Marshall, who became a virginian, like dr. Esper. He spent the majority of his life in the armed service, the u. S. Military academy at west point. He continued through his carrier in the Army Active Guard reserve, service to the white house, service to this body. In fact, dr. Esper has seen it all as an active guard and reserve member. Work in the private sector, think tanks on National Security policy, service to house and senate committees, service to individual senators, and service to republican administrations. You are familiar with his biography, but i wanted to share two instances of working with dr. Esper, which has led me to the conclusion he is the person of character who should lead the department. One of the first phone calls i received after introduced legislation to address challenges with the and with the unacceptably high Unemployment Rate of Military Spouses was from then secretary esper. He thanked me for the legislation, and talked about his own concern about this as secretary of the army and wants wanted to Work Together to tackle this challenge. We have worked together cooperatively on that. I have been pleased with the armys ongoing efforts in that way. The same commitment to address the quality of life of our military families was something i noticed when this committee began the investigation into the very painful circumstances surrounding substandard military housing. The initial responses by some in the department and at the bases themselves, i think we all experience this, were skepticism, disbelief, denial, avoidance, that was not the response of secretary esper. It was the department of the army that first developed the tenant bill of rights, which became the basis of one of the key provisions that we included in the ndaa this year. Secretary esper extended an invitation for senator warner and i to a company to see the conditions of housing, just 20 miles south of here in a Virginia Army base. When a secretary asks you to do something, you wonder if you will see the village version of it, where we solved this and are proud of our solution. We did not see that. Secretary esper took us to the unvarnished version of problematic housing and people who had been treated badly and could not get help from their chain of command or their housing companies. We heard in a very blunt way about the problems these families had experienced. They were heartbreaking in some ways. We had a roundtable discussion with other families around the table. When the families presented their experiences, encouraged by secretary esper to do so, and often base personnel would begin to respond. If he detected any delay or cannot deal with it right away, secretary esper in a firm and tough way, he would not let people get by with substandard responses. He insisted the families be dealt with fairly and promptly. That willingness to display personal accountability was very impressive, both to senator warner and me. He has been proactive and transparent. I acknowledge the comments made by the Ranking Member about the need for transparency and working for the committee. Working with the committee. I think those are trademarks of exceptional leadership. Most of us were very discouraged by the resignation of secretary mattis. What we have hoped for is a successor who can share the same level of candor and principal, and a willingness to remain independent, even in the most challenging circumstances. I believe dr. Esper has those traits. I would encourage all of my colleagues to support his nomination. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you, senator kaine. Whether you call it that or not, i call it an excellent introduction. Dr. Esper, you are recognized for any comments you want to make. Your entire statement will be made part of the record. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I wish senator kaine can stay here for a couple of hours. Reidman, Ranking Member and distinguished member of the , committee, it is an honor and privilege to appear before u. S. The president s nominee for secretary of defense. I would like to especially thank the senator kaine for that very kind, gracias, humbling introduction. Sir i will not let you down. , you have been a leader in the senate, a leader because you are the father of a marine. You have taken care of our servicemen and women. As you mentioned, i really enjoyed working closely with you these past couple of years. Our experience assured me there is bipartisanship in this building on capitol hill, and there are leaders who will do the right thing. I know you will continue to demonstrate that leadership for our service men and women, and and your constituents in for our nation. I deeply appreciate your remarks. I want to think the president for this opportunity and his confidence in me. Im grateful for the time many of you spent with me in recent weeks. And thankful for the committees swift attention to my nomination. Although i have served 22 days as the acting secretary of defense, today, i appear before you as secretary of the army, in accordance with the vacancy act. I would like to begin by recognizing my wife and our children, who join me today. Like all military families, they have made many sacrifices in support of my service to the nation. Over the past 20 months, leah has traveled with me many times to meet with Army Families and spouses in the u. S. And abroad. As a former Military Spouse herself, she has been an invaluable asset as we focus on a range of family issues. I want to publicly thank her for her support. Im confident that if confirmed, she will assist me in taking care of our great families across the entire department of defense. As many of you know, i am blessed to have served our country in a variety of capacities. On active duty and the regular in the regular army for over 10 years both the u. S. And , abroad during both war and peace. On reserve duty, national guard, army reserve for another 11 years. On capitol hill as a personal committee and leadership staffer in the house and senate. And the pentagon, first as a war planner in the army, second, a Deputy Assistant secretary of defense, and third, reserve ee working for the department of defense for special operations. I worked in the private sector with major corporations, and focused on china and other think tanks. Most recently for nearly two years, as secretary of the army. I believe this broad and diverse experience has prepared me well for the position of secretary of defense. If confirmed, i intend to bring the same focus, energy, professionalism, thoughtfulness, and commitment to the department of defense that i brought every single day to my position as army secretary. Im an avid supporter of the National Defense strategy and its clear assessment of the strategic environment we find ourselves in today. The growing threats posed by great power competitors, such as china and russia, warrant a refocus to high conflict across all military services. This requires us to modernize our forces and capitalize on rapid technological advancements, in the field such as Artificial Intelligence, robotics, directive energy, and hypersonics. We must also build more abrupt Cyber Capabilities. And with your help, establish the u. S. Space force. At the same time, we must be prepared to respond to regional threats, such as iran and north korea, while maintaining pressure on terrorist groups, such as isis and al qaeda. This meets the current readiness with modernization, the departments central challenge. It will require strong leadership, open and continuous dialogue with congress, and the courage to make tough decisions. If confirmed, i intend to continue advancing the strategic goals set forth by my predecessors along three lines of effort. First, we will continue to build a more lethal force by increasing readiness and modernizing for the future. The goal is to deter war. This can only be done with a strong, modern, and ready military overmatched in all domains. Our adversaries must see diplomacy as their best option, because war with the u. S. Will force them to bear enormous costs. Second, we will strengthen our alliances and attract new partners. A Strong Network of likeminded nations willing and able to fight together. Together is an advantage our adversaries do not possess. At the same time, i will continue pressing our allies and partners to contribute more equitably to our shared security, as many other secretaries of defense have done in the past. Third, we will reform the department, beginning with the state. No reform is too small. In the army, we found billions of dollars in savings by overturning hundreds of small stones many said would not make a difference. I will also continue taking the approach that bureaucratic process should not come at the expense of our men and women serving around the world. The bottom line is this, in an era of mounting fiscal challenges and competing demands, we must actively seek ways to free up time, money, and manpower to invest into our top priorities. Lastly, as a personal priority of mine, i intend to place focus on the wellbeing of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and their families. I understand very well the impact that issues such as housing and childcare, spouse spousal employment, have on our readiness of our servicemembers. I heard this firsthand during town halls and private meetings my wife and i held across the army over the last 20 months. Our military families are willing to make sacrifices for their country. In return, im committed to ensuring they are cared for properly. As promised in this committee during my confirmation hearing to become secretary of the army, if confirmed, i will approach these priorities with values and behaviors proven to maximize effectiveness of any team, to act with integrity, to collaborate broadly, to treat others with dignity and respect, to encourage innovation, critical thinking, and straight talk, to empower people and hold leaders accountable. These principles and the values we hold dearest as a profession must be lived, promoted, and upheld day in and day out by leaders. Man, Ranking Member, and chairman, Ranking Member, and members of this committee, thank you again for your time and consideration. Im truly honored to be part of the greatest military in the world. If confirmed, i will continue working closely with this committee and the entire congress as we prepare to meet the challenges that lie ahead. Im grateful for your consideration and nomination, and i look forward to your questions. Thank you, dr. Esper. Senator kaine made a couple of comments about your accompanying him to installations in this area. I was reminded that you accompanied me in some of these areas also. But you went beyond the army. We are talking about the housing problems and the fact that the first time we heard about housing problems was at tigger air force base. You were aware of that. In that meeting that we had, the trip we had together, what impressed me and i think it fits into this hearing today, was how well you did in communicating with the troops in the field. You were one of them. At that time, i thought you were really the guy for this job. Thank you for saying so. When you were with us in june, you were the acting secretary of defense at that time, you said the u. S. National Defense Strategy remains our guiding document. That is really significant. That has not happened before. We had a hearing about this. This was put together by democrats, republicans, people who were top military people in this country. No one at any time since we adopted this well over a year ago has complained it was not done properly. At that time, you talked about why it was important. Also, prior to that in march, when you were the army secretary, in response to one of my questions, you said senator, you made a very important point, you said what we do need, we need a budget. The russians are modernizing, we must build the next generation of combat systems now before russia and china outpace us with their modernization programs. We know that is what is happening today. By the way, secretary mattis, and i appreciated the comment that senator kaine made about him, those were my sentiments, also, and he agreed with that. This is what we needed to be doing and how important it was. In the opening statement, i talked about the fact that the document article that appeared in the economist showed that in the same period of time we were cutting our military spending by 25 , china was increasing theirs about 83 . The people dont know about this. We have competition. When i see this, i look and i we have done a better job. But we need to do a better job than we have done before. When the general became chief of staff, only 5 where the highest level of redness. Now it is at 50 . We are in the right area and moving in the right direction. Budget, this is your opportunity to weigh in on this. And what we will have to do in order to do the job that needs to be done at the time considering that we have competitors we have never had before good i would like to have you use whatever time you need to use and talk bout the significance of the budget deal we are going to have you have. Mr. Chairman. I fully share all of your remarks. The threat by china cannot be overstated. For those reasons i fully support the president s budget, the need for a twoyear budget deal and we need to have authorizations and Appropriations Bills passed on time. I cannot overstate how important it was for dod to receive the budget on time. To celebrate the gains we made and to do all of those things the National Defense strategy tells us to do. Good. T is and also we would ask general the general when he was in to classify the areas and to highlight the areas where we need to catch up. Triadtioned nuclear modernization, space, Artificial Intelligence, and hypersonics. You testified in your open statement paired what would be your priorities in this list or should this be a longer list than it is . This may sound unconventional, but it goes to the first point. Ofneed to get the top tier the pentagon staffed up the soonest. Modernization and the triad is top priority. We need to fully develop the domain of space and improve our capabilities. There are a wide range of conventional capabilities we need to improve and many hinge on Core Technologies that we can speak about during the course of the hearing. Thank you, dr. Esper. Much esther very chairman and mr. Secretary. In your opening remarks you mentioned the continuing tensions between the United States and iran. Madeollowing statement was if you think the war on ran out to be a catastrophe. If you think that it would dramatically dramatically reduced is hard to over estimate. Do you agree . With are not seeking war iran and we need to get back on the diplomatic channel. That raises the channel of how do we take steps that would escalationssible leading to kinetic activity. How do you do that. To foreclose the opportunity for any miscalculation and misunderstanding by developing a concept which i understand we have set up a meeting to brief this committee on soon whereby we do passive patrolling in the strait of hormuz and the persian gulf to deter any provocative acts by the iranians or irgc. At the same time, from the highest levels and the president himself, we said we would meet anytime, anywhere to discuss issues with the iranians to get us on the diplomatic path. You think that diplomatic path is the most thoughtful way to proceed . Pharmacy always is. It always is. In your duties you will be required to opine with funds already appropriated for Critical Military and in the case most obviously presented to you for barter wall construction. The legal requirement is that it must be necessary to support the use of armed forces along the border with mexico. Given the fact that this is a Law Enforcement operation and given the fact that it is not something that is typically in the operational spectrum of military force is to build walls across the border, how can you make that justification . That is something i will need to take a look at. Advicelook at the provided to me by the joint chiefs of staff. Dod is providing is not unlike what we have done in the past in multiple administrations. In many ways, it is one of those things that we do whether it is putting out wildfires or helping with flooding along the mississippi. It is one of those things we provide to the government and to the American People. Lexi would be diverting funds that you have set are critical to the military readiness, posture and operations for activity which is longterm. This is a multiyear project. This is not Something Like a flood or you have to rush in with forces immediately within hours. There is a station and you should not miss that distinction. I agree. If confirmed, i would want to have discussions with you and be transparent moving to that process. Comments. Return to my toould hope you could commit take a federal review and revise the memorandums that we could operate in accustomed this committee has done with the department of defense over many years. Is that something you could do . I will definitely commit to that. I spent my formative years in washington, d. C. On capitol hill. I know why congress has article one and you have important oversight functions. You mention the importance of allies and partners and there has obviously been discordance between some of the statements which the administrate meant have been made with guard to nato into our relationships with many of our allies, the south koreans, japanese do you think we can improve not only the rhetoric but the substance of our relationship with our allies . There is always improvement for relationships with allies. I was pointed with acting secretary on june 24. June 25, i took off in a plane and flew to brussels to meet with allies. One of the messages i want to carry forth is this administration and my personal commitment to nato as someone who served that article five commitments were ironclad and would continue to build to strengthen those partnerships and relationships. A final question, in your dialogue, did they raise the issue of the apparent discordance and diminishment of the relationships between our allies . Wa