Untouched by our counterterrorism effort. So in the future just recognize that in order to restore deterrence, were going to have to show capability, capacity, and resolve. Recognize this is an International Arms control agreement and not a very good one although there are some advantages, recognize the advantages as well. But its not a Friendship Treaty, and some people have tried to make it into a Friendship Treaty say its worthless. As a Friendship Treaty it would be worthless but its an arms control agreement that fell short of a lot of hopes but its not completely without some merit. We have allies out there. We have allies who want to rally to our side. I dont forget sitting with the king of jordan one day. We were working on his syrian refugee problem and i have seen refugees all around the world from the Southeast Asia to africa to the dalmatian coast. I have never seen i have been up in the refugee camps. I have never seen refugees as traumatized as those coming out of syria.
Enough, heard about it enough, it has enough complexity, just be done with it. I think in this case, what were doing right now in iraq, while it may not be sufficient, is certainly on the right path. I saw a hand all the way on the aisle at the end. Yes, maam. Thank you. Question about u. S. Presence in the region. You seem to indicate that more of a naval presence would be the way to go to reassure allies. I would just like you to elaborate on that and when you look at increasing a u. S. Presence, whether at sea or on the ground, combined with more u. S. Weapons going to allies in the region, where do you see that heading . What is the really, whats the worst possible outcome . Yeah, well, let me also add least address the best possible outcome. I can do it with an example. Several years ago, i was reading again all the reports coming out of tehran, mining the gulfs. Remember that word . We have Coastal Defense cruise missiles. It was about mining. I called my fleet commander and i sa
Japan is important. It allowed us to fully deploy in the region and provide credibility for the United States. Thanks to the agreement in 1972, the uss navasota was able to do minesweeping. Do the math. Keep one chip forward, deployed, you need to have three ships in your inventory. To accommodate the transit and maintenance cycles. Currently, we have 20 ships in the home Port Authority in japan. Two Additional Air carriers, eight additional amphibious ships, ate mine countermeasure ships and a dozen destroyers to meet the mission. These Forward Deployed ships need downtime for upkeep will stop when i was in navasota, i remember the quality of the work done at the shipyard. I recall we were talking about some radio equipment and this Shipyard Worker told me, i could get this done for you isnt really important and it i said yes. And he said, well i have a wedding tomorrow i could put off. I was impressed by the dedication and quality of work. It should be the midway. The Aircraft Carrie
Bush bunch of negative outcomes. The russian economy will contract 3 or 4 this year and will remain into concession next year. Take stands in stark contrast to the vast majority of the worlds economies that are projected to grow this year. Just in the last three years, weve seen the russian economy plummet in size from being oneeighth the size of the u. S. Economy to being onesix teteen. So with all due respect to our friends in spain, that is not a country that is thriving. They are sustaining significant economic costs and responding to a situation where they see their influence diminishing and ross prospect of a significant long Term Investment in syria going down the tubes. So i guess thats the case that i would make. One of the that yfof the hallman strength is the fact that at least in this situation the United States is leading a coalition of 65 nations carrying out an integrated stwraemrategy destroy isil. Is it accurate then to say that the president is comfortable with the id
Assertive abroad. Thats just what we are doing. Thats something that we are addressing with this Regional Security strategy. Admiral harris, as i indicated in my opening remarks, theres concern about north korea. I recall when we met in singapore, you expressed significant concern. Can you just briefly give us your latest update about north korean activities . I might add, since china shared a border with north korea, are they at all being helpful or do they recognize the threat . Senator, i believe that as i have said before the north korea is the greatest threat that i face in the pacific as Pacific Commander. I think you have a leader in north korea who has Nuclear Weapons and is seeking to deliver them intercontinentally. That causes me great concern. He has 20 to 30,000 artillery pieces within a range of seoul amounting to several hundred thousand rockets that place 28,000 american troops plus their families in a 700,000 american citizens who live on the korean pa sin sue la in da