Transcripts For CSPAN National Guard Chief Project Warp Spe

Transcripts For CSPAN National Guard Chief Project Warp Speed Confirmation Hearing 20240712

In our communities of volunteer to do this. Experiencesd, their , a lot of them have appreciated the opportunity to help within their communities. It will help recruiting and retention. I think it will also help to retain them in our formations. We love them all. Let them know that. Senator reid. You, mr. Chairman, thank you for your excellent statements. Gen. Perna, we had a great discussion yesterday afternoon. Talked about typically the way the military we spent i spent some time, you spend your whole life. Planned for the worst, hope for the best. Here in d. C. , and this is a bipartisan model, it is usually planned for the best and ignore the worst. You will be put in the middle of that. It goes back to the point we reiterated. You have to base your activities on science, fact, on committing saypeak truth to power, to not only the good news but also to bring us the bad news. I hope that you will do that. Can you commit to that . I 100 will commit to that. Thank you. Ppe, that we will rely significantly on the defense production act. I think it is the most powerful tool that youll have to organize the production and distribution. As we mentioned, thats a very complicated process. Distribution involves every health department, every state in the united dates. Production involves multiple manufacturers. Do you anticipate the defense production act will be the primary tool that you use . I dont think it will be our primary tool. I feel confident on Mission Analysis we have capability and capacity in our authorities to use now. With that said, i do have direct access to the defense planning through hhsn act and the department of defense, and i feel 100 confident i can access what i need. We do not want to replicate the ppe situation. I knowledge that. In which states were out, internationally trying to hustle equipment. That is not an exaggeration. From china, paying extraordinary prices for equipment that they could have had. The essence of the defense production act is establishing reasonable prices and also to control this distribution so it is not a firstcome, firstserved the favored son or daughter gets the supplies versus someone else. Your point is clear and i knowledge, and will comply. Thank you. As you indicated in your response to the chairman, the fda will make the call when the vaccine is ready. But we out of your lane want to put it on the table. They could make a call even if there is relatively low efficacy of the drug. Just say it is ready. We saw a little bit of that with situationychloroquine where they had a temporary approval and then recently they pulled it back, discovering it was actually causing serious Collateral Damage by its use. Again, we dont want to find ourselves in the ppe position or position. Ychloroquine that is why im not a doctor, by the way. Among many other reasons. We want to be very careful. I know that is not your lane, but we should understand, all of us, the fda has to demand rather significant efficacy or this drug before they say its ok. We want a vaccine, not a headline. Now let me turn to gen. Hokanson. I think your remarks, background very few seconds remaining. A difficult question. The parameters of the use of the National Guard in these cooperative efforts with Law Enforcement in terms of Civil Service . I know so much depends on the ts, but could give us a your view on how you would approach the problem . Working closely with governors, over the past weeks, the ability of the National Guard to mobilize 43,000 in statesnd airmen and the district, it is a good news story. The key thing is we have to make sure our soldiers are trained and equipped. The whole intent is to deescalate. Ago, icouple of weeks think that shows their ability to help their communities. Thank you both for your Extraordinary Service to the nation. Thank you, mr. Chairman. This is a good hearing, impressive presentations from both of our nominees. Gen. Hokanson, congratulations on your nomination. The president , secretary esper, secretary mccarthy for working with us to arrive at a truly consensus nominee. I look forward to working with you and want to congratulate you. Both of you, as a matter of fact. Gen. Hokanson, lets talk about the mobilization and annual training equipment site at camp shelby. We have had a bit of a problem with the unfunded requirements. Right now, the facility would not be funded because it is low on the ufr list. This benefits cant shelby, if we can get it done. But also the entire National Guard, nation, the proposed project would expand the facility to add 12 vehicle bays at a cost of 60 million. I cannot ask you to absolutely commit that you will move this up, but tell us your view of the facility and the importance of getting this done sooner rather than later. Thank you for the question. We look at our mates facilities across the country, they provide for medicinal he not only to our National Guard but to the nation come in our ability to maintain the equipment we have provided for our National Guard forces. It is absolutely critical we do everything we can in a transparent process to get that funded so that they can repair and maintain the equipment, so it is ready whenever our nation calls. This is our number one priority down in mississippi. I think youll agree, in benefits everybody, not just the one state there. Let me ask you also, gen. Hokanson, to talk about the effort underway to align all National Guard brigade combat guardwith national division. This is something that is gaining support. I just wondered if you could give us your thoughts on that idea of aligning these longterm programs. Senator, thank you. If we go back to prior to world war i, our National Guard was to run the country. Regionally, we created divisions, all 17 applied in rules were one in world war ii. In 2019, when we came up with a new National Defense strategy, is stressed competition. We had Division Headquarters that were solely just that, Division Headquarters, with no down trace units. However, if you look across the entire army National Guard, we have virtually all of the down trace units. The proposal that we brought up was to develop a Training Association not only for our brigade combat teams, but for all formations, so instead of having 10 active army divisions, we would have a total of 18 army divisions. That provides not only great to turn to value but opportunity for some of our smaller states who have outstanding leaders to get opportunities to serve at higher levels. Would promotea longterm growth and prosperity for the guard . Yes, senator, it would. Let me turn to gen. Perna. You have quite the task ahead of you in a short timeframe. The Ranking Member asked you about the defense production act as a tool but not your primary tool we are learning. You may not have looked at this, may not have been aware. I have been an advocate, sometimes a voice crying in the wilderness for prize competitions. Let me suggest that you and your team consider that as you are trying to get something done, big scale in a small time. Humankind response to incentives. Overators have been shown time, over the centuries to ,espond to financial incentives and i would just ask you not to rule out among your bag of tools some sort of prize competition to financially incentivize these competitors to get there when we need them to get their, th do so, the they board of the prize would be money well spent because the taxpayer would be well served. You may not want to comment on that, but i hope you would consider it, and use it as one of the ideas. I fully agree with you, senator. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator gillibrand. Ok. We are going to be going down a list here. We dont know for sure who is here remotely. I will just go down on the democrat side until we have someone here. Senator shaheen . Blumenthal . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you both for your service. Happy anniversary, general perna. Think, shows, i something very enduring and important about our men and women in uniform, which is often it is a family tradition, family affair. I congratulate you as well on your children. It emphasizes to me, gen. Hokanson, how the multiple tours of duty of our National Guard over these 20 years have taken a toll on our families. I know that youll be mindful of the enormous sacrifice made by military families, as well as the men and women who actually serve in uniform. Int is particularly true connecticut and i know our National Guard leaders in connecticut think highly of you, and so do i. I thank you for your service, look forward to working with you. , i know that you have one of the most challenging and important tasks in our nation today, and it is made all the more difficult, i think, by to administrations refusal work with other countries in developing vaccines. Arent you working with one hand tied behind your back because the administration has, in effect, rejected and spurned combined world efforts to develop effective vaccine . As we are working right now, we are open to all ideas that will allow us to achieve our mission of obtaining a safe and effective vaccine. To ae not been constrained decision to eliminate somebody from that competition. Will you commit to the committee and the nation that you will work with any nation that offers cooperation or information relevant to developing vaccines or therapeutics . I commit to working with all nations that we deem are probably to our National Security. We often work with nations that are sometimes hostile in certain arenas. We trade with them, workout agreements with them. Will you commit that you will urge both diplomats and fellow leaders in this effort to develop a vaccine, that we work with every nation that offers promise in the world of medicine . I commit i will give my best military advice so that we can achieve our mission of obtaining the safe and effective vaccine to that end. I dont want to dwell on it, but i regard that answer, with all due respect, as insufficient. I would like to see a much more robust commitment to cooperation with other nations, which i think serves our national interest. I am very concerned about the use of nonfda vaccines on Service Members without effective, informed consent. As the attorney general of connecticut, i was active in writing a letter to then secretary of defense donald commissioneracting in response to the mandatory anthrax maxine program. Vaccine program. I understand trials are beginning in july. Correct. Inthe vaccine may be used tests on Service Members, is that correct . I am not tracking that right now. I would like you to commit that you will offer a robust policy of inform and consent without any kind of coercive influence, so far as Service Members are concerned. I do commit to that. Understanding is your goal is to have 100 million doses ready in november of 2020, an additional 200 million by january 2021. Is that realistic . Right now, as i see the numbers, i do think it is potentially possible. It is possible. It is possible, but we have to work through the trials. As trials can be lengthy, they work through the science of the effectiveness of the vaccine. And only after the science is , and the fdahe fda makes their independent assessments will we be able to distribute the vaccines we are producing. That may be, in effect, months from july of this year. Correct, senator. Knows numbers of doses are a possibility and a hope, but you cannot make any promises or commitments as to the number or when they will be actually available. I am working on the goal to achieve as you articulated but i cannot promise right now. I thank you for your candor and both of you for your service. Thank you very much. Fischer . R thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding the nomination hearing today. General perna, you mentioned leveraging the work being done at universities for operation warp speed in your responses. In nebraska, we are proud of the work that the university of Nebraska Medical Center has done performing Clinical Trials of treatment candidates and also preparing for some of the very first covid19 patients to arrive in the united dates estate. Given the unique challenge and settings of the universities, how do you see them fitting into this effort . Senator, we are open to all recommendations on how to potentially solve this problem. We are taking i am personally taking phone calls on a daily basis from academia and industry, meeting with groups accordingly to assess their ideas, understand the practicality of their ability to deliver. At the end of the day, we must have safe and effective vaccines. Enough, witheedy quality, to achieve our goal. We must ensure that we can garner the capability for quantity. We work through those assessments. But i am open to any conversation with anybody who wants to contribute. A newaddition to seeking vaccine, one of the goals of operation warp speed is to develop new treatments for those affected with covid19. Surge know, very limited capacity of our National Healthcare network has been a factor in care. That is one of the reasons i worked to include the expansion of a dod pilot on medical Surge Capacity in the senate that passed out of committee. I hope that you do take a look at initiatives such as this pilot, and explore how to speed the delivery of new treatments to patients. Maam, we are looking at therapeutics, we believe they have a we have a great opportunity to introduce new therapeutics to the nation, potentially as early as october, november, as we work through the medical protocols, which i will not allow to be short cutted. I knowledge and agree with you. Thank you, sir. Gen. Hokanson, the National Guard plays a very unique role in the realm of our Security Operations by linking state forces with the International Partners. We capitalize on the guards unique ability to build those lasting relationships. It does provide numerous benefits for both United States how do you see a state Partnership Program involving to meet the needs of the National Defense strategies . Thank you for highlighting one of the great programs within the National Guard. If you look at our state Partnership Program, we have partnerships with 89 nations across the globe. Ourot only helps with Combatant Commanders but with our National Guard because it gives them the opportunity to train with allies and partners, and develop longterm relationships. Many of these go back to 1993 with the original state Partnership Program countries that have gone on to become nato members. When we look at the national strategy, National Defense strategy with respect to allies and growing partners, this provides us another avenue to do that by developing those lowlevel relationships that usually start out with humanitarian assistance and Disaster Response but then grow to not only help their militaries improved but also we learn from them, and it gives us another opportunity to create additional partners around the globe. One of the Core Principles of the nds is that we must work to attract good partners, new and aligned, something that you have highlighted. How specifically can you offer that you are going to work to be able to advance those partnerships in the near future . Look at theif you last year, 2020, we added five new state partners, worked closely with the Combatant Commanders and state department, as well as our state National Guard to identify those best candidates that provide benefit not just to our nation but also to the relationship between our National Guard and these countries. I promise that we will continue to do that and the future partnership opportunities. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ono tor here the committees on which i sit, since you became a legal adult have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature . No. Have you ever faced discipline or entered into something related to this conduct . No. No. I have a series of questions for general perna. You are nominated to be chief Operations Officer aims to deliver 300 million doses of a vaccine to the American Public by january of 2021. That is a very ambitious bull and while i commend this goal i am concerned about the lack of transparency and accountability for operation warp speed. This is a massive use of taxpayer dollars and the mission is of intense importance to all of us. I know hundreds of millions of taxpayer money has gone out in various contracts for the development, manufacture, and distribution of a vaccine. Is little clarity about the division of responsibilities within this project and how contracts are being or have been awarded, what safeguards are in place to ensure health and safety is the first priority. Specificxplain the responsibilities you have undertaken as coo in operation warp speed and specifically with regard to decisions relating to the development, manufacturing, and distribution of a vaccine. The perna at the end of day i am responsible and accountable for all decisions execution of our mission. I commit to you that it will be

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