>> foreign relations committee will come to order, we have an important hearing this afternoon as we talk about president-elect nomination to be secretary of state. we'll get to that very with the. as a matter of personal privilege, every time i am sworn in for a new term, i tend to think back. as i start my 41st year, i have learned some things over the period of time. it's been 28 years in the state senate and now 13 years here. some things i've learned, i can make very briefly and observation, if we treat each other with kindness and respect, we get things done. one of the best friends i've had during my time in the senate was the democrat leader, we are still close personal friends. we traveled to north idaho. he consults with me frequently and gives me advice even when i don't want. we've become and stayed good friends over the years. we've always gone things done and i hope as we go forward, we will do likewise. this will be my 50 third year, i've been married to my wife. after completing 36 elections, i consider that quite an accomplishment. with that, we are going to proceed to hear from him with opening payments. there are very important matters he must tend to we are honored to have him come address this body. thank you for your leadership and all who have gathered here today i've been asked and i am honored he would ask me to come before the committee and make an introduction. not going to do what most do and read his entire biography which you have all seen and i'm sure your post as i am. december 12, 2001, hours after the terrorist attack on the u.s., leading french newspaper published a front page headliner forwards, we are all americans. with those four words, acknowledging the danger and pain in the u.s., quite simply said will stand with you. despite differences on many issues, that's what friends are for. that is the reason the lines is count. with the end of the trump administration, we face a stark choice, america first means america alone? is our nation still friends and allies? over the past four years, many of the strongest bonds between america and allies have been strained. lifelong friends shunned and authoritarian adversaries have been embraced. the role of u.s. and the world, its values and allies, adversaries are in question. the world is waiting for clear policy from our new president and news president has chosen one man to lead the effort. look at his background, it starts with the state department. national security council, working as deputy secretary of state, an amazing background. there's also a moment which i'm sure you have all seen, there is a photograph in the situation room when approximately 12 people were gathered with the president and vice president of the u.s. and secretary of state to see if finally, capture osama bin laden. tony was in that room. more than just a peripheral staffer, part of the security decisions of u.s. of america. he is ready for this job and we know it. there's one thing we discussed before we walked in here that i think is a critical element, he inherits a great department and many men and women who have dedicated their lives to the security of the u.s. of america, we need them. we see their expertise wherever we travel, every corner of the world. sometimes great personal sacrifice, they represent this country and literally risk their lives to do so. it his job and he understands it. to thank them for their efforts and make sure the morale is at the highest level so america continues to be well represented around the world. it is my honor to introduce him as a next secretary of state. thank you. >> thank you very much. i know you have other things to do so we will excuse you what we are going to do here is i will give opening remarks and then turn it over to senator menendez for his opening remarks. we will do a round of questioning and each senator will be given ten minutes. i will do it on a senior basis. because of the size, it is important that we do it on seniority basis with all that said, today's hearing is significant. secretary of state is one of its most important nominations that the president makes. he represent our interests abroad and also looked to for defining america's rural posture in the world. over the past several decades, we watched nations with auditory. in imperial tendencies, increasingly to grow influence on the world stage and unfortunately, that has happened some success on their part. these countries challenge the very principles on which the u.s. was founded, democracy and rule of law. if the biden administration begins, their key foreign policy issues that need immediate attention. my most important concern as we talked about in my office not long ago iran. the president-elect promised to return. present obama thought it would empower iran moderate iran abandoned with the nuclear weapons program. this proved to be misplaced. the regime cannot separate itself from its revolutionary ideology. jc poa provided very beneficial sanctions relief for iran. yet, it failed to eliminate support for these proxies and therefore allowing them to fund terrorism across the region. the deal included shortsighted sunsets on iranians conventional weapons and ballistic missiles programs and allowed iran to continue. any new deals with iran must address all facets of this behavior including its ballistic missile program and ending support for terrorism. i fully understand and comprehend the people want to focus on ambitions but these people and other bad activities they are involved in that also need to be addressed. unfortunately, the iranian regime things it's is successfully weighed out the pressure program we've had in place. only time will tell if they are right. at the time, president obama you'd used the regime congress created as a leverage to begin the jc poa tops, so he should have. president-elect biden should take advantage of the significant leverage provide to the maximum pressure program and negotiate a new deal that includes the regional aggression. policy of containment rather than reason is the only approach that will be successful. discussions with iran should begin and end with allies in the region. israel and many of our other allies from the u.s. abandoned them and their security concerns during the negotiation. with u.s. leadership over the last four years, our relations rebuilt and paved way for the abraham records. as a significant step in fundamentally improving security, economic and diplomatic environment in the middle east but they also underscored significant threat iran poses to regional partners. i would hope future negotiations with iran would include consultations with not just congress but also israel and our partners. significant implications any new deal should be submitted as a treaty for ratifications. i understand is a controversial issue but we will have the support of the u.s., it can't just be one branch of government, it needs to be all branches of government. i hope the biden administration will adhere with any engagement with iran and i sincerely appreciate your offer prior to begin or end these negotiations, there will be significant consultations with this committee. i greatly appreciate that. another area of serious concern with the administration is china which i believe will be our greatest foreign policy challenge of this century. on a personal note, thank you for having read the report, 143 page report i published recently and i also appreciate your kind words that you had of conclusions and suggestions in the report. china is a strategic local competitor of the u.s. chinese communist party routinely engages in economic military aggression, human rights abuses and influence operations and its policies deliberately damage u.s. interests and values. in the face of the chinese communist party's dangers goals, the u.s. must maintain a strong competitive stance. the challenge now spent and a marathon that will require sustained political will, expand cooperation with allies and partners in properly aligned resources and personnel. ... that is not a partisan issu. it is an american issue. i know senator menendez had strong concerns and i hope that we will work together as we move forward with those challenges. i hope that the biden administration will pursue bipartisan cooperation on challenges proposed by the chinese communist party. one of those is taiwan. the obliteration of the autonomy last year begs the question of the future all the more urgent and serious. the military modernization and expansion is dramatically shifted the balance of power in the indo pacific. this is eroding the deterrence putting the u.s. military as well as indo pacific allies and partners at risk. taiwan is among the strategically consequential issues and should remain a key strategic priority. finally, the pandemic has evolved into the largest most destructive emergency in more than a century. more than 83 million infected and 1.8 million have died. economies have been upended, schools and offices closed and livelihoods destroyed. it would take years to recover from this global health catastrophe. there's a lot we still do not know but two things are clear. the global spread was accelerated by catastrophic failures at all levels of the existing global health security architecture and unless we do something now it will happen again. i introduced an effort to help the united states and international partners get ahead and i along with my committee colleagues pressed them to launch an independent review in response to the outbreak to figure out what worked, what didn't and how to prepare for future outbreaks. they ultimately followed our suggestion. if confirmed, i'm committed to working with you to advance reforms at the who to help restore public confidence and enable it to respond to crisis in real time. i along with senator murphy, cardin and portman want to introduce bipartisan legislation to strengthen the ability of the united states international partners to detect, and respond to outbreak do not mix. i'm aware there's a strong interest in this area and i look forward to working with him and the committee as we move legislation forward. this bill, the diplomacy act provides much needed leadership in the direction to the global health security efforts overseas and incentivizes the leadership and investment by others. i'm also eager to work with you if confirmed to redefine and an act the legislation. over the last five years the world has seen dramatic change and it's imperative they are updated to reflect these realities. i look forward to hearing your thoughts on these issues and i thank you for being here today and your family for the willingness to take on the sacrifice to serve this important position. with that, senator menendez, the floor is yours. >> let me first start by saying i appreciate your efforts to work with me to get this hearing up-to-date and expedite the consideration of one of the most important positions in our government. >> you are welcome, and i think all of us have a strong interest in seeing that the president has in place as rapidly as possible his national security team. >> i appreciate this and also hopefully if everything works out well, the consideration of the committee meeting to vote out the nominee. let me say one remark about the future work together as a committee when the gavel changes, but as someone that has met your lovely wife, you are an incredibly fortunate man to have over half a century with her as a partner. >> no one knows better than i. >> congratulations on such a great long time together, she's an incredible person. congratulations on your nomination. you are superbly qualified and prepared to be the next secretary of state and you have impressed us over the years with your intellect, dedication and humanity including during your successor national security advisor and staff director of this committee. while tomorrow's inauguration is a time for healing and renewal, i'm nonetheless compelled to speak about the insurrection of the capitol on january 6th. the images from that day or seared in our collective conscience. the terrorists defiling the capital with confederate flags and not see images seeking to take hostage or perhaps kill our democratically elected leaders savagely beating police officers. and in that respect my heart goes out to the family of new jersey native and capitol police officer who succumbed to those injuries and the family of capitol police officer howard as well as dozens of others injured in the attack. this attack on the very foundation of our democracy delivered a tragic reminder that our ability to project power abroad is inextricably linked to the health and strength of our democracy. this doesn't mean we cannot talk about the importance of democracy abroad, but rather, we must show senators and all other leaders in this country have a duty to stand up for democracy for the constitution, for the rule of law. there can be no exceptions. and i would expect that from the biden administration and based on my experience i know that you will do so in deed. if confirmed your task would be to repair and restore america's place in the world. you will face complex challenges all over the globe. the world is on fire. rebuilding alliances and leadership, tackling problems that defined the times and borders like climate change, migration and covid-19. and you will need to re- center around the core american values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law but you will need to do so thoughtfully. over the past year the world has watched the united states falter on a national response. continue its overdue reckoning with racism and struggle with the president's obsession with thwarting the peaceful power pushing disinformation and attacking a free press. as we work with american interests around the globe and seek to create a more democratic prosperous and secure world we have to redouble our efforts at home to secure a more perfect union for all americans. as you are likely aware north korea, russia, turkey requires immediate attention over the past four years the nuclear missile programs have continued to grow unchecked. they are more at risk now then after president trump when he took off office and to murder the political opposition. and turkey continues to be destabilizing by supporting the aggression to its own aggressive behavior in the eastern mediterranean against our democratic allies. from the broader regional perspective, one of your most important challenges will be to forge a coherent strategy for the indo pacific one led by our values, centered on their allies and partners and implemented with consistency. as you know i believe the trump administration got some of the questions about the region right. they came up with the wrong answers. at the time when we should have been strengthening alliances and building partnerships and powering a multilateral architecture expanding the commercial ties and the democracy and the rule of law the trump administration in almost every case did the exact opposite. i'm interested in hearing more about what your top priorities will be if confirmed in approaching the indo pacific region and how the policy nests within this framework. we also have a number of ongoing challenges perhaps none so pressing as iran. as you know i wasn't a proponent of the jc poa but i also believe the trump administration decision to withdraw without a serious strategy involving our allies would ultimately leave us less safe and around the aggression across the middle east and its recent nuclear activity that has dramatically advanced its capabilities his vindicated that prediction. i understand the administration is interested in returning to a diplomatic path which i support, but i fear returning to the jc poa without concrete efforts to address iran's other dangerous and destabilizing activity would be insufficient. there is bipartisan support that includes working closely with our european and regional partners if we take those other issues into considerations. simply put addressing the crime weak governance, climate relateddisplacement in the nortn triangle must be a top priority for the country and deeply impacts the security and economic well-being of america's. further south i'm encouraged by the biden administration plans to renew the commitment for the multilateral efforts we must improve the effectiveness of international sanctions and humanitarian aid as we pursue a diplomatic solution to the venezuelan crisis. the campaign of crimes against humanity and attacks against interim president and democratic civil society which i hope the administration will recognize have serious implications for u.s. national security and stability. i also hope will support the efforts to free the six americans that have been detained by venezuela. if i'm confident you will do everything you can to restore the leadership abroad. foundational to that will be rebuilding and reinvigorating the state department itself. as you know our civil servants are incredibly talented and dedicated. over the past few years however they have been treated with disdain, smeared and forced out of public service. there's been a stunning loss of expertise, decline in morale, little accountability for those at the top and the state department still hasn't achieved a workforce that comes close to reflecting the diversity of the country. the state of affairs impacted relationships across the globe and to engage in the interagency process and its relationship with congress. so the challenges you will be facing all our eminence but i have confidence in your experience and expertise and i look forward to hearing your testimony and working with you to restore the police in the world to repair and rebuild our relationships and our institutions. thank you. >> thank you senator menendez. after our conversations earlier today and after hearing our opening statements, senator menendez as you can see there isn't a whole lot of daylight between us on most of these issues. certainly almost none whatsoever when it comes to objectives, strategy, and how to get there is obviously something that needs to be negotiated and all of our best heads together to try to get to that decision. we are interested in hearing that and obviously as senator menendez said, iran is at the top of the list we have problems in turkey, north korea is on the list and we have a lot of challenges, but we will do better if we all pull the wagon together and i think we are headed in that direction right now. with that thank you for your willingness to serve and the floor is yours. >> mr. chair man, thank you very much and to you and ranking member of menendez and all of the members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to be here today and i appreciate everything you've done to make this hearing possible it is truly the owner of a lifetime to appear before this committee was president elect biden's nominee to be secretary of state and it's an honor that carries special significance for me for two reasons. first, as you've noted i have the privilege of serving as the democratic staff director of the committee for six years working alongside distinguished senators including several still on the committee today to advance american diplomacy and safeguard the interests of the american people. that experience gave me an abiding respect for this committee, for its finest bipartisan traditions, for the caliber of its members and staff, for the essential work it does to strengthen u.s. leadership around the world. if i have the honor of being confirmed, those lessons that i learned in my years with this committee will guide my approach to our work together. the second point is a little bit more personal. in addition to my own confirmation as the deputy secretary of state, this committee confirmed my wife who is here with me today and assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs. my uncle as ambassador to belgium and confirmed my father as ambassador to hungary. i hope i do not break that streak today. my family, especially my wife and our children are my greatest blessing. our tradition in public service is a source of tremendous pride. i review that tradition as something of a sacred duty. payment on the debt our family goes to the nation that gave so many of my relatives huge and extraordinary opportunities across the generations. my grandfather found refuge in america after fleeing russian pilgrims. my father's after fleeing the communist regime in hungary and mightily at stepfather founder of fusion america after entering the horrors of the holocaust. sam was the only survivor among his immediate family and school of 900 children in poland after four years in the concentration camps. at the end of the war, he made a break from a death march into the bavarian woods and from his hideout he heard the rumbling sound of a tank and as he looked out instead of seeing the dreaded iron cross, he saw a five pointed white star so he ran to the tank and got to it. the hatch opened. an african-american g.i. looked down at him and fell to his knees and said the only three words he knew in the english language that his mother taught him before the war. god bless america. the g.i. lifted him into the tank into freedom, into america. that's who we are and what we represent to the world however in perfectly and what we can still be when we are at our best. if i have the honor of serving, that is the vision that i will pursue and a vision i articulate often. when he said the united states as a nation that leads not only by the example of our power but by the power of our example. if confirmed, my three priorities would guide my time as the secretary of state. first, i will work with you to reinvigorate the department of state investing in its greatest asset the foreign service officers, the civil servants, the lovely employee to staff who animate the diplomacy. i know from first-hand experience the passion, their energy, their courage often far from home and away from loved ones, sometimes in dangerous conditions exacerbated by the pandemic. they deserve our full support and if i am confirmed, they will have it. i'm committed to advancing the national security prosperity by building a diplomatic corps that fully represents america in all of its talent and all of its diversity. recruiting, retaining, promoting officers with the skills to contend with the 21st century challenges and to look like the country that we represent. sparing no effort to ensure their safety and demanding accountability working across government and with partners around the world we will revitalize diplomacy to deal with and take on the most pressing challenges of our time. we will show up again day in and day out, wherever and whenever americans prosperity and security is at stake. we will engage the world not as it was, but as it is. a world of rising nationalism, receiving democracy, growing rivalry from china and russia and other authoritarian states, mounting threats to a stable and open international system and a technological revolution that is reshaping every aspect of our lives, especially in cyberspace. but for all that has changed, i believe some things remain constant. american leadership still matters. the reality is the world does not reorganize itself. when we are not engaged, one of two things is likely to happen. either some of their country tries to take our place but not in a way that is likely to advance our interests and values or just as bad, no one does and then you have chaos. either way, that does not serve the american people. i believe that humility and confidence should be the flipside of america's leadership coin. humility because we have a great deal of work to do at home to announce our standing abroad and humility because most of the world's problems are not about us in the first instance even if they affect us and no single country acting alone even one as powerful as the united states can fully and effectively address these problems. but we will also act with confidence that america at its best still has a greater ability than any on earth to mobilize others for the common good. i believe we can and will overcome the crisis. the greatest challenge since world war ii. we can remind of the people, for the people can deliver for its people. we can take on the existential threat posed by climate change and revitalize our core alliances, force multipliers of our influence around the world. together we are far better positioned to counter threats from russia, iran and to stand up for democracy and human rights. and i think everything we can do we must ensure the foreign policy is working to deliver for the american working families here at home. let me conclude with a word about this institution whose resilience and determination run full display in the aftermath of the violence in these halls both for the president elect and i believe we have to restore the traditional role as a partner in our foreign policy. in the recent years across the administrations of both parties, the voice in the foreign policy has been diluted and diminished. that doesn't make the executive branch stronger it makes us weaker. president elect joe biden and i believe and i share the conviction no foreign policy can be sustained without the consent of the american people. you are the representatives of the american people. you provide that advice and consent. we can only tackle the most urgent challenges we have if we work together, and i am dedicated to doing just that. if confirmed, my commitment is to work with each and every one of you on behalf of all americans. thank you for the time and consideration and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you very much and of course your words are music to our ears and we would be happy to be a partner with you in that regard. with that we will proceed to a round of questions and i'm going to yield to senator menendez. we discussed the need to repair and rebuild its relationship and i think it's after 28 years of doing public foreign policy in the house and the senate. i've never seen a moment like this in terms of our relationship with the state department, so having heard your opening statement i'm confident that you understand the constructive relationship between the department and congress, so i have a few quick questions. do you agree the state department is accountable to congress and the american people? >> yes. >> do you commit you will keep fully informed on the activities? >> i do. >> do you understand and agree a relationship between the department requires meaningful engagement and consultation with the committee while policies are being developed, not after the fact and can you commit to ensure that the type of meaningful engagement? thank you very much. let me turn to iran. this is going to be one of the difficult challenges early on because iran has accelerated the maximum pressure campaign and did not stop it from its acceleration. we were broken away from our allies. we couldn't even get from our traditional allies that voted the united nations on continuing the arms embargo and that is not a good recipe to counter iran. so i think there is a will to work together in a serious diplomatic engagement with iran but some of our concerns about the jc poa time has lapsed. some of the other issues are now coming to the floor in terms of the jc poa and then you have all of iran's other destabilizing activities. so, some of us have worked, senator graham, members of the committee and others thinking about how something along the lines of returning to the jc poa but with a commitment and process by which they would have to deal with some of the challenges led by the jc poa and other issues looking at the possibility of the regional fuel bank so that not only the iranians, but those in the golf would be able to participate to receive nuclear fuel for domestic peaceful consumption but not enrichment. we could defuse all of those that are looking now to enrich. those are some ideas, not the totality of it. could you give us a sense of where you are looking at it with reference to iran and as a part of that, are you going to proactively reach out to congress in order to forge such a consensus that can move us together with one voice towards meeting iran as a challenge? >> thank you very much, senator. let me answer the last question first in terms of reaching out. the answer is yes absolutely. especially on a policy challenging as the one we have to deal with when it comes to iran. we are much better off if we can work through and think through these issues together. you have my commitment that we will do that and i look forward to the consultations and conversations that we have. when it comes to iran, a couple of things. first president elect biden is committed to the proposition that iran will not require a nuclear weapon and we share that goal across the committee. with the capacity to build one on short order when it comes to the activities whether it is support for terrorism, whether it is fueling and feeding its proxies, whether it is destabilizing the region it is in iran that would act with greater impunity than it already is, so i think we have an urgent response ability to do whatever we can to prevent air on from getting close to the capacity to having the material to break out on short notice. in my judgment, for whatever it's limitations succeeding on its own terms and blocking the pathway to produce the web and weapon onshort order it also fee most intrusive inspections in the regime in the history of arms control. the challenge that we face now is if we pull out of the agreement, iran is now taking steps to undo the constraints that were imposed so it's increased its stockpile and it is now enriching at a higher level. it is deploying centrifuges in ways that were prohibited and based on public reporting the breakout time that it would take to produce enough material for one weapon has gone from beyond a year to about three or four months based on the public reporting and that potentially brings us back to the crisis point that we were reaching before the deal was negotiated. so if iran comes back into compliance, we would, tomac but we would use that as a platform who would be on the same side to seek a stronger agreement and also as you and the chair man have pointed out, to capture these other issues with regards to missiles and the destabilizing activity. having said that, i think we are a long way from there. we would have to evaluate if they are making good on their obligations and then take it from there. ... >> we will look forward to engage and challenge iran i think that's important. >> let me turn to china. many of us certainly senator romney's is my first meeting with him has made china one of the focal points he has bragged about the initiative democrats introduced a couple of months ago with the america leaves act that brings all the development counties on trade and commerce and technology and armed services, just about everybody in a comprehensive national strategy to deal with china which deals with investments here at home because of us believe we must not only confront china but compete with china to be successful. diplomacy alliances security and values and trade to create a truly competitive approach. i believe this is one of the most significant national security challenges we will have as well as economic challenges how do you see that? >> first of all i read and applied and read the very good report the chairman did on china and applied virtually everything that is in it. there is a very strong foundation on which to build as we look at china there is no doubt that it was is the most significant challenge of any nationstate as i see it, raising adversarial aspects to the relationship competitive ones and still some cooperative ones when it's in our mutual interest as we think about how to deal with china we have to start approaching china by a position of strength and weakness. the good news is the ability to do that is largely in our control when we are working with and not denigrating the allies. and then to write the rules to and with those institutions standing up our values when human rights are being abused when democracy is being untrammeled the ability to make the investments as you pointed out there are fully within our control and if we come together and do them we can deal with those civic challenges from that position of strength not a position of weakness. >> thank you mr. chairman. welcome. >> i want to get anyone in trouble but it would there was a phone call to summarize it we are in a unsustainable position we are so closely divided. these areas of foreign policy that politics and at the waters edge i hope that can be true but there are some good areas of agreement. so to reach out and by the way is chairman and ranking member on the european subcommittee, the european energy was senator murphy, we find those areas of agreement. i want to focus on that that is completely unsustainable with this nation and one of the areas we can all agree on is the world is a very dangerous place no doubt about it. not a lot of black and white. there is a lot of gray areas. had to address iran or north korea or china or from russia? no doubt you have a wealth of knowledge as to secretary perry there is a difference so in all sincerity i just want to talk to you about judgment and again looking at the trump administration so the form policy accomplishments and we hope you can get our nato partners to invest more in nato. >> and between israel and uae and sudan those are good things you want to build on that. >> i agree. >> a quick aside something secretary carry that was not possible whatsoever. but it's been proven wrong and i'm looking for the acknowledgment that maybe pass judgments were overtaken and then moved on. what is near and dear to my heart is between kosovo and serbia. i will want to take believe this but the situation was not improving a lot of the things that we can agree on but we can agree on is economic advancements. that's a good thing go correct? >> i agree. >> what troubles me about the past record of the obama biden administration and difficult situations i want to give you the opportunity to discuss if you have second thoughts like what happened in libya. american leadership that is where obama said we will lead from behind we have been ghazi do you have second thoughts with libya? >> i do. but no winner no party has a monopoly on good ideas. and then we can pull all the good ideas both sides of the aisle to advance a security and well-being of the american people. and second very quickly, i think there are number of things from what i have said the trump administration did and i imagine the committee feels the same way. it makes the region safer and i hope we could build on that as well you mentioned kosovo and serbia the president-elect spent a lot of time in the past to move kosovo forward and it is shared across the administration's massively that president is taking a tougher approach to china in the basic visible spirit president trump opened everybody's eyes. have you been given second thoughts to those with libya? >> yes. qaddafi said he would slaughter like rats of those who opposed them including the inhabitants of benghazi and we faced what look like the potential for a mass atrocity that was headed our way. and i support it. and the national security advisor at the time and he did not agree. and have that relationship and as noted and we intervened. here is what we misjudged. first, we didn't fully appreciate the fact one of the things qaddafi has done over the years was to make sure there was no possible rival to his power as a result of the bureaucracy or administration in libya with which to work he was gone go that made things much more challenging. >> so there was no plan afterwards. >> the plan that ran into some reality but unfortunately the result has been there is more space for those extremist groups with the vacuum left by qaddafi. and then they never implemented or are over time with the trump administration? >> and with that legal assistance to ukraine we have that opportunity to write exactly that in "the new york times" about years ago. >> so to prepare for this hearing i will enter this into the record but my staff did provide me senator mccain's 2014 terms so i thought i word give you the update to respond but talking about qassem soleimani and you remain adamant it did not improve our national security by would take the opposite side of that can you explain that one? because he was the mastermind and he was responsible for hundreds of american lives lost, i don't see how you can't agree that was with national security. >> nobody is shedding a tear for the demise of qassem soleimani i saw firsthand the blood he had on his hands. nobody mourns of fact he is no longer there but from where i sat the question is not whether taking them out was the right thing to do but what may be the consequences and asking ourselves if on balance we would be less safe or not to take that action previous a ministration including the bush administration and obama administration concluded we would not be and i think what we saw after his death including attacks on positions in iraq which left dozens of not hundreds with brain injuries and the fact our post that we were there to prevent the reemergence of a so because after his death would attack them and closing our embassy in baghdad for fear with the absence of the militia and the fact we see iran acting out we are not the only actor in this drama but on balance that action left us less safe. >> but he was in baghdad for a reason but thank you mr. chairman. >> senator cardin. >> [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] >> senator first of all it's good to see you in the short answer is yes. the president-elect has been very clear to put democracy and human rights back at the center of it is a question of resources and commitment of course a lot of this begins at home the ability to be a strong leader and defender of democracy and human rights also depends here at home and as we have already discussed we have some work to do on that account when you cite the backsliding we have seen for decades and those that were consistently ranked fully half of them have been backsliding on the metrics so this this is a real challenge. and then try to with the first year of his administration so to bring democratic countries together that are common to democracies including rising populism also with a common agenda working to include combat and corruption for human rights to include having a voice to call out abuses of democracy or human rights so this is what i hope you can put together with the end of this year and something we would very much welcome with the participation of members of congress and members of this committee's demand as a budget director. [inaudible] >> yes i am. this has been a great achievement we have gone from magnitsky to go bold magnitsky those laws and now recently the european union was has been a tremendous success story to bring the democratic countries of the world together and give them the effective tool to push back against human rights. >> and with the state department getting more countries to adopt to make sure that comprehensive and corruption to make sure you have adequate staffing. and those that have information with those abuses and to help strengthen with the international human rights violators. and then to make tremendous progress but we all acknowledge it is a national security threat. and with the underlying fabric. and other countries in the world that regime of corruption to identify those and put them in with the consequences. and the fact that this is legislation can we have a strong position but certainly there are standards that need to be met. >> absolutely i welcome that and confirm that i am beyond that with the work in combating corruption at the state department. >> and strong support that relationship that we need to maintain america's leadership you mentioned abraham of course and then to get back on track. >> first let me start with the basic proposition that with his real security is sacrosanct and with the president-elect feels very strongly is very first trip as a member of the committee he met with the prime minister by the name of golda my year she had a young aid and he is worked with every israeli prime minister since then. so the foundation is report for security and i share this conviction that the best way and maybe the only way to ensure israel's future as a jewish democratic state and to give the palestinians a state to which they are entitled is the two state solution that is very challenged at this moment. realistically it's hard to see near-term prospects for moving forward on that. what's important is to make sure either party make steps with that difficult proposition even more challenging and those that make it more challenging and awfully to start working to slowly build confidence on both sides to build an environment we might once again have a solution to the israeli-palestinian relationship. >> [inaudible] >> there is. and as you rightly point out, at the end of the obama biden administration vice president biden worked very closely with congress to develop a plan to deal with the challenges posed by the systemic and endemic problems in honduras and guatemala and el salvador. these drivers of course for the primary drivers of the migration crisis that continues to challenge us this very day. getting of those root causes that cause people to make that incredibly difficult decision to pick up one day and leave their families, their country, culture and language behind because life is not tolerable in their circumstance. if we don't help these countries address those causes , it will be very hard to get at the root of the problem. there was a bipartisan plan to pass congress with $800 million to help countries in the northern triangle did not simply throwing money but the assistance we were providing two concrete reforms we were taken the criminal justice system to create greater economic opportunity, et cetera. we saw progress in each of those countries as a result. unfortunately that planned alter the last few years and we will come forward to talk to you about a renewed effort on a bigger scale that involves assistance for the northern triangle countries but tied to concrete reforms. >> thank you for your service. >> senator romney. >> i like to be associated with the comments you made at the opening of the session and also at the ranking member menendez as well as the questions which he asked and i would like to indicate with the comments made as he began a number of things that stood out. one was his conviction that i shared we be involved in the world because the world is a safer place and i think that we lose sometimes it doesn't necessarily mean military engagement in the real but promoting values and economic interest and we are involved in the world because it is good for america. not just good for the world but for us and the people of america. i applaud that recognition so with some thoughts about china as well as the american public so describe for us what china has described as they are ambition over this century, what they attend one - - intend to achieve and how the world would be different if they were successful to do so. >> china had a policy for decades hiding their hand and biding their time leaving aside what they were doing within their borders and what we have seen particularly since the rise of president xi that it has gone away and much more assertive to make clear that they seek to become the leading country in the world that sets the standards to the poor the model they hope other countries will ascribe to. and my own conviction, senator is there are many weaknesses china uses to project its model but in the absence of an alternative, it's better than we think go so our obligation is to demonstrate the vision that we have in the policies we pursue in the way we do it is much more effective to living for our people as well as people around the world to make sure our model carries if airplane back in the world and the institutions to play the lead role in shaping the rules and the norms and then to redefine but one of the ways acutely is there is an increasingly divide and those that are also democracies and technical autocracies like china. and whether those technical autocracies are those that define how technology is used it will go a long way to shape the next decade. so we are the ones that are shaping those rules. no doubt that china would like to recapture and then to do so in a way that is very practical to our own values and interests. >> my own view is the geopolitical leader of the world and then to improve on - - and the authoritarian views to put a grave risk the freedom and liberty of people here and around the world. and the taiwan figure and thinking to those interest in the region? >> there has been a strong and long bipartisan commitment to taiwan. and part of that commitment is making sure that taiwan has the ability to defend itself. and that is what will absolutely endure in the biden administration to make sure that i see taiwan playing a greater role around the world and international organizations. in their ways that they can participate and marrone engagement with taiwan should be looked at and indeed that is being done as you know as those were promulgated by the outgoing secretary of state pursuant to to the taiwan assurance act and i was deputy secretary of state but the commitment to taiwan is what we felt a very strongly. >> and then to see china in a new light not only because of the border dispute with those military individuals they have indicated an openness with military preparations as well and wargames. how can we strengthen our ties with indian on - - india and the resolve to defend democratic interest in the region? >> india has been a bipartisan success story starting with the end of the clinton administration when relations with the back on a better footing and under president bush we secured a peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement and then senator biden led the efforts of this committee to get that through congress and then during the obama administration we deepened cooperation particularly in the defense procurement area and information sharing in the trump administration carry that forward with the endo pacific so that no country in the region including china could challenge the sovereignty and working on concerns about terrorism there are many ways we can deepen that cooperation they have put us on and one area that has a lot of promise is climate at the current rate india is poised to catch up with china with but it produces the prime minister has been a very strong advocate for looking at renewable energy and technologies there is a very strong potential. >> that does where secretary carrie is working with you and with your strategy in regards to china to obtain a climate advantage secretary carrie might be promoting senior state department commitment to confront china is a great significance and hopefully the purity. another topic raised by senator johnson is the accomplishments that shouldn't be lost in the foreign policy arena. one of those that is questionable relates to the jcpoa senator menendez was not supportive and wrote a column suggesting it was a mistake to enter into. and allowed iran to have a nuclear weapon in my view was the agreement should only be reached if the prevented i ran forever from having a nuclear weapon and i would only suggest that there is a review of intelligence to determine with regard to the health of its leaders in the fragility of the economy because there could be a potential to take a more aggressive stance and may have been anticipated and that you will give due consideration not just to reversing policies but perhaps taking advantage of things with the prior administration providing an opportunity we might not otherwise be able to recognize. >> and working on other members of the committee thank you for being considered to be nominated and for being here today. one of the things we have for the last few days is that president-elect bidens interested in resuming the united states position with alliances with the paris climate accords it's going to take more than that to rebuild our relationship around the world so what else do we need to do and what are you thinking about that you think will be important to restoring those relationships? >> senator we do have a big task ahead of us with those relationships but i do think it starts with showing up again and being present to have our diplomats engaged in the painstaking not very glamorous day in and day out diplomacy and being in the room. we are so much better off those that are clearly import imperfect and as the general rule and being outside the room if we try to influence those organizations and move them in a better direction. so you will see in the biden administration that kind of leadership. it's also fair to say that some allies and partners question the stability of our commitments based on the experience and that's a hard hill to climb they have to make their own calculations about that maybe this is an obligation that all of us share with this line of work part of the challenge is to connect with all of us are doing to the lives of the american people because if we want to have their support american leadership and engagement we have to demonstrate it is actually making an improvement in their lives are preventing something that from happening i think covid-19 has brought that home is nothing else has in recent years going back to 9/11 but there are so many other areas that we are doing around the world connects directly to the lives our fellow citizens to give us a stronger foundation of engage form policy and one that is sustainable and our partners and allies recognize as such. one of the things we all have in common with the democratic partners and allies is a recognition most of the challenges that we face cannot be addressed effectively by anyone country acting alone in the united states whether a global pandemic, changing climate, bad weapons, you name it. and i believe if we step up 12 we did in the past them you have to reset that to work with us. it seems to me we are to look at what china is doing in terms of their increase because right now they are eating our lunch we have to do better if we are going to continue to complete. when you and i had the opportunity to talk a couple weeks ago, which i very much appreciated, but we talked about attacks on the diplomatic personnel in cuba and china and other locations. talking about the state department and secretary pompeo to provide information about those attacks and our response to make sure our personnel are treated fairly. and to get the language and then to the defense bill. we still have not seen all the information available will you commit to being transparent what is going on with those attacks and sharing that information with congress and the public where appropriate? >> yes. the leadership along with senator rubio has been deeply appreciated within the department i had some opportunity to get briefed on a few issues and one of the ones i asked for immediately with that savanna syndrome you read the report and was placed on and it will come an opportunity to talk to all of you about it to make sure diplomats are safe and secure but also we find out who is responsible if they are responsible to make sure if those protections in place so our folks are safe and secure. >> hope we can make that happen in the next month or so. another topic we talked about briefly was the importance of ensuring that women are part of the agenda and i'm very proud to have worked on legislation to include women to be at the table and we are negotiating conflict and to ensure they are part of the efforts because the data shows that when that's the case, sometimes those these negotiations have a 35 percent chance of lasting 35 or 35 percent better chance to last 15 years or longer so it makes sense. i would hope again the state department makes a more robust effort to be engaged that the defense department has been more proactive and i hope the state will join in those efforts in the coming year but in one of those areas is and that issue is afghanistan we haven't gotten any commitment from the taliban and of any future afghan state post peace talks so what should we be saying to the taliban? >> i cannot agree more with those larger points you are making it with the form policy and the work of the state department and the opportunity to work with you on that. we have the challenge with afghanistan to state the obvious. yes, we want to bring our forces home and retain some capacity to do with any resurgence of terrorism which brought us here in the first place. and we have to work one - - look carefully what has been negotiated gently with regard to the first instance of the united states and the taliban understand what commitments were made or not made by the taliban and then to see where they get in their negotiations with the government of afghanistan. i don't think any outcome they may achieve is sustainable without protecting the gains made over the last 20 years when it comes to access to education, healthcare, employmet , so we have a strong interest if there is an agreement and will hold up, let's do what we can to make sure those rights are preserved by would acknowledge it on think that will be easy but we will work at it by would acknowledge it on think that will be easy but we will work at it intend to asked general austin at this hearing this afternoon. can you talk about our response to putin taken into custody should be and how we continue to put pressure on russia? >> it is extraordinary how frightened vladimir putin seems to be of one man that speaks volumes and he is a voice for millions and their voice needs to be heard in russia and the attempts to silence the voice is something we strongly condemn and we continue to do so. i would say more broadly with ongoing conversation we talk about a number of challenge posed by russia across a whole series of friends is also one that is urgent that members of this committee have been very prescient when it comes to the challenge posed to us by russia there is a lot to be discussed it is very high on the agenda for the incoming administration. >> thank you for being here. >> we should appreciate that and for anyone willing to step up and do it. so i will focus on the western hemisphere. first as you are well aware without large or substantial small private business and economic activity is controlled by a holding company by which makes money then they put in by the cuban military and military officials in the current administration the trump administration in place a policy that permits financial transactions with any of those that are controlled owned by the cuban military so theoretically is that a policy would recommend with the biden administration and that we keep are not? >> senator i would oppose to review the very quickly in terms of the objectives that you cite that makes very good sense to me i don't know if i form of full judgment whether it is or any thoughts or consequences welcome that opportunity and more broadly that the cuban government controls what they allow and what they don't allow. and individual cuban decided to borrow money from a relative in the united states open a business they could do so under the existing law potentially to plan how a structured so they crackdown on that to the extent to economic independence and those companies they are allowed to start that's one thing but when it comes to these entities that are not state-controlled they are oligarchs that control the basically one individual largely because not just the totalitarian state but also economic totalitarian state to further the interests of the national and then gives all this leverage. i do sincerely hope and not that these are trump policies that we just don't throw the whole thing out and say let's go back to the obama policy that even some of the architects to them have conceded it could have been structured differently because it was unilateral. so now as you carefully review the steps that have been taken and then to be taken into account that maternal has completed the one distributed the negotiations as a delay tactic it is so egregious the vatican says were not having any more negotiations in a very strong worded letter from the pope said remember the last time we met? i am paraphrasing you agreed to things you never did any of them and then to delay the opposition and unfortunately multiple players fall into that trap and the reality is with the short-term reversible things but at the end of the day he will never agree to free and fair elections because he cannot win them. and should they change in essence to be longer recognized. >> know it is not. i agree. first of all with a number of the steps taken toward venezuela in recent years including recognizing mr. quite oh that as the only democratically elected institution and venezuela, seeking to increase pressure on the regime led by a brutal dictator as well as to work with our partners. the hard part is for which i support obviously we have not gotten the results that we need what i would really welcome doing if confirmed with others on the committee we need an effective policy that can restore venezuela with free and fair elections and how can we things that we can look at with like-minded countries and maybe that we can more effectively target the sanctions that we have so the enablers feel the pain of those sanctions and certainly i believe there is more we can do with the military assistance with a tremendous suffering of the military people and helping the neighboring countries with refugees from venezuela by welcome the opportunity to talk to about that. and then with the national interest of the united states sometimes they forget the imagery is about picking science but the reason why the us cares about democracy and human rights there is a direct national interest with a regime that openly houses and give safe harbor to multiple terrorist organizations the traffic drugs and threatened to destabilize or potentially topple or threaten the government of colombia which would be a massive blow to regional stability is already having a migratory pressure on this country those in the region and in brazil and colombia in military and the russians and with including the sale of oil and gasoline so i encourage you to constantly point to the fact that there is a direct national security interest in what happens there. you may have been assess that would you acknowledge that there was a bipartisan consensus on china that once they got rich and prosperous they would become more like us that consensus was flawed? >> i think we've talked about that in practice, yes i think there was a pod consensus that economic mobilization would lead to political mobilization and that has not happened. >> beyond that the intent goes deeper to the dangerous imbalance with a relationship with the geopolitical front and the military front you seen a massive expansion of military capability with the asymmetric abilities and now it is clear they make the argument to the world with the make this argument that american democracy is too chaotic and what we have here it's much more sustainable and a better model to follow. the bottom line is like to around the phase like cold war but do you have any doubt in your mind the chinese communist party is to be the world's predominant geopolitical and economic power and for the united states to define in relation? >> i have no doubt. >> thank you senator rubio. >> the floor is yours it is great to be with you again and i'm giving you if his expenses with that security of state as a staff director this important committee and in your opening statement to enforce the way your life experience and the secretary of the state for this nation i was here for the send out celebration with the president-elect and headed towards washington at the beginning of the inauguration. and then to hear my colleagues and democrats that they are engaged in thoughtful and forward-looking answers but now it is a challenge for all of us . . . . incoming chairmang member of this committee and figuring out how we craft a durable bipartisan strategy. to the techno- democracies of the world and the ways in which there is an intersection between concerns about digital privacy, digital promotion of democracy and ways in which it is laying the groundwork for the authoritarianism. do you think we should make that a part of our agenda something like that which boris johnson has proposed and for a regional structure like the digital free-trade democracies aligned like the united states to keep the technology free and available and so forth. >> it may be something that requires multiple steps to get to the destination in the first instance bringing the country's together. the digital democracies together. i think that it is the place to start and i don't want to minimize the challenge. we have disagreements among democracies about a lot of questions on how technology is used so we have work to do to get our own house in order but i think you start there and that some of the more expansive ideas we might be able to get to and work towards. raised concerns about iran and the progressive pursuit and influence of the ballistic missile programs and restarting their programs to the region and our security and to try to positivepath. the region is unstable although there was progress they face challenges in assessing the willingness to negotiate a good path forward. i look forward to working on this challenge and making sure they can take into account these actions by iran. let me ask about two other things going on that have been addressed so far. secretary pompeo designated the movement and the terrorist organization many humanitarian leaders including senators on both sides of the aisle denounced as something that may create a greater scale and the support is critical but what steps do you think that we should have with regards to how do we see that working through pushing back on the projection of the force through proxy and examining some of the relationships in the region that have become more complicated lacks. >> first, we need to be clear eyed. they engaged in a path of aggression towards saudi arabia and atrocities and human rights abuses and that is a fact. what's also a fact is the campaign in yemen pushed back against the aggression and it's the worst situation we face anywhere in the world and one aspect of that situation is that about 80% of the population right now is in areas controlled. whether we like it or not we have to find ways to get assistance to them if we are going to do anything about addressing the situation. so, my deep concern about the designation that was made it seems to achieve nothing particularly practical in advancing the efforts and to bring them back to the negotiating table making it even more difficult to provide assistance to people who desperately need it so i think we would propose to review that immediately to make sure what we are doing is not impeding on the humanitarian assistance even under these difficult circumstances. i recognize that some have talked about carveouts for american providers and humanitarian assistance. the problem is of the carveouts don't apply to everyone around the world, it's not going to get the job done because most of the assistance provided isn't coming from the united states, but other countries. so i think we have a very specific problem we need to address very quickly if we are going to make sure we are doing everything we can to alleviate. >> i was proud to have a chance to work with a number of colleagues to help pass the act that set a new framework from the lessons of columbia and the areas the president has been passionate about in finding ways to build and sustain a long-term strategy in a region. we passed the bipartisan package to provide for economic ventures and opportunities. what will you and brace in the leadership role for the new tools to use in advancing the broad objective? putting the prioritization in place between the policy defense and the development. >> it's a terrific foundation. i've had some conversations with the president elect about exactly this and it is very much on his mind. that is the risks that continue to be posed, emanating from the fragile states and national security interest that we have as well as the humanitarian one in doing what we can to help strengthen the states and prevent the fragile states from becoming failed states and i think you put in place a good foundation for thinking about that and of course part of this is making sure that our development programs are fully and thoroughly integrated into our foreign policy making sure that they are delivering and ineffective because we are conscious that we are using the taxpayers money in advancing them but also that we put them front and center and they are not an afterthought in the foreign policy. it provides a critical new tool. a number of colleagues have referenced the importance of supporting the fight whether it is in the authoritarian states were putin's russia or elsewhere in the world there was a deeply flawed election by engaging in a blatant disregard there were other countries of concern. sudan on the other hand. how do you plan to better support while pushing back on those that are backsliding or where some would argue ethiopian. >> it starts with an active engagement, not being able when these problems emerge. i share your deep concerns. we have seen a number of deeply concerning actions taken including atrocities directed both at refugees in ethiopia. i think we need to see greater access to the region, accountability and an effort to put a dialogue in place so that the issues can actually be discussed and litigated as opposed to dealt with through violence. we need to see the restoration and communications and access for the humanitarian assistance and i worry as well that what started their has the potential to be destabilizing throughout the horn of africa. so i would like to see the diplomacy fully engaged to contend with of this challenge. you said in a number of other places i share your concerns about the elections in uganda and cameroon. recently particularly violence directed at the population so there is a whole series of places we have challenges where i think the united states can help make a difference and that starts with being engaged. >> i share your commitment to a diverse workforce and ensuring they have the resources it needs to do its job well. i look forward to supporting your nomination and working with you. thank you for your indulgence, mr. chair. >> next up is senator graham. after that, senator murphy. however, between the two, we will take a humanitarian break for about ten minutes as we have been at this for a couple of hours. you are holding up well, but we don't want you to whether so we will take a look after senator graham's usual appointment questions. >> thank you. i will try to make sure that i don't violate the geneva convention here. the one thing i want to say is i think you are an outstanding choice. i've known you for a long time and i think you understand the world with different viewpoints on certain issues but to me the whole point is to nominate qualified people and get them in place as quickly as possible, reach an agreement where you can and disagree where you must. so, we are going to be working together on the state department appropriations account with my complete support people are incredibly patriotic and places doing very dangerous things they don't get the notoriety that they deserve, so i'm just a big fan of the soft power and foreign policy. the military has a limited ability to change things and they know it more than everybody else, so you are an outstanding choice. we will quickly go around and try to get a 30,000-foot view of where we start this new administration. do you still consider your on the largest sponsor of terrorism and a racist nation? afghanistan, do you agree if we abandon the women that fought so hard to have a say about the future of their children there were will affect our children's future if we've learned anything from afghanistan taking out it doesn't work well and having the troops spending trillions of dollars doesn't work well either. we are down to 2500 do you think that it is responsible at this point? >> i know that he wants to make sure as we pull back the forces we maintain the capacity. a. >> and anything would be conditions based. do you trust the taliban to police the al qaeda and isis regarding attacking? >> trust is not a word that i would use. >> any agreement that trusts them to play al qaeda and isis i think would be a bad deal. appreciate that very much. you will soon be secretary of state. i think that you deserve it. we are going to work on comprehensive immigration reform and i will try to help where i can, but just don't come, that creates more problems and it when it comes to asylum-seekers staying under the trump administration, do you find value in that program? >> i think we need to make sure that we are approaching what we do when it comes to those seeking asylum and protection in this country. it is both from where i sit and to deal with them expeditiously. people who need protection should get it and those who do not meet the criteria should with dignity be removed but part of the problem is we are not resourced adequately to do this and that is what we need to work on. a. >> if i can go a bit further i would like to increase the number of people that come here seeking asylum. a lot of people come here for economic reasons. they realize that they get 1 foot in the united states playing asylum and they will be in the future most of them don't show up. do you think we need to make sure that narrative does not restart? >> i agree. we need the affair and in an orderly system. they say we should decriminalize entry into the country. do you agree? >> not my jurisdiction, but i disagree. >> secretary pompeo designated the party as having engaged in genocide regarding to reap the muslim population. do you agree with the? >> we are on a good start here. >> i very much appreciate that. do you believe that the chinese communist party misled the world about the coronavirus? >> i do. what price if any should they say? >> as you know there's an investigation ongoing and we want to see the results but there's some things you already know. >> if they don't cooperate what should we do? >> we would have to look very hard to get at that cooperation. this is the point of where we need to go. what we do know already with regards to china and the viruses they didn't provide transparency or give access when it mattered most in the early days. had they done so it's possible the course of the virus would have been different. going forward i know people talk about the punitive. i would be very focused on the preventative which is to say what steps will china take going forward. when it comes to taiwan it's been the policy of the united states to basically, for lack of a better term, to guarantee the taiwanese democracy. >> we have an abiding and long-standing commitment and we need to make sure that they have the means to deter aggression and i would like to see them even more engaged in the world in many ways it is a model democracy and technological powerhouse. the way they dealt with covid-19 has a lot of lessons to teach us. >> but if they use military force against the population that would create evil throughout the world and that theywould pay a heavy price? >> hong kong it seems they are not paying much attention to what congress is doing. what can we do to get their attention? >> i wish we had taken some steps earlier. the crackdown to be able to take in some of those for standing up to the democratic rights and i know there's some legislation that looks at doing that but we have to take a hard look at what our position should be. to get both sides of the benefit we should take a hard look at that. having a stronger message comes from -- i applaud it's fallen short. when it comes to turkey, congress has been pretty tough for continuing to purchase russian weapons and do you believe they need to continue to be sanctioned until they change their behavior? >> i've looked at some of the so-called sanctions i think that is what turkey has done as a nato ally and it is unacceptable. the idea that a strategic partner of ours would be in line with one of our biggest strategic competitors we need to see the impact they've had and then determine if there is more that needs to be done. >> i think that this administration may have, yesterday, i don't know, lifted a travel ban from europe and other areas with a high infection rate. are you considering restoring that ban? i would encourage you to. >> it is above my pay grade. >> the reason they have a multiple level problem and it would be allowed to keep the travel ban in europe that allow masks on the border so i hope we continue to fight the illness and prevent the transmission. finally, so many people wonder where our biggest threat is and i will end with this. it is a multiple layered problem, russia is up to no good. there are two groups i worry most about. if the iranians had a nuclear weapon, they would use it. i think the ayatollah is a religious nazi. would you find an alternative to the jcp away when it comes to iran? >> i welcome talking to both of you about the way forward on iran. >> and finally this is the 20th anniversary of 9/11. it will be 20 years. i think that is going to remind us that they are still out there. do you agree with me that the worst thing america could do is have a false sense of security when it comes to radical islam and do you agree on the following that the only reason they haven't killed more of us is because they can't find a way to do it and we've pretty much kept our foot on their throat? >> i share your concerns about the ongoing threat posed by what's left of al qaeda, isis, other extremist groups that target the united states. a. >> do you think they had a chemical weapon that could acquire when they would use it? >> there is a high probability if they had access to such they would have. twenty years later where do we stand. we've made significant progress in parts of the world. when it comes to al qaeda in afghanistan, the original thread there is still a problem and a presence and relationship that is much diminished but precisely to your point if we take our eye off the ball there is a risk that it comes back. across the two administrations we have succeeded in taking away the geographic caliphate in iraq and syria, but then again we can't take our eye off the ball. we have seen affiliates of both groups spread to different parts of the world so we still have our work cut out for us. >> i look forward to working with you. >> i agree and for whatever reason it seems to be their preferred place to reemerge, so that's something that's going to need your attention. with that said you have been patient but i'm going to ask you to be for a little bit longer. the committee will be at ease. the committee will come to order. thank you very much, mr. chair man. thank you for sharing that really wonderful story about your stepfather at the outset. we are not a perfect nation. we have been flawed from the beginning and we are always seeking perfection but i imagine at that moment america looked perfect and it's a reminder to affect change and be a force for good in the world. thanks for beginning us with that inspirational story. i want to come back to this question of the war in yemen for a moment. i thank senator kunz for beginning this conversation. it's been just a national security disaster for the united states over 100,000 children have died of starvation, to senator graham's point may be the arm of al qaeda with the clear attention to hit the united states remains active in controlling the territory and i would argue strengthen iran longer than it's gone on. president-elect made a commitment during the campaign and our military support for the coalition, and i want to ask you to speak to that commitment but then also to step back and talk about what the work through this coalition has taught us about the path forward in our relationship with saudi arabia. this is an important ally and strategic partner but one that has begun to act very differently and yemen is an example of a set of behaviors that has gone off the rails in many ways and probably argues for us to take a different approach to an ally, but an ally whose interests often do not align with ours any longer. so the question of the military support for the coalition and then a broad look at the alliance. >> thank you. the president elect has made clear that we will end our support for the military campaign led by saudi arabia and yemen. i think we will work on that in very short order once the president elect is president for the reasons that you've cited we have seen yemen become the worst humanitarian situation in the world and of course as we were discussing earlier they bear significant responsibility for what's happened, but the way the campaign has been conducted has also contributed significantly to that situation so our support should end. we of course as you cited have a partnership with saudi arabia. we should do what we need to do to help defend saudi arabia against aggression directed including from yemen, but again as you said, we have concerns about some of the policies the partners have pursued and accordingly the president said that we will review the entirety of the relationship to ensure that as it stands it is advancing the interest and the values that we bring to that partnership. >> you made an interesting comment in response to the inquiry in most of the theaters of the war that we had a plan and once we got on the ground, that plan was met with reality is we didn't expect, whether it's the ability of iran and al qaeda to fill the vacuum's in iraq and the difficulty of finding moderate rebels in syria that could be effective in pushing back against bashar al-assad. i think there's probably a lot of reasons for the mistakes we've made. hubris is probably one of them so i appreciate your comment but i also think it is due to the secondary role the state has played in many of these conversations over the years because of the lack of capacity the state has when we put 2,000 troops on the ground at times we had only one diplomat, one state department personnel even though every single general came before us and told us there was no military solution in sight of saudi arabia, inside of syria so this leads me to the two connected questions. one, what are the capacities the state doesn't have today that it needs to be able to compete. .. >> we need to have the expertise of global health and in climate and technology with a dominant role that it plays and that is something that if confirmed in this job i will spend some real time on. and working with this committee to make sure we have the ability to do that. part of this is about spreading the message this is a wonderful clear to have and a good place to be in not to be distressed to take the foreign service exam applications drop significantly that something we need to repair and finally on this point the skill set and talent set is important but so one of the things i'm determined to focus on his confirmed is on making good of building that workforce that we are recruiting, retaining and accountable for a workforce looking at the country that represents nasa we can do to achieve that to make real progress. >> this is about capabilities and and then to have more military band members and diplomats we have to watch for china's doing that was the first year they had diplomatic post around the world because if we meet them on a playing field. >> i very much agree with that my colleagues will take this out on me for saying it by look at the fact look at the increase. >> in the men i have remaining them to be much consternation in the country is enormously fragile and is in need of a much more stable friendship and then to support the notion at the same time putin doesn't have any intention to march and army. if he wants to disempower the nation politically and economically so they just give up and and the keys back to a criminal and friendly government it's a question if we can have the political tools in the economic help to stay sovereign and independent and quick thoughts to share your commitment to try to help it to stand up against the aggression we have seen and i very much agree with you and to the extent and with the lack of institutions that can effectively manage the country and even if we are successful and help them keep russia at they that's very difficult for them to build a viable. >> notwithstanding and that agreement with lindsey graham earlier for supporting the nomination. >> with that we move to senator brosseau. >> i appreciate you being here today to testify your willingness to serve the country and secretary of state is vitally important to protecting national security as well as protecting our values this in mind your nomination raises concerns it is critically important our nation not return to a strategy of leading from behind many of us have spoken about the failed policies of the obama biden administration robert gates under president obama noted joe biden has been wrong on nearly every major foreign-policy and national security issue over the past for decades. you are an integral part to advise obama and one - - obama on these even ears a form policy when it came time to make the right decisions you have to say you failed to return the tragic loss of life with millions of people made into refugees and that something we have to live with. we rightly sought to avoid by not doing too much and then you said libya is a challenging one with the obama biden administration get that right in iraq the form policy failed. and then mistakenly called the withdrawal of the troops in iraq a success but the rest of the world knows the failure to get the status of force agreements created a vacuum leading to the rise in the creation of isis. in 2014 senator john mccain was a member of this committee we issue and went to the senate floor to speak against the nomination to be deputy secretary of state. i asked his statement be submitted for the record. >> and was statements and discussions iraq afghanistan syria and ukraine based on the record of failed foreign policy decision senator mccain said not only is he not qualified but a threat to the traditional interest that embody the united states of america. so once you were confirmed what happened you can on - - made this deal botched decisions of serious consequences and they put the men and women who serve our nation are put at risk and a demonstrated track record to make the wrong decisions with american foreign policy and national security. >> talk about the chinese communist party who make terrible human rights abuses you believe it is genocide the ethnic minority in china experienced butyl on - - brutal repression what do you plan to do within the first 30 days to address what joe biden has described as the chinese government? >> it's good to see you again. and forcing men and women and children into concentration camps and the adherence to the ideology of the chinese communist party all of that speaks to an effort to commit genocide so i agree with that finding we have to look at the tools we have available including what congress has provided to see what actions we can take. for example to make sure for not importing the products we made with forced labor that is one such thing also were not exporting those tools and technologies repression. >> and to strengthen congress' traditional role with foreign policy word be helpful in the u.s. constitution so whether it is the paris climate agreement or iran nuclear deal the obama biden administration disregarded the approval of the senate and refuse to submit the agreements for advice and consent. so if confirmed there is a continuation of a disregard of the world the american people to negotiate international agreements and then refusing to submit them to the senate or buyer opening statement of a partnership? >> two things. first of all with regard and in whatever form they are my strong commitment to you in this committee as we will engage in genuine consultation and real dialogue on takeoff and not on the landing to work through together and with many agreements not being treaties which is the nuclear supplier group and there are sometimes good reasons that it answer national security the international treaty law that makes it more difficult to take action against a country that is not comply with the obligations with a non- treaty agreement so look at this on a case-by-case basis of course there is that legislation will make sure we are in compliance and those that are at a minimum those resume and look at the obligations under the law would be if there is any forward movement with iran. >> and those that will hinder the missile-defense options. and those in charge of the missile-defense system. and those concerns to limit our own missile-defense so can you commit to us and the arms-control discussion for which you are responsible the united states will never agree to any limiting of our own missile-defense programs? >> it expires february 5th 2021 in less than a month there are only a few weeks before the arms reduction treaty answer they plan to extend the treaty and for how long? >> so because we have been very focused on observing the one president at a time so the president-elect will have to take up almost immediately the very reasons that you decided we have an agreement that is expiring in 16 days. will be coming to you very quickly almost immediately to discuss that and yes we will seek to extend it. >> and with respect to consideration and those to consider any potential efforts to sabotage and reconsider any efforts to sabotage the keystone xl pipeline and then to understand from the news that he wants to shut it down over the premier ways concerns to cancel the project to say doing so would kill jobs on both sides of the border we can the critically important canada us relationship to undermine national security to make united states more dependent on opec in the future then to cancel and delay the pipeline project it creates jobs and grow the economy and the energy security any action would undermine economic stability for many so how revoking those permits should be with canada one of the closest allies? the president elect has said he will resend the permit with regard to state department. and then to address with absolute objectivity and professionalism congratulations on your nomination you are very well qualified for the position. the secretary of state by our long-standing norm the lease political cabinet secretary the attorney general and secretary of state secretary of treasury and secretary of defense and that pretty much goes back decades and decades. and the predecessor has a legal advisor to give wise advice in december 2019 memo a legal advisor reminds political appointees they were from engaging with the partisan candidate and specifically indicated will the senate confirmed presidential appointees and with that convention related event. and that you improperly engage in the political process and that they to the hatch act with those political boundaries. your processor appeared to give a campaign speech violating policies and the legal advisors that your brides not to participate in any shape or form improv geopolitical debate debates i take no sides on the matter and in 2000 for skipping the republican national convention we follow the practice of the state department for decades or the pompeo practice turning into a partisan political position? >> that is the model i would follow. >> i would be extremely disappointed if they see you showing up at partisan events for democrats including the president and vice president who has appointed you if i see you doing campaign events on my side of the aisle i will be very disappointed. i know you're not going to buy want to put that on the record. >> i welcome you holding me to that i cannot agree more strongly that with regard to the state department it has to be it will be a nonpartisan institution seeking only to advance a national interest the started my career in the department in 1993 and i have been working with the foreign service and civil service for the better part of 25 years and i could not begin to tell you if the person is a republican or democrat or independent they are simply professionals who are working to advance the national interest in the people who reports to lead them is not doing the same thing then we have a problem. >> the norm over time is 70 percent career there's nothing magic about that number but the administration is what they generally have adhered to that ratio the trump administration change that significantly 55 percent career 45 percent political , 50 percent higher in terms of the political appointees. as you have dialogue with president-elect biden about his thoughts of the state department political brainteaser very important and then to go back to see that two / one with that like the path forward. >> i am very worried there are questions of the hemisphere and i'm worried we just pay attention when there's a crisis there is a caravan with the attention. >> with a significant drug trade from columbia we will pay attention but then we lose attention and then we tend to look at the world with the east and west access president-elect biden because when he was vice president he did spend significant time working with the state department and other professionals i still think there is a tremendous upside. it's hard for to match up like china with 1 billion people and then to the yukon and the more we can do another nations. >> so to talk about the big picture and this is an area focused and then to make 16 trips to those in the hemisphere as vice president and even before that is a member of this committee to be very focused on a number of issues in the hemisphere starting with columbia and what followed and then a real focus on mexico and those issues throughout the hemisphere and he is a strongly held view to do what we can to advance the future for the hemisphere that is democratic, middle-class and secure and there's a lot of things we should be doing as partners so in terms of the way we are resourced and focused i feel confident this will get the attention. >> the question about israel and palestine with the two state solution this is been policy since truman in one way or another. certainly since the oslo accord and that is the policy to say the two state solution but it has been hard to find that path forward i had my first visit to israel 1998 i really value the us israel relationship with the prospects for peaceful israel palestine side-by-side is worse today than when i first visited which i find tragic and what is the challenge of not having a meaningful two state solution? in israel it is one of the leading and most innovative in the world and practically no one and palestine has been vaccinated and the israeli health minister says when we're done on the citizens we will focus attention on the neighbors. the palestinians are in the on space they don't have their own country but they are in a country but not considered citizens but neighbors and that this is what we need to do to find a path forward. so how might we use the improved relations between nations in the arab world with israel to help advance our prospects. >> to share the premise that as i see it that two state solution the matter how distant it may appear is still the best and probably the only way to truly assure the state to give the palestinians a state to which they are entitled. the challenge of course is how to move forward with it seems more distant about the progress made with abraham accords that i applied and then we would hope to build on if given the opportunity and to have a great sense of confidence and security and whether we like it or not or whether they like it or not. >> and these can play an important role of economic support and also providing security assistance and they may be more willing to do that now they of normalized relations. thank you. my time is up i want to work with you in the state department on the war powers in the various authorizations from 19,912,001 and 2002 floating out in space i look forward to working with the state department and the white house. thank you mr. chair. senator department is up next but he's and dispose we will come back. senator paul. like joe biden and hillary clinton you been a consistent support of military intervention from the iraq war and the libyan war to the syrian civil war. they said we were given bad intelligence that's a very specific reason is probably some truth be he admits to the lesson of the iraq war and likewise your justification with the new approach on the libyan and maybe underestimated the viable successors. it seems like we are still missing the point going on to syria wanting to do the same thing and you have argued maybe we didn't do enough we get a real regime change in syria. and it is a disaster the lesson that the regime change does not work people say we would get rid of the iron fist and thomas jefferson will rise from the ashes we have been fighting again centralized power in english tradition ours was 250 years ago. and mostly what they have gotten to those policies they have advocated and frankly john bolton has advocated the idea of regime change has been a disaster for the middle east everybody is concerned about iran but why is a stronger? we had a balance of power in the middle east one bag i then another got stronger so then the same thing in libya. maybe there is a rule that we can learn about regime change and maybe so maybe we shouldn't be choosing every government and the middle east. maybe we should not reword them do you know what i mean? for saudi arabia, i despise the regime but i still with them. i wouldn't cut them off completely and not one bit of the armament proposal sides advocate to this because uae is the terrible human rights record. and it isn't a lack of consensus but too much consensus but it is for regime check. and with the failure of the iraq war libyan more and the chaos in the vacuum and then to go into syria i don't forget there's been a lesson learned that may be regime change may not be the best for us. >> and we have an absolute obligation to try to learn from everything we have done and advocated to take into account the results and how to think about these going forward and i've done a lot of thinking about some of the situations you mentioned i am part of the fact and then to advance our diplomacy to do everything that we can to make sure is the first answer not the last and that the conflict is the last resort. >> that was a syrian civil war. and with the full scale of an intervention that i do not agree with when. >> the wisteria there is a predictable result did you get rid of assad? or the fiercest fighters? the more radical you are the better fighters. and then 250 million we sent ten of them into the battle and they were captured the first ten minutes. was a complete disaster the idea there were moderates over there and the ones are fighting are al qaeda, jihadist and if they were taken over the country a terrible person but i'm not positive they would have been better so our humility has to be toppling regimes and support the bad ones that does not presume in the vacuum because it never seems to happen. with regard to advise and consent, it really isn't so much a move to say we can't pass these treaties to make these agreements coming to you but you have argued that that arrogant executive comes from both parties. they have absolute power the article two authority this is on both side to the extreme and the john bolton believe in this absolute article of authority. that you about had nothing to do with the people in somalia. do you think the amf authorizes you to continue the war in somalia? >> i think they un math 9/11 for those groups that were not contemplated or cited and there is a very strong reason why we should revisit that. >> it's very specific people who organized to attack us it doesn't mention. and then they said associated forces there is no authorization for war in somalia, mali, yemen that the obama administration originally did support i'm tired of all the war in nationbuilding. we go to war saudi arabia because they don't have women ministers? in the soft power can advocate for the principles we believe in overthrowing government to instill women's rights and continuing military presence is not something to the secretary of state or to anyone in the government. with regard to nato you have advocated for expanding nato do you still support including georgia? >> now to meet the requirements and if it can contribute to our security than yes the door should remain open space that would be a war with russia? i think it's the opposite with regard to membership there is very good reason they have been proven aggressive those that are not actually nato. and an article five. >> we have seen in the past countries that have joined nato not the same target. >> 20 years ago we might have a valid argument russia occupies the proxy not only is provocative but you have to think what comes next if were obligated to defend our nato allies i want to go to need unless i am ready to send my kids to fight in georgia. the complicated fights and wars and i just think we have to think these things through and the further publication there is a response as well. i don't care what russia thinks or to run things you understand are adversaries enough to think how they will respond and i don't think we are doing a job. >> i agree. >> but i'm not excited about more military intervention in the middle east there has been some over previous failures that they took on the idea the regime change has been a disaster and more terrorism about the region i hope you will consider that it is important for our kids. not just philosophically. these wars go on forever and ever and somebody has to stand up i hope you will be brave enough to stand up. >> i appreciate what you said. >> senator marquis is joining us electronically. are you with us? >> can you hear me. >> i can hear you. but i cannot see you. >> and with the president-elect biden so what will he do to ensure the vaccine is disseminated quickly and fairly survey country has a chance to protect their citizens? >> and we are committed to making sure to the best of our ability it is distributed properly and equitably and we believe strongly that we can into that to ensure every american gets the vaccine but also others around the world and have access to it. the who is an imperfect organization in need of our but the one reason the president-elect is determined we should get back in his we are in a much more effective position to advance the reform to the table than outside the organization. the combination of rejoining and then to look at how we can help make sure the vaccine is distributed is something we will take on. we are seeing the potential for a lot of covid tales to wag around the world in ways that will come back potentially to hurt us. and that debt crisis among the emerging economies we are seeing a public health crisis in country after country they've made it more difficult to provide other health services and state fragility , covid has exacerbated so we have a national interest in helping and doing our part to make sure we help get it out there as quickly and effectively as we can. >> is the biden administration committed to seeking additional funding to respond to the massive public health related to covid-19? >> one of the things i should say is that congress has done a good service to provide the funding that is already on the table with that initiative but additional resources are likely to be needed. >> and moving forward with you support the attempt to have tailored sanctions? with those wmd programs? >> i think we have to review the entire approach because this is a problem that has plagued the administration after administration and a problem that hasn't gotten better. and then to being able to consult on that and what options we have in that can be effective in what other diplomatic initiatives make it possible but that starts with allies and partners with japan and others and then we welcome a conversation on that. >> and increase so china abide by the sanctions. and that we don't inadvertently harm the people of north korea open supporters we use of port those restrictions with legitimate humanitarian assistance to reach the people? >> and north korea and others similarly situated places we have to have an eye and to have a strong grievance with the regime and the government and to the best of our ability to do so and the first instance is an harmful to the people the country so we'll take a hard look at that in the past and that with the north korean people we do want to make sure anything that we do we have a i on the humanitarian side not just the other side of the equation. talking about the jcpoa and i ran the bottom line the single greatest existential threat is a nuclear iran. we must take that off the table do you commit to reenter the jcpoa as long as the iranians returned? >> if they return to compliance news dying as a platform and those other issues that need to be dealt with and destabilizing activities in the region. there is a lot that iran needs to do and then we have to evaluate. >> and that all the more or urgent. and with the additional protocol with that access it has in iran. >> into the best of our ability all of our partners and allies are living up to their obligations and with the arms control agreements and certainly in the case of saudi arabia that something we want to look at. will be extended by a full five years? >> with the president-elect has said very cognizant of the fact that we could engage during the transition we had the challenge and then it comes upon us very very quickly we have a couple weeks to do that and this will be coming to pretty much immediately after the president is sworn in. and he does intend to seek an extension and he will have to make a decision as president for what duration we would seek. >> is very important am looking forward to working with you on that. it's incredibly important historic moment the trump administration will sell those previous efforts for rights around the world i'm sure you and the president-elect of indicated they will support the people like international human rights defense act that was updated in the trump years. but then specifically to minimize those rights through the they think it is vital on those issues. is not a speedy appointment to the envoy would you consider reading that to the ambassadorial level? absolutely. we have seen violence directed to people around the world we have seen i believe the highest number of murders and transgender people particularly women of color so i think united states playing the role it should be playing defending the rights. >> and will you repudiate the findings of the report when in the universal declaration of human rights and do you ensure that our embassies once again around the world? >> yes to both of them. >> and one final question if confirmed will you commit to overseeing the interagency process to make a determination of the crimes committed in burma our genocide? >> yes i would. >> thank you for all of your work on climate change i think it is a huge historical change of direction and congratulations on those issues how quickly is the department going to be able to move to make sure we make climate change of the top issue and for justice at the center of what we are advocating for quick. >> give and secretary carries leadership i suspect immediately. >> climate justice? >> as well we will very much factor into what we are doing around the world. >> thank you. >> you look forward to working with you mr. secretary. >> senator markey and told now that senator apartment has extricated himself to whatever was more important than this hearing. say nothing could be more important than the senate foreign relations committee i have been watching the hearing throughout the afternoon. i also appreciate the time you have spent with me on the phone talking about your plans for the department and how you would change some of the positions and listing one - - and listening today it seems are opportunities with the abraham record much of the policy toward russia as an example to provide as we did this year at a record level lethal weapons for self-defense in ukraine think about what we have done in belarus to promote democracy i think of china whenever today you'd be interested in engaging and certainly clear eyed on the challenges and not to be trusting of them into the ranking member menendez with secretary defense or homeland security director and to get these nominations to the floor to a vote i know you're willing to do in that. so as we discussed i have a lot of interest in this issue of propaganda and misinformation i think that is the new warfare of the 21st century but a lot of this is happening on the line through misinformation then to establish the state department to deal with this and senator murphy spoke earlier and we've tried to strengthen the engagement center to give the push back and disinformation operation and that liability associated with it. when you combine that with economic and political subversion it can be devastating. thanks to the work at the beginning can you speak to that briefly and that hearing that senator booker and i had combating misinformation china spends over $10 billion per year in state-sponsored disinformation operations. can you comment on the global engagement center and the challenges they face? >> i cannot agree more and this is perhaps we have to sign on and an action by adversaries every single day we are experiencing in the misinformation and disinformation realm and we need to engage that effectively that is why it was formed and in the early days of the ukrainian conflict in russia aggression there? and then to weaponize information and effective ways and little did we know what would come after that. but to recall the downing of the malaysia airline at one - - owner and russia was effective to use this information as to their culpability and responsibility so out of the's experiences there is an effort at the state department to give ourselves the tools and resources so if i ever conform confirm this is resource adequately and appropriately as well we need to make sure we are bringing in the talent and the expertise to use it effectively because they are specialized skills in some cases many of us don't have. to make sure we have continuity it is an ongoing battle every single day and those who make sure that in the recent months ahead. >> gabriel has done a good job and senator murphy and i agree with that. think if that commitment to getting to a sustainable's cap funding level and a lot of members of the committee are interesting to extend that higher authority so someone can teach outside the department on the social media front so thank you for the commitment we look forward to working with you i was there in 2015 was senator cardin right after the revolution and and the central area where the revolution is still smoldering. 's fresh. and then russia illegally annexed ukraine or crimea which was a setback and that annexation is something we need to stand up to even as others in the region seem to be less aggressive about promoting and then to replace those deaths of those soldiers i'm sure you've got to the memorial to those soldiers as many of us have had in 2019 we had free and fair elections. so ukrainian securities customs initiative this is something providing military aid but also training so two questions. are you supportive of continuing to provide the weapons to them to defend themselves? and with regard to the security initiative are you willing to work on that and can you speak to has been on before the committee but they never made it to the floor as a potential next to the ambassador. >> i very much support the continued provision to ukraine with the lethal defense assistance and the training program as well. i very much agree, it has been a real success to the extent across a couple of administrations we can effectively train in different ways. and the aggression may have been on the receiving end and we will take a close look at that. >> i appreciate that. >> you wrote them into this committee already and has a great deal of experience but also respect in ukraine. with regard to china with us china relationship and climate change and other issues and that we keep in mind that china continues very systematically targets and with the chinese economy will also the chinese military over the past two decades and that what comes out of the investigation hearing congress with senator carper. it deals with five specific ideals and we did get a chance to talk about this much earlier but i thank you know the issue generally to provide the state department for researchers whose problematic affiliations with export control technologies this balance post university community because we took a balanced approach in this world that would accomplish this so that we are not continuing to lose researchers to china that they can investigate can you speak to that and how we can better protect and corporate from china and others? this discussioe common good organization. >> hello, everybody. we are in a somber mood as we returned from a shocking turn of events in which one of our branches of government was attacked by an angry

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