Joining me now is jack keen. Good morning to you. Your thoughts as we watch this process begin for general mattis. Im absolutely thrilled. I feel good for my friend here and what he will do. Mostly i feel very good for the American People because jim is such an outstanding individual. Weve got somebody that as advertised is smart and tough. But he is also very thoughtful, very staoudous and very compassionate and a complete leader in every sense of the world as secretary of defense. Its a great day for him and his family, to be sure. An even greater day for the American People. Martha thats a strong vote of confidence from someone who we respect a great deal. Well be watching with that in mind this morning. On the subject of russia, there will be senators on this panel who try to put some daylight between where donald trump is on this issue and where general james mattis is. Thoughts on that. Russia is an issue. They are a threat and possess Nuclear Weapons and have been marauding. They invaded georgia and incursion into syria and trying to replace the United States in the middle east as the most influential out of the region country. Clearly russia has been operating against u. S. National interests and the interests of our allies. Our problem is because our leadership has been so fund mentally weak these last eight years, russia has been encouraged and emboldened to take some of these acts. I believe right from the beginning the trump administration, despite president elect trumps desire to work with russia, i dont think anybody would argue against that, we will have to be very clear with the russians that their behavior is unacceptable. And i think secretary nominee designee tillerson said as much with this. Our leadership here in the United States invited some of this behavior and clearly we will confront russia when it is not in our interest. I was very encouraged by that. Martha tillerson suggested there needs to be an equal response essentially. An appropriate equal response when russia exerts itself. What kind of shape would that take under general james mattis . Certainly when general mattis is recommending the use of force he will do that very carefully. But i also know that he believes, as i do, that the United States has to have a credible deterrent. One that is in capability but two also in the intent to use it. Your adversary has to know youll use it. Thats the problem weve had for the last eight years. Over time they believe we would not use it. Russia, china, iran all came to that conclusion. Jim mattis will put that on the table and clearly as secretary designee tillerson said yesterday he thought it was appropriate for us to defy lethal assist means to go against the russian incursion and the Obama Administration refused it. We said no to the syrian moderates as well and the libyans who wanted to build a Security Force after qaddafi was toppled. The United States will get involved not looking for conflict but trying to avoid conflict but actually being willing to show some strength to avoid that conflict. Martha thank you very much. Bill tillersons point is you have to do something and that was the example he used given the conflict there in ukraine. General mattis, age 66. 44 years in the United States marine corps. Most recently head of centcom, the most significant position in the military when you oversea the middle east and that part of the world. One star Commander Marine Task force called it Enter Afghanistan early in the war on terror. He pretty much led the footprint in the 15year war on terror still ongoing. Worked very closely with general david petreas as well. It worked in places like sadr city which were nogo zones during the conflict. This is what we believe mattis is prepared to say. He will say the u. S. Must confront the behavior of russia, which has, quote, chosen to be a strategic competitor of the United States. He will add that the u. S. Must defend russia if it acts against interests but supports the president elects desire to engage with russia. So we will hear those comments momentaryly. William cohen, sam nunn is there from georgia and was there with Rex Tillerson also. Martha a busy man. Iran is a topic we expect to come up throughout the course of this morning. There has been a little bit of difference from what weve heard from the president elect and general mattis on this who has expressed his belief that the iran agreement is done and that there is no going back on that agreement and they have to learn to work within that framework. That is something that well be watching closely to listen to, too. Lets listen to sam nunn, former defense secretary and senator. Supports the Important Role of diplomacy and outspoken in the important need of giving the state department the resources they need to be fully effective. My bottom line, mr. Chairman and senator reed and members of the committee i believe jim mattis is exceptionally well qualified to lead the department of defense. I urge this committee and the senate to pass a statutory waiver to allow him to serve our nation in this new role and to confirm him as secretary of defense. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator nunn. Senator cohen. Happy to be here this morning to testify on behalf of general mattis. Senator nunn, senator reed, senator inhoff, i think you may be the only three who are still here in the Armed Services committee when 20 years ago i came before the committee seeking your endorsement for secretary of defense. So its been 20 years and what a difference a generation makes because at that time when we first met you were a young captain in the navy and took us on a trip, senator nunn mentioned to china, where we met dung ciao ping and did great work in korea. I thank you for all the years you devoted to this country and you remain a hero of mine. It is an honor for me to be here with you and with senator nunn. I serve 18 years here in the senate. He served 24. I must say that the experience of working with senator nunn was one of the true highlights of my political career so its pleasure for me to join with senator nunn. I to associate myself with the remarks of the former senator from georgia. And simply submit my own written statement which is quite brief to the committee and ill try to summarize. Jim mattis i first met when i went to the pentagon. He was a young colonel and as senator nunn has pointed out he had a reputation even then, this is somebody to watch. He is young, he is smart, he doesnt really belong behind a desk, although he may belong there right now, but at that time he wanted to get out into the field. He have is a warrior by nature. And i want to say that he has the nickname of mad dog. It is a misnomer. It should be brave heart. Because what really characterizes jim mattis is his courage and mr. Chairman, you have written about this in terms of why courage matters and you quoted from churchill and said that courage is the first of Human Resources because it guarantees all else, all the others. So weve seen the history of jim mattis in terms of being a warrior, a brave heart on the battlefield but thats really not why were here. If he were only a great warrior you would say there are a lot of other warriors as well. He comes because he is a man of thought as well as action. And sometimes it is said you can judge people by the friends he makes, the company he keeps, but also by the books he reads. General mattis has some 6,000 books in his library, most of which, if not all of them, he has read and he can refer to either alexander the great, general grant, and i suspect he is probably the only one here at this table who can hear the words through sit dees trap and not go to wikipedia to find out what it means. He is a scholar and strategic thinker as well as a great warrior. These hearings are important not only because you get a chance to listen to the views of the nominee in terms of what is his or her in this case his experience, what does he see as the world events that we are going to be confronted with, what does he bring to the table in terms of giving you confidence that the person making that judgment and after, he is number two, he is number two in the chain of command. The president through him to the combatant commanders, thats it. Its so important you have a chance not only to assess his background experience, but also his character. That really is what you need to know because no one goes to the secretary of defense or any major position and can anticipate everything that is going to come at him. They talk about the tyranny of the in box. You have tyranny in the inbox in the pentagon and things come at you with the velocity of a heat seeking missile. How do i deal with this . Who is making the decision . I think you should take great confidence in this man in that case, who understands what it means to be in battle and understands what it means not to go into battle. And he has the love for his troops is returned in a way i have not seen before. His troops, men and women alike in all services, love this man. And they love him because he loves them and what they do for our country. What they are willing to risk for our country. And so you look at his character. He is a humble man with very little to be humble about but if you were to go to his hometown and see that he is a devoted son to his 94yearold mother, lucille, in richland, washington if you look you would see he is a member of the board of the tricity food bank and on any occasion you can see him helping to distribute food to needy families. And you will also see him refuse to exempt himself from jury duty. He was called to serve on a jury involving a gross misdemeanor case. He could have been exempted. He said no, im here to serve. He is one of six people in the Benton County district court. Beyond that what is most impressive to me is that he takes the time, without any fanfare, to visit the gold star families. That is something that is a heavy, heavy responsibility, to go to the families and talk to the people who have lost their sons, daughters, husbands, wives in battle under his command. That tells me a lot about who jim mattis is and why you should take that into account. And finally, i feel a senatorial speech coming on so ill try to sum up right now. One of my other heroes in addition to senator mccain is Oliver Wendell holmes junior and a hero because he was not only a great Supreme Court justice, he was also a veteran of the civil war. You cannot read any opinion of his without seeing how he reflects back upon his time in battle and is a great i think its 1894 memorial day speech you all should read. In the conclusion of the speech he says whether a man accepts from fortune her spade and will look downward and dig, or from aspiration her axe and cord will scale the ice, the one and only success that is his to command is to bring the his work a mighty heart. Members of the committee, this man, jim mattis, brings to the job of secretary of defense a great and brave heart. And i hope you will vote to confirm him quickly. Thank you. I want to thank both senator nunn and senator cohen. I view as one of the great privileges of my time here in the United States senate was the honor of serving with both of you and so i think it means a lot to me personally but also to members of the committee that you would come here today on behalf of this nominee. Thank you for being here. Could i pay special recognition to senator king . No. [laughter] i was going to add from the great state of maine. Someone we used to call governor and now proudly call senator. Nice to see you. He represents the geriatric part of this committee. [laughter] i thank both senator nunn and senator cohen for being here. Obviously the Committee Meets today to consider the nomination of general james mattis to be the secretary of defense of the United States. Two years ago, general mattis, last time you came before this committee the idea we would be meeting again under the present circumstances would have been hard to imagine, most of all by you, but i for one could not be happier. All of us recognize the unique and historic nature of this nomination. General mattis had a long career in uniform but current law would bar him from serving as secretary of defense for three more years. I support retaining the law, i also believe our nation needs general mattiss service more than ever. So after this hearing, the committee will meet to consider special legislation to allow general mattis to serve as secretary of defense. If confirmed, general mattis would have the honor of leading a team of americans who represent everything that is noble and best in our nation. Our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines and make us proud every day and do what we ask of them. Our many defense Civil Servants sacrifice day in and out for our National Security and rarely get the credit they deserve. Im confident that no one appreciates our people and values their sacrifices more than general mattis. And yet as we meet today at a time of increasing global threat and disorder, for seven decades the United States has played a unique role in the world. We have not only put America First but done so by maintaining and advancing a world order that expanded security, prosperity and freedom. This is required our alliances, trade, diplomacy and values and most of all our military when wouldbe aggressor threat en world order. The global striking power of Americas Armed forces that must deter or thwart their ambitions. Too Many Americans seem to have forgotten this in recent years. Too many have forgotten our world order is not selfsustaining. Too many have forgotten that while the threats we face may not have purely military solutions, they all have military dimensions. In short, too many have forgotten that hard power matters, having it, threatening it, leveraging it for diplomacy using it. Fairly or not there is a perception around the world that america is weak and distracted and that has only emboldened our adversaries to challenge the current world order. The threat posed by violent islamic extremism met as the is sizes around the world and for those who remain vigilant our homeland. It should be clear well be engaged in a global conflict of varying scope and intensity for the foreseeable future. Believing otherwise is wishful thinking. If confirmed general mattis you would lead a military at war. You of all people appreciate what that means and what it demands. At the same time, our central challenge in the middle east is not isil, as grave a threat of that is it is a breakdown of regional order in every state is a battlefield for conflict, combat or both. Isil is a symptom of the disorder. Irans Nuclear Ambitions have been postponed but not halted and expand its influence and seek to remake the region in its image from syria to iraq to yemen. In asia the rise of china is shifting the balance of power in ways that increasingly challenge longstanding u. S. Interests. We see a new assertiveness in china to confront u. S. Allies and partners, make vast territory claims with no basis in International Law. Carve out spheres of influence and revise the current order. North korea is testing Nuclear Weapons at an alarming rate. Our Intelligence Community publicly assesses that north korea could soon develop a Nuclear Capability capable Intercontinental Ballistic Missile capable of striking the u. S. Homeland. This may become a defining crisis for the next president. And then there is russia. Over the past eight years under president Vladimir Putin russia has invaded ukraine, crimea, threatened nato allies. Intervened in syria leaving a trail of death and destruction and broken promises in his wake. Russias military has targeted syrian hospitals and First Responders with precision weapons. Russia supplied the weapons that shot down a commercial aircraft over ukraine. Russias war on ukraine has killed thousands of ukrainian soldiers and civilians and the most flagrant russia deliberately interfered in our recent election with cyberattacks and Disinformation Campaign designed to weaken america and discredit western values. Each of our last three president s has had Great Expectations of building a partnership with the russian government. Each attempt has failed. Not for lack of good faith and effort on the u. S. Side, but because of a stubborn fact that we must finally recognize, putin wants to be our enemy. He needs us as his enemy. He will never be our partner, including in fighting isil. He believes that strengthening russia means weakening america. We must proceed realistically on this basis. We must build a position of significant strength with russia and any other adversary to seeks to undermine our National Interests and challenge the world order. We must reestablish deterrents and thats primarily the job of the department of defense. But for too long the department of defense has planned and optimized itself for short term contingencies whether against great powers or global terrorist movements we now face a series of longterm strategic competitions with clear military dimensions that often occur below the threshold of armed conflict. What makes it all worse is that americas military technological advantage is eroding. Our competitors, especially china and russia, have gone to school on the american way of war and theyre rapidly modernizing their militaries to exploit our vulnerabilities with advanced antiaccess and aerial denial capabilities. The entire model of American Military power projection is increasingly being called into question on land, at sea and in the air. And especially in space and cyberspace. In light of these threats, business as usual is not just misguided, it is dangerous. All of these problems are compounded by the selfinflicted wounds of the budget control act. For five Years National defense spending has been arbitrarily capped as Global Threats have risen, defense spending has fallen in real terms. Each military service has deferred critical modernization and shed capacity which has damaged readiness. Worse still, what we do spend is producing less combat power and constant dollars we spend nearly exactly the same amount on defense as we did 30 years ago. But we are fielding 35 fewer combat brigades, 53 fewer shifts and 63 future combat aircraft squadrons. All this while overhead costs that do not add to combat power have steadily increased. In short, we have done grave harm to our military as each of our joint chiefs of staff has repeatedly testified to this committee. Meanwhile, our National Debt has increased nearly 4 trillion over the life of the budget control act. The president elect says he wants to quote fully eliminate the defense sequester and rebuild our military. If so he will find many allies on this committee. The budget control act is harming us in ways that our enemies could only dream. We must repeal this legislation and increase the defense top line. This will not be cheap but it pales in comparison to the cost of failing to deter a war or worse, losing one. For all these reasons and more i believe the nation needs general mattis. We need to stop deterring ourselves and return to strategy, aligning our ends, ways and means to address Global Threats. We need to resize and more importantly reshape our military giving our war fighters the most advanced capabilities so they never find themselves in a fair fight. We must continue to reform the department of defense so more of its limited dollars are spent on increasing the lethalism of our military not add than to its bureaucracy. Improving defense acquisition which takes too long and costs too much to deliver too little. I would like to conclude by saying a few words about trust and accountability and about the relationship between this committee and the department of defense. One of the few benefits of my advanced age is the sense of perspective it aforwards. In recent years, i have witnessed a steady loss of trust and deterioration of relations between congress and the department. It is felt on both sides and there is plenty of blame to go around. Department leaders have too often treated members of congress as afterthoughts to be notified, not partners to be meaningfully consulted. And congress has too often sought to bend the department to its will through ever growing amounts of legislation trying to manage it from afar rather than oversee it. We cannot afford to go on like this. Our challenges are too grave. Wide margin for error we once enjoyed in the world is gone. We need to take more risk if were to maintain our strategic and technological advantage. We cant let fear of failure slow us or stop us from innovating. These are challenges that the department of defense and the congress especially this committee must manage together. The only way to restore this trust is to start trusting each other. If confirmed, you would have to trust us to be your partners in major Decision Making and in sharing the greater risks that are necessary to win in a more competitive world. In return, if you will be accountable to us and you will be, we must trust you to determine how best to get the results we demand with fewer statutory and regulatory impediments. In short, lets make it our Common Mission to restore accountability. If we can do that, the threats we face may be great, im confident we can succeed. Senator reed. Thank you very much. Let me join you in welcoming general mattis to this mornings hearing and thank you for his many decades of service to the country and marine court and appreciate his willingness the return to Public Service in this capacity and let me recognize and thank senator sam nunn and senator and secretary of defense bill cohen for their disfinishinged service and words this morning. General mattis began his long career in the United States marine corps as a Second Lieutenant at Central Washington university in rotc and served the highest echelons of the marine corps. If youre confirmed as the secretary of defense youll lead your department during a time when the United States has many complex and multifaceted challenges that dont offer quick or easy solutions. Some of these challenges about traditional nation state tensions while others Cross International boundaries and help oversee National Security policy for a president who lacks Foreign Policy and defense experience and whose temperament is far different from prior president s. I think Many Americans and new many people on both sides of the aisle is wondering how he will respond when he is faced with threats. Considering some of the hot spots in the world in detail i would like to start with iran which remains a top concern for this committee. Their behavior with respect of proxy forces across the region has not improved and irans unsafe and unprofessional actions in the maritime arena continue. However, i continue to believe that the joint comprehensive plan of action is the most effective way to prevent iran from resuming their Nuclear Weapons program. General. Mattis, you raised concerns about it when it was being negotiated you stated during a a forum in april 2016 that in your words there is no going back absent a real violation. I agree with that assessment and i look forward to hearing your thoughts about on how we can build upon the jcpoa to address other iranian threats including its influence in the region and Ballistic Missile program. The threat posed by violent groups is a generational problems. Local partners on the ground in iraq and syria have made significant gains in recapturing areas once held by isil including operations directed at moseel. They continue to recruit new members. In the long term successful military action against isil and other violent extremist groups must be complimented by the International Community to address the circumstances that led to the rise of such groups echoing some of my colleagues mentioned with respect to National Security policy. In north korea tests and Ballistic Missile development further threat en the region. Theyre prone to collapse and how we deal with their missile capabilities and potential for collapse will be an ongoing debate and challenge for the department of defense. Russia has perpetrated aggressive action against its neighbors has roundly rejected the post Cold War International order and their employment of cyberwarfare tactics to undermine democracy and destabilize neighboring countries cant be ignored. In light of the Intelligence Communitys recent assessment that president Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign designed to undermine our president ial election, this committee will be interested to hear your views regarding the best posture with regard to russia Going Forward both in the cyber well many and on the ground. Martha we want to take you to the parallel event getting underway this morning as mike pompeo, the senator from kansas, takes his seat at the table and gets ready for his grilling. He hopes to become the next director of the Central Intelligence agentz. He was elected to congress in 2010 and served on the House Select Benghazi Committee and be questioned by some primarily democrats perhaps about that. Also in interrogation techniques that are likely to be in the mix as well. Bob dole, senator from kansas is at the table as well, part of the introductory process for him. Well keep a close eye on that and well take you there as news happens. In the meantime well go back to senator jack reed as he introduces general mattis. Occupational standards for all military occupations and to open service in all occupations to those and meet those standards regardless of their gender. To include service if Ground Combat units. For the first time highly talented and motivated female marines and soldiers being assigned to units previously closed to them. Successful implementation of this decision requires strong leadership to insure the individual success and collective success of their service and i expect you to provide that leadership. I remain concerned that too often our Service Members and families fall victims to financial problems. An issue of importance. Soldiers and sailors, airmen or marine hearing from a spouse back home about unscrupulous Financial Institutions weve made a strong priority in this committee. Defense budgets i think we would all agree should be based on the longterm military strategy. However, suspending is subject to budget control act as the chairman has pointed out. Defense investments that have been made to rebuild modernization platforms and equipment are in jeopardy. In addition, we must be aware simply adding defense spending at the expense of other Government Agencies creates other problems and not an effective longterm solution. One of your first tasks of the new administration will be to submit a budget that addresses these issues and goes to the point that the chairman made of repealing the budget control act. General mattis, if confirmed youll manage the department of defense grappling with many difficult challenges requiring strong civilian leadership. Congress must provide the statutory requirement that if theyre within seven years of military service. Earlier this week this Committee Held a hearing on civilian control of the armed forces which was instructive. I hope you will share with the committee this morning the actions you will take to ensure your tenure reflects and protects the principle of civilian control of the military if you are confirmed. When he assumes office, President Trump will become commanderinchief of our armed forces. I continue to hope that the office of the that and encourage him to be more thoughtful with his comments. In the two months since his election he has made policy statements addressing north korea, our trade relationship with china and expansion of u. S. Nuclear weapons. Most troubling is his repeated praise to the leadership of Vladimir Putin and seeming indifference to the people believe youll be the source that cools the coffee and how you intend to manage relationship with the nfc and with the president. I thank you, mr. Chairman, for the committees careful process in considering this nomination and look forward to hearing from our nominee. Thank you. There are standard questions that we are required to ask and i would go through those very quickly and point out in order to exercise its legislative and oversight responsibility it is important this Committee Congress able to receive testimony, briefings and other communications have you adhered to conflicts of interest . I have. Will you ensure your staff complies with deadlines for requested communications and questions for the records and hearings . I will. Will you cooperate in providing witnesses and briefs in response to congressional requests . Yes. Will they be protected from repriceal from their testimony and briefings yes. Do you agree to provide documents including copies of electronic forms of communications in a timely manner when requested by a committee to consult the Committee Regarding the basis for in good faith or denial in providing such documents. Yes, sir. Have you undertaken any actions that would presume the outcome of the confirmation process . I have not. Welcome before the committee, general mattis. Thank you, it is an honor to come before you for this confirmation hearing as the president elects nominee for the position of secretary of defense. I request my written statement be accepted for the record. Without objection. I want to thank all of you on the committee for taking time to see me during my courtesy calls and thank you for your willingness to consider my nomination and have this hearing. I have testified previously in front of this committee and ive always held it in the highest regard. Based on my past years experience, i do trust this committee and each member of it and if confirmed, i will demonstrate that trust. I wish to thank former senator William Cohen for so kindly introducing me this morning and equally grateful to the long serving former chairman of the committee senator sam nunn for his strong support. It is humbling to be considered for this position. And i thank the president elect for placing trust and confidence in me. When this unanticipated request came, i was enjoying a full life west of the rockies. I was not involved in the president ial campaign and not seeking or envisioning a position in any new administration. That said it would be the highest honor if i am confirmed to lead those who volunteer to support and defend the constitution, and to defend our people. All my remarks today recognize that it is only with the advice and consent of the senate that i can be confirmed. I know the senators of this committee are well aware of the many Global Security challenges we face. We see each day a world awash in change. Our country is still at war in afghanistan and our troops are fighting against isis and other terrorist groups in the middle east and elsewhere. Russia is raising grave concerns on several fronts and china is shredding trust along its periphery. We see islands of stability in our hemisphere, democracies in europe and asia under attack by nonstate actors and nations that mistakenly see their security in the insecurity of others. Our armed forces in this world must remain the best led, the best quipped, and the most lethal in the world. These demanding times require us to put together a Strong National Security Team here in washington if confirmed, i will lead the department of defense and be a forthright member of that team. I recognize that i will need to be the strongest possible advocate for military and civilian personnel and their families. I will foster an atmosphere of harmony and Trustee Department with our interagency counterparts and the congressional committees. As swiftly as the president elects National Security team is confirmed, i will work to make sure our strategy and military calculus are employed to reinforce tools of diplomacy ensuring we negotiate from a position of strength. In addition to ensuring collaboration across government and the adoption of an integrated strategy, we must also embrace our International Alliances and security partnerships. History is clear, nations with strong allies thrive and those without them wither. If you confirm me my watch words will be solvency and security for the survival of our free do. S it will be to strengthen military red niese, strengthen our alliances and bring business reforms to the department of defense. Our military is the envy of the world representing americas awesome determination to defend herself. Working with you, i will endeavor to keep our unique, all volunteer force second to none. We open the door to all patriots who are eligible and meet the standards, provided with the training, equipment and leadership essential to their success and ensure all Service Members are treated with dignity and respect. I recognize my potential civilian role than my former role in uniform. Civilian control of the military is a fundamental tenet of the American Military tradition. Both the commanderinchief and secretary of defense must have a calculus in the Decision Making process and effectively direct its actions. Civilian leaders bear these responsibilities because the esprit de corps of our military, obedience to civilian leadership we deuces the inclination and power of the military oppose a policy if it is ultimately ordered to implement. If the senate consents and if the full Congress Passes an exception to the sevenyear requirement, i will provide strong civilian leadership of military plans and decisions and the department of defense. I recognize under the constitution it is the congress that raises sustained and supports the armed forces through annual authorizations and appropriations. For many years i have watched you in action and testified before you. I look forward to collaborating closely for the defense of our nation. I am mindful of the extraordinary privilege it is to be nominated for this position. I will hold Service Members, civilians and their families foremost in my thoughts and work to give the department the best chance for victory if you confirm me. Finally, on a personal note i worked at the pentagon twice in my career. Few people may know im not the first person in my family to do so. In 1942 my mother was 20 years old and worked in military intelligence and part of the first wave of Government Employees to move into the still unfinished pentagon. She had come to america as an infant and lives today on the banks of the Columbia River in the pacific northwest. Little could she imagine in her youth more than 90 qulaoers after immigrating to the country and 75 after walking through the doors of the war department, one of her sons would be sitting here before you today. Thank you. May i take your questions. I neglected, would you like to introduce members of your family who are here with us today . Thank you, senator. They are safely west of the rockies as well right now. [laughter] very quickly, our uniformed military leaders have testified before this committee that the budget control act has put the men and women serving in uniform at greater risk. Do you agree with that . I do, sir. I believe that we are in serious trouble in afghanistan as the taliban is able to mount greater and more serious attacks on capitals across that nation. Do you agree with that assessment . They have made advances and eroded some of our successes, mr. Chairman. And the afghan, ama is unsustainable over the period of time losses. I need to review the actual casualty figures and recruitment, sir, but i believe thats correct. Do you believe that we have a strategy that will allow us to regain control of raqqa . I believe we do, sir. However, i believe that strategy needs to be reviewed and perhaps energized on a more aggressive timeline. It seems to me that some of the actions were taking 50 troops here, 200 there, smacks of mission creep. Is there do you think that there is some aspects of that . Chairman, i am not current on this issue. If confirmed i will get current very quickly. I just returned from a trip to the baltics in georgia and ukraine. They are incredibly worried about our commitment to them. And the one of the major priorities that the baltic countries have is a permanent u. S. Military presence, not a base, but a ry presence in the baltics. Do you agree with that . Chairman, once the new National Security team is confirmed, i want to sit down with them and come up with a coherent, integrated strategy that uses diplomacy, military. Im specifically speaking of the baltics. I do, sir. On a trip that i took with senator graham and senator klobuchar, we went close to the front lines where with the president of ukraine where we took part in various ceremonies and meetings with these brave ukrainians, 10,000 of whom have been slaughtered by Vladimir Putin in his invasion of crimea and ukraine. And i know you can appreciate the fact that there was a ceremony where the president of ukraine gave their highest award to the mother of a young man who had just been killed by a russian sniper a couple of days before. It is always very moving and it brings home graphically what the russians have done in ukraine and crimea. Crimea, a violation of the budapest agreement for which they recognized crimea as part of ukraine in return for ukraine giving up its nuclear inventory. What do you think we ought to do about russia, general mattis . Do you think we ought to maybe have sanctions against russia or basically sit by as we have for the last couple of years and watch their aggression . By the way, including their preciseguided weapons against hospitals in aleppo. The list goes on and on, of the atrocities committed by Vladimir Putin while we again try a reset. Ive watched three president s commit themselves to new relationship with Vladimir Putin, all three have been an abyss mall failure. What should we be doing . Chairman, history is not a straight jacket but ive never found a better guide for the way ahead than studying the history. We have a long list of times weve tried to engage positively with russia. We have a relatively short list of successes in that regard. And i think right now the most important thing is that we recognize the reality of what we deal with with mr. Putin. And we recognize that he is trying to break the North Atlantic Alliance and we take the steps, the integrated steps, diplomatic, economic, military and the alliance steps, working with our allies, to defend ourselves where we must. You are a distinguished student of history. And as we are all aware that following world war ii, a world order was established which has held for basically the last 70 years. Do you believe that that world order is now under more strain than its ever been . I think its under the biggest attack since world war ii, sir, and thats from russia, from terrorist groups, and with what china is doing in the south china sea. That would argue for us making sure were adequately prepared to meet these challenges. I think deterrent is critical right now, sir, absolutely. And that requires the strongest military. Do you think we have a Strong Enough military today in order to achieve that goal . No, sir. Thank you. Senator reed. Thank you very much and thank you, general for your testimony and again for your service. As i mentioned in my Opening Statement your comments at csis indicated that misgivings about jcpoa in your words there is no going back and short of a clear and present violation it was enough to simulate the europeans action as well that we have to essentially stay the course. Is that still your view . Sir, i think it is an imperfect arms control agreement. It is not a friendship treaty. But when america gives her word, we have to live up to it and work with our allies. There also is, as i pointed out and as you recognize and pointed out more eloquently, challenges arising from the nonnuclear aspects of the iranian contact. Proxy support, interference with shipping. There was an incident this week of provocation. How do you apply appropriate pressure to the iranians to contain their behavior in these areas without jeopardizeing the solidarity of the european and World Community and the durability of the jcpoa . Chairman, once the new National Security team is confirmed well Work Together but i think to publicly display what iran is up to with their surrogates and proxies and terrorist units that they support, to recognize the Ballistic Missile threat, to deal with their maritime threat, and to publicly make clear to everyone what they are doing in the cyber realm all helps to constrain iran. Thank you. General, if you are to become the secretary of defense, you will be a critical component of the Intelligence Community. You produce intelligence through the Defense Intelligence agency, you can consume intelligence because it is the basis of most every recommendation or decision that you would make. And we are in a very unique situation where we have the president elect disparaging the Intelligence Community, questioning its conclusions and questioning its motivations. Suggesting perhaps that there would be some actions taken perhaps bordering on retribution, for intelligence analysis that is being done, we presume, i certainly presume, based on the trade craft and allegiance of the facts and the best judgment that they can make. Do you believe as you look at behavior such as this, disrupting the Intelligence Community, disparaging it, undermining it, ignoring it, again, i could go on, do you feel you have an obligation to the country and the constitution to inform the committee of those actions . I can tell you in my many years of involvement in the military, i had a close relationship with the Intelligence Community. I could evaluate their effectiveness at times on a daily basis, and i have very, very high degree of confidence in our Intelligence Community. And if you see that community being undercut, not debated about their conclusions but undercut or somehow ignored or selectively being listened to or ignored, again, do you feel you have an obligation to make us aware of this so that we can exercise our responsibilities . Ill be completely transparent with this committee, sir, but i would not have taken this job if i didnt believe the president elect would be open to this or any other matter. Bill we want to remind you there are two other hearings underway. Housing and urban Development Ben carson is beginning his Opening Statement. We want to take our audience to that and hear what the doctor has to say. Remember his reluctance to pursue a position in a cabinet. Thats changed now. I remember thinking that i probably would never live to be 25 because this is what i saw around me. But my mother had very different ideas. She worked extraordinarily hard as a domestic leaving the house at 5 00 in the morning, getting back at midnight day after day after day. And her strong desire was not to be dependent on anybody else. And people are always criticizing her saying you have two boys, you can be on aid to dependent children. She said no, i cant. And she worked very hard. She would sometimes take us to the homes that she cleaned and many of them were fabulous homes. And she would say would you rather live in this wonderful place or would you rather live where we live . And she would say you know the person who has the most to do with determining where you live is you. Its not somebody else. Its not the environment. You know, that made a very strong impression on me. And she insisted later on when we were able to return to detroit still not to our idyllic home. I couldnt afford to live there. Still in a multifamily dilapidated place with rats and roaches and she was independent. I was a terrible student. She insisted that i read. She insisted that my brother read. We werent very enthusiastic about that but back in those days you had to do what your parents told you. And as i started reading, i began to discover a whole new world. We were desperately poor but between the covers of those books i could go anywhere and be anybody and do anything. And within the space of a year and a half i went from the bottom of the class to the top of the class, much to the consternation of all those students who used to call me dummy. They were coming to me saying bennie, how do you work this problem . I would say sit at my feet, youngster, while i instruct you. I was perhaps a little obnoxious. But it sure felt good to say that to those turkeys. But, you know, i had a very different impression of who i was at that point. And you know, it is one of the reasons that candy and i started carson scholars fund, a component of which are reading rooms. We put in reading rooms all over the country. We have 165 of them now primarily in title 1 schools where kids come from homes with no books. They go to a school with no library or poorly funded library. They arent likely to become readers, 70 to 80 of High School Dropouts are functionally illiterate. You can change the trajectory of their lives. Its about changing lives and providing opportunities for people. It makes all the difference in the world. You know, we had a program at hopkins and i would have 700 to 800 students at a time come in on a regular basis. If you came to Johns Hopkins you saw all the school buses around. That was bringing in the kids and trying to encourage them in terms of what they could do. I got involved in a lot of the programs in baltimore with the east Baltimore Community development, inc. And with the Community School and with all the schools and the mayors. And that was a very important part of my life even though i was an extraordinarily busy surgeon. And i do believe that government can play a very Important Role. I know some have distorted what ive said about government, but i believe government is important. And it is there, i believe, to promote life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. What has happened too often is that people who seemingly mean well have promoted things that do not encourage the development of innate talent in people. And hence we have generation after generation of People Living in dependent situations. It is not that theyre bad people. It is that this is what theyve been given. This is all they know in many cases. I think we have an opportunity here to do something about that. If we take a more holistic approach. When we talk about hud traditionally, most people think putting houses over putting roofs over the heads of poor people. But it has the ability to be so much more than that. Particularly if we take a holistic approach. And when we think about how do we develop our fellow human beings . I see each individual as Human Capital that can be developed to become part of the engine that drives our nation, or if not developed, becomes part of the load. And we are the ones who are tasked with helping to make the difference. So i do believe that government is extraordinarily important. And one of the things that i want to do, instead of just listening to the sage people of washington, d. C. And there are some wise people here i want to go on a listening tour and i want to hear from the people with boots on the ground who are actually administering programs, who are benefiting from the programs. I want to see what actually works and what does not work. I want to analyze why it works and why it doesnt work. Before i go on the road to do that, i want to do that at hud. We have people there who have been there for 10, 20, 30, even 40 years. And i dont think a lot of people listen to what they have to say. I suspect that they have garnered a tremendous amount of information, and i want to get that information from them. I want to work with them on a regular basis. Some people say but medicine, why would you go into Something Like hud . Well, i actually believe that there is a tremendous nexus, a great intersection. Because good health has a lot to do with a good environment. After working so hard on so many people and then putting them back into an environment with lead and with all kinds of inducements for asthma and other chronic diseases, thats not very helpful. And im looking forward to the safe and Healthy Homes program at hud and enhancing that program very significantly. Bill as we pop around all three hearings we want to go back to general james mattis under questioning from the democratic senator from missouri claire mccaskill. Understanding that none of us want any standards diminished, and that weve got to maintain the highest physical standards for the specialties in which men and women are going to serve, can you address for this committee how committed you are Going Forward to having both men and women serve alongside each other when they are capable of doing the work for our country . Yes, senator, i can. I think you hit on the point that no standards are changed. The standards are the standards and when people meet the standards, then thats the end of the discussion on that. I would also add that what were talking about here is somewhere north of 15 of our force is made up of women and the reason were able to maintain an all volunteer force with very, very high recruiting standards is because we go to males and females. And that same application of those that Human Capital has got to show that where they can best serve thats where they go. Thank you, mr. Chairman. General mattis. Lets talk about israel for a few moments. Would you agree that the United States shares common values and strategic interest with israel . Israel is a fellow democracy and i think israels security is very, very important to the United States. Are there any other democracies in the middle east . No, sir. Would you agree that the threat of irans regional belligerence and Nuclear Ambitions are a shared threat both to the United States and to israel . And i agree and i would add also to our arab partners in the region. And i think you said that we are going to have to live with what the administration has done with regard to the Energy Agreement with iran. Are you confident that we can monitor the situation with regard to possible violations . Do we have that capability . I will have to get in and look at the classified data if you confirm me, senator. I believe we can have. I just cant respond authoritatively right now if weve got those processes in place. In your opinion, what did the United States failure last month to veto the u. N. Resolution with regard to israel do to our bilateral relationship with israel . Sir, i would have to get back and look at that. I say that because ive read what is in the newspaper and what is going on in both tel aviv and washington and new york. But i do not have a very authoritative view of that right now. I think we have got to restore a better relationship with israel and with our arab allies. I think there is a sense on their part that we are indifferent to the situation they face, the security situation that they face. And we certainly dont need to send the signal that were indifferent to their situation, do we . The greatest generation came home from world war ii recognizing whether we like it or not were part of this world and well have to remember that lesson. And i realize this was a Foreign Policy question but you will be part of the National Security and Foreign Policy team and let me say that one of my greatest concerns with regard to our failure to veto this resolution, therefore to let it be adopted by the u. N. Security council, is that people will argue that this establishes International Law. And somehow this congress and this new administration are going to have to send the signal that we do not recognize that with regard to the israeli presence in certain sections of jerusalem that we do not recognize that resolution as International Law and we are in a tough position there. If you would like to comment on that i would be glad to hear your thoughts, sir. Sir, i think ultimately we are going to have to promote peace between the palestinian and israeli authorities there and that is going to take time to build that kind of trust and we should be a partner in trying to build that resolution between those peoples. When one speaks of israel maintaining its qualitative military edge over neighbors in the region, what does that mean to you, general . Sir, that it has to do with the technology of the military equipment provided. I would only add that we also have improving relations between israel and some of those neighbors and where we can work in terms of partnership with both israel and the arab neighbors, we can strengthen everyones security and stability in the middle east. Do you believe their qualitative military edge needs to be revitalized . I am not aware that it is not vital now. That it is not fully formed right now. And with regard to the trap. Secretary cohen has insulted every member of this committee by suggesting we dont readily understand that, but with regard to that, as i understand it, this occurs when a rising power tries to meet the power of an already existing and established power. Do you think that is a risk when it comes to our relationship with china, particularly in the Asia Pacific Region . Sir, i believe that we are going to have to manage that competition between us and china. There is another piece of wisdom from antiquity that says fear, honor, and interest always seem to be the root causes why a nation goes to hostilities. I would say what we have to do is engage dip matically, engage in terms of alliances and engage economically and maintain a very Strong Military so our diplomats are always engaging from a position of strength when we deal with a rising power. Bill thank you very much. Good luck to you, sir. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Welcome general mattis and thank you for your willingness to continue to serve this country. I have read that in 2005 as commander of the Marine Corps Combat Development command that you asked researchers to quote, unleash us from the tether of fuel and explore ways to improve the efficiency of military vehicles in order to get rid of the strain it put on supply lines. When you commanded the First Marine Division during the 2003 invasion you had also seen what happens when our troops out ran their fuel supplies. So can you speak to why you think this is important . And will you as secretary of defense continue to support the militarys effort to pursue alternative and more efficient sources of energy to reduce our reliance on conventional fuel supplies . Yes, senator, we will take advantage of every advance in terms of extending our legs, extending our energy efforts, and certainly there is a lot of progress that has been made. I have been living in Silicon Valley the last several years so you can understand my interest in what theyre doing out there in the private sector. Thank you. I think our military is way ahead of much of the rest of government and much of the private sector and those are lessons that can be shared that will benefit the private sector as well. Chairman mccain talked about the threat that russia poses and listening to your responses it sounded to me like you also believe that russia poses a threat to the United States and to the i think you said the trans atlantic alliance. Today for the First Time Since the fall of communism american troops arrived in poland as part of the resure answer initiative. How important is it for us to continue the initiatives to assure our allies well continue to support them and how concerned are you that some of president elect trumps statements with respect to continuing to support nato, to support our allies in europe, has undermined our ability to continue this initiative . And will you support the eri continuing as secretary of defense . Senator, i do support eri. Nato from my perspective, having served once as a nato supreme allied commander, is the most successful military alliance probably in modern world history, maybe ever. And it was put together, as you know, by the greatest generation coming home from a war to defend europe against soviet incursion by their military, yet the first time it went to war is when this town and new york city were attacked. Thats the first time nato went into combat. So my view is that nations with allies thrive and nations without allies dont. And so i would see us maintaining the strongest possible relationship with nato. Thank you. And are you concerned about some of the statements that president elect trump has made with respect to our historic european allies and to nato and have you had a chance to have discussions with him and how confident are you that he recognizes what youve just said about the importance of those relationships . Senator, i have had discussions with him on this issue. He has shown himself open. Even to the point of asking more questions and going deeper into the issue about why i feel so strongly. And he understands where i stand and i will work with the other members of the team, National Security team once the Senate Confirms them to carry these views forward. Thank you. You talked about, i think, senator inhoff raised the issue of readiness for our troops and when you and i met we also talked a little bit about the National Guard and the importance of the guard as being part of the one force that we depend on. Readiness is a concern for the National Guard as well and in New Hampshire our National Guard has experienced a 32 decline in force structure since 2007, much more than many states that are smaller than we are. And theyve had trouble with training rotations, resources, equipment, other aspects of readiness. Can you commit to us that you in addition to trying to address readiness with our active duty forces, that you will also look at the guard and reserve and try and ensure that they also have access to what they need to be ready for deployment . Senator, i share the chairmans view that we have shrunk our military capability and one of the things that that forces on us is the awareness, if not just a Strategic Reserve any more in the National Guard, it is also an Operational Reserve. They have to be ready to go on very short notice. Thats a reality when weve shrunk our military to the point we have yet not reduced our strategic obligations. We have to keep the National Guard and reserves of all the armed forces at the top of their game. We cant deploy them without having them at a high state of readiness mostly in equipment and training. Some things they dont do because they arent on duty 365 days a year. But as an Operational Reserve and Strategic Reserve they will be critical. Thank you, general. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, general mattis for your past service to this country and thank you again for your willingness to step forward and serve us once again. I was happy to see your responses to the advance policy questions, affirm the importance of Nuclear Weapons which you describe as fundamental to our nations security. And your statement that, quote, we must continue with the Current Nuclear modernization plans for all three legs of the triad, end quote. When we talked in my office about the triad in our meeting last week, you brought up i believe a very important point that bears repeating. Relating to the icbm force. There is a broad recognition that the legs of the triad have different strengths. The bombers are visible and therefore they have what i call signaling value. The submarines are highly survivable and the icbms are the most responsive leg and they can be launched at a moments notice. You mentioned what you called the targeting challenge of our icbm force and what that targeting challenge poses for our adversaries. Could you explain that further . In my review of the triad that you brought up here, senator, i looked at each one of those legs, is it necessary . And i havent had access to all the classified data but i had a fair amount of background on this and some of the aspects of why we have a triad have not changed. So in looking at each leg of it with the icbm force, it is clear that they are so buried out in the central u. S. That any enemy that wants to take us on is going to have to commit two, three, four weapons to make certain they take each one out. In other words, the icbm force provides a costimposing strategy on an adversaries and again what were trying to do is set such a stance with our triad that these weapons must never be used ever again. And so the deterrent value of the icbm force is that an enemy would have to basically use three or four times as many weapons to take out each individual one. So that is the targeting challenge the enemy faces against the icbm force. And in your answers to this committees advanced questions whether were deferg hostile activity in cyberspace you say no. You say to be deterred our adversaries must know theyll suffer consequences from cyberattacks that outweigh any gains they hope to achieve. Martha well take a moment and show you what is going on. A bizarre situation. The hearing for mike pompeo had to move from the Hart Building where the hearing was taking place, historic room over there with a history of weird things happening in it during some of these hearings like the sprinkler going off some years ago. Now you see him, they have moved to dirkson, one of six across the street. There is senator bob dole who worked in those buildings for many years in the russell building for many, many years and he is there today to support his fellow colleague from kansas. Lets go back to capitol hill and the hearing for james mattis. I believe you characterized it as, quote, stumbling into a conflict. Essentially, we dont want to find out what constitutes an act of war in cyberspace the hard way. Can you elaborate on that point for us . Senator, i believe a lot of crises and even wars have started from miscalculation. While its important we make clear what we stand for, i think in an area such as you are bringing up here cyber, it is also important our adversaries what we know what we will not tolerate. By making that clear, you are less apt to have somebody stumble into a situation where were forced to take action. That said, putting together a policy like this is not something the department of defense can do alone. We certainly have a key role, a fundamental role but at the same time from our Treasury Department to our Commerce Department to our homeland security, we need to get a lot of people in the room and put this policy together. I realize it is a new domain. But that doesnt give us an excuse not to address it on an urgent basis. Thank you, sir. I look forward to working with you on that. This committee has been focused on cyber, were looking for a policy and i look forward to developing one with you. I invite you to come to nebraska and visit would love to be there when youre there. Senator. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to continue some of the line of questioning started by senator mccaskill. Do you plan on rolling back the opening of infantry to women based on your previous statements . Senator, i have never come into any job with an agenda, a preformed agenda of changing anything. I come in assuming the people before me deserve respect for the job that they did and the decisions they made. I ask specifically because in previous speeches, one from the Marines Memorial Club in San Francisco in april 2015 you were asked specifically about whether we should open infantry positions and special combat jobs to women and you said you did not think it was a good idea. You said when you mix affection for one another, it could be manifested sexually. I dont care if you go anywhere in history you wont find where this has worked. Never has it worked. In a previous speech on april 23, 2014 you said the idea of putting women in there is not setting them up for success. Could we find a woman who could run fast enough of course we could. Could we find a few who could do the pullups, of course we do. Thats not the point at all. It is whether or not you want to mix aeros. In both of these question and answer sessions you do not think you could do it. Have you changed your view on this issue . Senator, i was not in a position to go back into government when i made those statements. There are many policies that have been enacted over many years, including the years since ive been on active duty, im coming in with the understanding i lead the department of defense and if someone brings me a problem then ill look at it but im not coming in looking for problems. Im looking for ways to get the department so it is at the most lethal stance and in that regard it is all about military readiness. Im looking for military readiness and what we can do in that regard. Do you plan to oppose women serving in these combat roles . I have no plan oppose women in any aspect of our military. In 2003 i had hundreds of marines who happen to be women serving in my 23,000person marine division. And this is 10 years before i retired. And i put them right into the front lines alongside everyone else. So you no longer believe that aeros is a problem when men and women are serving together . I believe if we are going to execute policies like this, we had better train our leaders so they can handle all things that come from a policy that decided in this town. Thats our responsibility to train our Young Leaders who are going to be dealing with factors that perhaps their fathers did not have to deal with. In your book warriors and citizens and the interviews that you did afterwards, you were talking about the disconnect between civilians and civilian elites view of the military and the militarys view of itself and you cite various policy debates you think there is a disconnect and two that you cite you said in recent policy debates such as those about allowing homosexuals to serve openly, retaining a residual force in iraq and afghanistan. Cutting military spending, assigning women to combat units and other items, you believe the American Public is not nearly as concerned as it should be that the changes to military policies are occurring risk to our forces. We fear an uninformed public is allowing leaders that are diminishing the power of our military disregarding our war practitioners advice. Do you believe that openly serving homosexuals along with women in combat units is undermining our force . Senator, my belief is that we have to stay focused on a military that is so lethal that on the battlefield it will be the enemys longest day and their worst day when they run into that force. I believe that military service is a touch stone for patriots of whatever stripe. It is simply the way that they demonstrate their commitment. And i believe that right now the policies that are in effect, unless a service chief brings something to me where there is a problem that has been proven, then im not going in with the idea im going to review these and right away start rolling something back. Do you believe that allowing lgbt americans to serve in the military bill we also want to hear what mike pompeo has to say. He is the nominee to be the next head of the c. I. A. And given all the news about the Intelligence Agency over the past several weeks this now is his Opening Statement and he will have very strong comments on iran, on north korea, on china, and right down the line including russia. Lets go. Mike pompeo. I spent the majority of my life outside of politics first as an army officer, litigator and running to Manufacturing Business in kansas. Returning to duty that requires hard work and unering candor is something in my bones. I want to describe what i see as the Central Intelligence agency role in addressing those. The most complicated threat environment the United States has seen in recent memory. Isis remains a resilient movement that controls Major Centers in the middle east. We must make sure they dont expand their reach. The conflict in syria is one of the most humanitarian catastrophes in our time. Iran, the Worlds Largest states sponsor of terror has become more emboldened and disruptive player in the middle east. Russia has reasserted itself aggressively invading and occupying ukraine, threatening europe and doing nothing to aid in the destruction and defeat of isis. As china flexes its muscles and expands its military and economic reach its activities in the south and east china seas and cyberspace are pushing new boundaries and creating real tension. North korea, too, has dangerously accelerated its nuclear and Ballistic Missile capabilities. We all rely on intelligence from around the globe to avoid surprise. Intill against helps makes the other elements of National Power effective against weapons properly i have rateors and other criminals. Forn governments and Liaison Services are vital partners in preventing attacks and providing crucial intelligence. We need to thank the foreign partners that stand with us to keep america safe with the intelligence we need. If confirmed i want to advocate for a strong and vibrant Intelligence Community. There are at least four longterm trends making the urgency of supporting intelligence paramount. First the Intelligence Community finds itself a victim of long term negative budgetary trends. Second, as with the proliferation after weapons, countries such as north korea have overcome low barriers of entry to engage in offensive cyber operations. The United States must continue to wisely maintain a decisive advantage. Third, the effects of dislocation and poor governance present critical challenge and new targets and opportunities for the cias collection and analysis. Finally, the Insider Threat problem has grown exponentially in the digital age. The greatest threats to america have always been the c. I. A. s top priorities. It will be the c. I. A. s mission and my own if confirmed to make sure the agency remains the best in the world collecting what our enemies dont want us to know. In short, the cia must be the worlds premier espionage organization. One emerging area for increased focus is the cyber domain. Sophisticated adversary, like china and russia, as well as less